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4 @settitle Pterodactyl Gnus 0.58 Manual
9 @c * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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264 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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273 Copyright \copyright{} 1995,96,97,98 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
275 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
276 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
277 are preserved on all copies.
279 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
280 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
281 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
282 permission notice identical to this one.
284 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
285 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
294 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
296 Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
298 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
299 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
300 are preserved on all copies.
303 Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
304 results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
305 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
306 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
309 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
310 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the
311 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
312 permission notice identical to this one.
314 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
315 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
321 @title Pterodactyl Gnus 0.58 Manual
323 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
326 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
327 Copyright @copyright{} 1995,96,97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
329 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
330 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
331 are preserved on all copies.
333 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
334 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
335 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
336 permission notice identical to this one.
338 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
339 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
348 @top The Gnus Newsreader
352 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
353 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
354 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
357 This manual corresponds to Pterodactyl Gnus 0.58.
368 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
369 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
371 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
372 being accused of plagiarism:
374 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
375 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
376 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you can
377 even read news with it!
379 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
380 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
381 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
382 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
383 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
390 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
391 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
392 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
393 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
394 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
395 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
396 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
397 * Various:: General purpose settings.
398 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
399 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
400 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
401 * Key Index:: Key Index.
405 @chapter Starting Gnus
410 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
411 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
414 @findex gnus-other-frame
415 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
416 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
417 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
419 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
420 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
421 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
423 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
424 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
427 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
428 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
429 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
430 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
431 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
432 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
433 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
434 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
435 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
436 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
437 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
441 @node Finding the News
442 @section Finding the News
445 @vindex gnus-select-method
447 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
448 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
449 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
450 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
453 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
454 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
457 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
460 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
463 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
466 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
467 certainly be much faster.
469 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
471 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
472 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
473 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
474 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
475 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
476 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
478 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
479 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
480 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
481 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
483 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
484 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
485 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
486 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
487 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
488 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
489 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
490 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
491 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
494 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
496 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
497 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
498 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
499 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
500 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
501 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
503 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
505 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
506 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
507 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
508 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
509 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
510 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
513 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
514 would typically set this variable to
517 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
522 @section The First Time
523 @cindex first time usage
525 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
526 be subscribed by default.
528 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
529 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
530 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
531 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
534 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
535 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
536 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
538 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
539 help you with most common problems.
541 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
542 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
546 @node The Server is Down
547 @section The Server is Down
548 @cindex server errors
550 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
551 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
552 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
554 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
555 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
556 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
557 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
558 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
559 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
560 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
562 @findex gnus-no-server
563 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
565 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
566 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
567 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
568 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
569 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
570 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
575 @section Slave Gnusae
578 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
579 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
580 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
581 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
583 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
586 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
587 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
588 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
589 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
590 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
591 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
592 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
594 Anyways, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
595 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
596 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
597 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
598 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
599 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
600 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
601 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
603 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
604 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
607 @node Fetching a Group
608 @section Fetching a Group
609 @cindex fetching a group
611 @findex gnus-fetch-group
612 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
613 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
614 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
615 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
616 It takes the group name as a parameter.
624 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
625 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
626 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
627 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
628 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
629 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
630 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
631 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the backends for new groups even
632 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
635 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
636 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
637 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
641 @node Checking New Groups
642 @subsection Checking New Groups
644 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
645 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
646 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
647 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
648 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
649 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
650 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
651 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
652 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
653 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
655 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
656 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
657 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
658 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
659 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
660 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
661 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
662 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
663 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
664 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
665 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
667 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
668 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
669 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
670 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
671 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
672 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
675 @node Subscription Methods
676 @subsection Subscription Methods
678 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
679 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
680 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
682 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
683 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
685 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
689 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
690 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
691 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
692 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
693 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
695 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
696 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
697 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
698 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
700 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
701 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
702 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
704 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
705 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
706 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
707 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
708 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
709 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into it's
710 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
711 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
712 up. Or something like that.
714 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
715 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
716 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
717 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
718 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
720 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
721 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
726 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
727 A closely related variable is
728 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
729 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
730 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
731 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
734 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
735 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
736 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
737 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
740 @node Filtering New Groups
741 @subsection Filtering New Groups
743 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
744 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
745 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
748 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
751 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
752 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
753 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
754 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
755 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
756 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
757 subscribing these groups.
758 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
759 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
761 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
762 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
763 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
764 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
765 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
766 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
767 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
768 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
770 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
771 Yet another variable that meddles here is
772 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
773 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
774 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
775 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
776 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
777 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
778 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
779 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
781 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
782 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
785 @node Changing Servers
786 @section Changing Servers
787 @cindex changing servers
789 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
790 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
791 very flaky and you want to use another.
793 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
794 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
798 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
799 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
800 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
801 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
804 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
805 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
806 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
807 functions more than absolutely necessary.
809 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
810 @findex gnus-change-server
811 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
812 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
813 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
814 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
815 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
817 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
818 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
819 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
820 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
821 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
823 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
824 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
825 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
826 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
827 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
828 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
830 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
831 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
832 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
836 @section Startup Files
837 @cindex startup files
842 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
843 information is traditionally stored in this file.
845 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
846 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
847 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
848 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
849 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
850 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
851 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
853 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
854 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
855 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
856 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
857 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
858 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
860 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
861 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
862 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
863 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
864 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
865 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right?
867 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
868 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
869 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
870 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
871 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
872 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
873 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
874 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
875 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
876 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
877 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
878 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
880 @vindex gnus-startup-file
881 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
882 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
883 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
885 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
886 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
887 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
888 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
889 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
890 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
891 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
892 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
893 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
894 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
897 (defun turn-off-backup ()
898 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
900 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
901 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
904 @vindex gnus-init-file
905 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
906 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
907 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
908 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
909 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
910 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
911 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
912 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
913 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
922 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
923 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
924 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
925 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
926 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
929 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
930 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
933 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
934 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
935 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
937 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
938 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
939 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
940 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
941 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
942 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
944 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
945 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
946 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
949 @node The Active File
950 @section The Active File
952 @cindex ignored groups
954 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
955 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
956 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
958 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
959 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
960 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
961 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
962 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
963 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
964 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
967 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
968 @c if you set it to anything else.
970 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
972 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
973 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
974 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
976 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
977 you actually subscribe to.
979 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
980 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
981 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
982 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
984 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
985 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
986 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
987 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
988 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
989 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
991 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
992 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
993 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
994 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
995 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
996 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
998 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
999 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1001 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1002 secondary select methods.
1005 @node Startup Variables
1006 @section Startup Variables
1010 @item gnus-load-hook
1011 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1012 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1013 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1014 times you start Gnus.
1016 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1017 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1018 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1020 @item gnus-startup-hook
1021 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1022 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1024 @item gnus-started-hook
1025 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1026 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1029 @item gnus-started-hook
1030 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1031 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1032 generating the group buffer.
1034 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1035 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1036 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1037 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1038 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1039 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1040 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1041 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1043 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1044 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1045 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1046 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1047 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1048 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1050 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1051 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1052 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1054 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1055 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1056 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1058 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1059 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1060 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1061 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1066 @node The Group Buffer
1067 @chapter The Group Buffer
1068 @cindex group buffer
1070 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1071 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1072 long as Gnus is active.
1076 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1077 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1078 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1079 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1080 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1081 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1082 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1083 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1089 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1090 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1091 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1092 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1093 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1094 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1095 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1096 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1097 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1098 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1099 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1100 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1101 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1102 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1103 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1104 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1105 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1109 @node Group Buffer Format
1110 @section Group Buffer Format
1113 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1114 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1115 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1119 @node Group Line Specification
1120 @subsection Group Line Specification
1121 @cindex group buffer format
1123 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1124 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1126 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1129 25: news.announce.newusers
1130 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1135 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1136 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1137 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1138 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1140 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1141 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1142 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1143 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1144 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1145 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1147 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1149 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1150 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1151 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1152 never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1155 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1156 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1157 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1159 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1164 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1167 Whether the group is subscribed.
1170 Level of subscribedness.
1173 Number of unread articles.
1176 Number of dormant articles.
1179 Number of ticked articles.
1182 Number of read articles.
1185 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1186 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1189 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1192 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1201 Newsgroup description.
1204 @samp{m} if moderated.
1207 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1216 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1220 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1223 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1224 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1225 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1226 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1227 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.emacs.gnus}.
1230 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1232 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1236 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1240 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1241 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1242 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1243 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1244 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1245 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1250 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1251 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1252 group, or a bogus native group.
1255 @node Group Modeline Specification
1256 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1257 @cindex group modeline
1259 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1260 The mode line can be changed by setting
1261 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1262 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1266 The native news server.
1268 The native select method.
1272 @node Group Highlighting
1273 @subsection Group Highlighting
1274 @cindex highlighting
1275 @cindex group highlighting
1277 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1278 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1279 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1280 that look like @var{(form . face)}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1281 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1283 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1287 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-1
1288 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))))
1289 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-2
1290 '((t (:foreground "SeaGreen" :bold t))))
1291 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-3
1292 '((t (:foreground "SpringGreen" :bold t))))
1293 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-4
1294 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))))
1295 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-5
1296 '((t (:foreground "SkyBlue" :bold t))))
1298 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1299 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1300 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1301 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1302 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1303 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1306 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1308 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1315 The number of unread articles in the group.
1319 Whether the group is a mail group.
1321 The level of the group.
1323 The score of the group.
1325 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1327 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1328 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1330 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1331 topic being inserted.
1334 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1335 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1336 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1338 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1339 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1340 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1341 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1342 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1345 @node Group Maneuvering
1346 @section Group Maneuvering
1347 @cindex group movement
1349 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1350 expected, hopefully.
1356 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1357 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1358 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1364 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1365 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1366 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1370 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1371 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1375 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1376 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1380 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1381 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1382 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1386 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1387 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1388 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1391 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1397 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1398 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1399 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1404 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1405 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1406 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1410 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1411 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1412 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1415 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1416 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1417 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1418 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1422 @node Selecting a Group
1423 @section Selecting a Group
1424 @cindex group selection
1429 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1430 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1431 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1432 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1433 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1434 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1435 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1436 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1437 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1438 negative, Gnus fetches the @var{abs(N)} oldest articles.
1442 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1443 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1444 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1445 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1446 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1450 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1451 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1452 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1453 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1454 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1455 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1456 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1457 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1458 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1459 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1462 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1463 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1464 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1465 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1466 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1469 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1470 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1471 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1472 doing any processing of its contents
1473 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1474 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1475 manner will have no permanent effects.
1479 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1480 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
1481 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1482 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
1483 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
1484 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
1485 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
1486 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
1489 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
1490 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
1491 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
1492 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
1497 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
1498 full summary buffer.
1501 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
1504 Select the highest scored article in the group when entering the
1509 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function will
1510 be called to place point on a subject line, and/or select some article.
1511 Useful functions include:
1514 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-subject
1515 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article, but
1516 don't select the article.
1518 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-article
1519 Select the first unread article.
1521 @item gnus-summary-best-unread-article
1522 Select the highest-scored unread article.
1526 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
1527 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
1528 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
1532 @node Subscription Commands
1533 @section Subscription Commands
1534 @cindex subscription
1542 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
1543 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
1544 Toggle subscription to the current group
1545 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
1551 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
1552 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
1553 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
1554 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
1560 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
1561 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
1562 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
1568 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
1569 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
1572 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
1573 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
1574 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
1575 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
1576 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
1582 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
1583 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
1587 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
1588 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
1591 @kindex S C-k (Group)
1592 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
1593 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
1594 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
1595 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
1596 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
1597 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
1598 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
1599 @file{.newsrc} file.
1603 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1613 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
1614 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
1615 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
1616 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
1617 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
1618 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
1623 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
1624 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
1625 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
1629 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1630 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
1631 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1633 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1634 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1635 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1636 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
1637 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
1638 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
1645 @section Group Levels
1649 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
1650 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
1651 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
1652 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
1653 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1655 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
1661 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
1662 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
1663 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
1664 prompted for a level.
1667 @vindex gnus-level-killed
1668 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
1669 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
1670 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
1671 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
1672 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
1673 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
1674 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
1675 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
1676 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
1677 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
1678 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
1679 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
1680 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
1681 reasons of efficiency.
1683 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
1684 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
1686 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
1687 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
1688 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
1690 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
1691 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
1692 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
1693 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
1694 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
1695 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
1696 relevant valid ranges.
1698 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
1699 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
1700 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
1701 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
1702 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
1703 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
1706 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
1707 All groups with a level less than or equal to
1708 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
1711 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
1712 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
1713 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
1714 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
1717 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
1718 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
1719 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
1720 use this level as the ``work'' level.
1722 @vindex gnus-activate-level
1723 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
1724 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
1725 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
1726 to 5. The default is 6.
1730 @section Group Score
1735 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
1736 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
1737 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
1740 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can assign a score to each
1741 group. You can then sort the group buffer based on this score.
1742 Alternatively, you can sort on score and then level. (Taken together,
1743 the level and the score is called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group
1744 that is on level 4 and has a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group
1745 on level 5 that has a score of 300. (The level is the most significant
1746 part and the score is the least significant part.))
1748 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
1749 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
1750 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
1751 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
1752 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
1753 action after each summary exit, you can add
1754 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
1755 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
1756 slow things down somewhat.
1759 @node Marking Groups
1760 @section Marking Groups
1761 @cindex marking groups
1763 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
1764 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
1765 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
1766 bidding on those groups.
1768 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
1769 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
1770 with the process mark and then execute the command.
1778 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
1779 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
1785 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
1786 Remove the mark from the current group
1787 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
1791 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
1792 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
1796 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
1797 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
1801 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
1802 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
1806 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
1807 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
1808 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
1811 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
1813 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
1814 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
1815 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
1816 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
1817 the command to be executed.
1820 @node Foreign Groups
1821 @section Foreign Groups
1822 @cindex foreign groups
1824 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
1825 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
1826 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
1827 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
1834 @findex gnus-group-make-group
1835 @cindex making groups
1836 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
1837 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
1838 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
1842 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
1843 @cindex renaming groups
1844 Rename the current group to something else
1845 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
1846 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
1852 @findex gnus-group-customize
1853 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
1857 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
1858 @cindex renaming groups
1859 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
1860 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
1864 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
1865 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
1866 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
1870 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
1871 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
1872 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
1876 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
1878 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
1879 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
1884 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
1885 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
1889 @cindex (ding) archive
1890 @cindex archive group
1891 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
1892 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
1893 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
1894 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
1895 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
1896 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
1897 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
1901 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
1903 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
1904 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
1905 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
1906 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
1910 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
1912 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
1913 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
1914 @xref{Anything Groups}.
1918 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
1919 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
1921 Make a group based on some file or other
1922 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1923 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
1924 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
1925 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
1926 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, and @code{forward}. If you run
1927 this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file type.
1928 @xref{Document Groups}.
1932 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
1933 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
1934 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
1935 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
1939 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
1944 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
1945 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1946 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
1947 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
1948 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
1949 @xref{Web Searches}.
1951 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
1952 to a particular group by using a match string like
1953 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
1956 @kindex G DEL (Group)
1957 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
1958 This function will delete the current group
1959 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
1960 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
1961 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
1962 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
1963 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
1967 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
1968 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
1969 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
1973 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
1974 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
1975 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
1978 @xref{Select Methods} for more information on the various select
1981 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
1982 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
1983 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
1984 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
1985 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
1986 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
1990 @node Group Parameters
1991 @section Group Parameters
1992 @cindex group parameters
1994 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
1995 Here's an example group parameter list:
1998 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2002 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2003 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2004 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2005 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2007 The following group parameters can be used:
2012 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2015 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2018 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2019 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2020 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2021 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2022 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2024 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2025 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2026 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2027 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2028 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2029 list address instead.
2033 Address used when doing a @kbd{a} in that group.
2036 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2039 It is totally ignored
2040 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2041 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2043 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2044 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2045 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2046 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2047 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2049 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2050 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2051 sending the message.
2055 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2056 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2057 of whether it has any unread articles.
2059 @item broken-reply-to
2060 @cindex broken-reply-to
2061 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2062 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2063 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2064 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2065 broken behavior. So there!
2069 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2070 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2074 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2075 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2076 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2081 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2082 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2083 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2084 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2085 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2086 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2087 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2091 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2092 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2093 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2096 @cindex total-expire
2097 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2098 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2099 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2100 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2105 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2106 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2107 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2108 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2109 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2110 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2113 @cindex score file group parameter
2114 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2115 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2116 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2119 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2120 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2121 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2122 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2125 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2126 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2127 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2128 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2131 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2132 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2136 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2139 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2144 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2145 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2146 Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2150 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2151 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2152 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2154 @item @var{(variable form)}
2155 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2156 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2157 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2158 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2159 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2160 @code{eval}ed there.
2162 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2163 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2164 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2165 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2166 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2170 Use the @kbd{G p} command to edit group parameters of a group. You
2171 might also be interested in reading about topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
2175 @node Listing Groups
2176 @section Listing Groups
2177 @cindex group listing
2179 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2187 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2188 List all groups that have unread articles
2189 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2190 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2191 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2192 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2199 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2200 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2201 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2202 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2203 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2204 unsubscribed groups).
2208 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2209 List all unread groups on a specific level
2210 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2211 with no unread articles.
2215 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2216 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2217 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2218 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2223 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2224 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2228 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2229 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2230 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2234 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2235 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2239 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2240 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2241 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2242 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2243 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2244 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2245 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2246 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2250 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2251 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2252 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2256 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2257 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2258 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2262 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2263 @cindex visible group parameter
2264 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2265 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2266 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2267 get the same effect.
2269 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2270 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2271 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2272 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2273 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2276 @node Sorting Groups
2277 @section Sorting Groups
2278 @cindex sorting groups
2280 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2281 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2282 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2283 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2284 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2285 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2290 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2291 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2292 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2294 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2295 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2296 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2298 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2299 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2300 Sort by group level.
2302 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2303 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2304 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
2306 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2307 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2308 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2309 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
2311 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2312 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2313 Sort by number of unread articles.
2315 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2316 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2317 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2322 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2323 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2327 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2328 some sorting criteria:
2332 @kindex G S a (Group)
2333 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2334 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2335 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2338 @kindex G S u (Group)
2339 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2340 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2341 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2344 @kindex G S l (Group)
2345 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2346 Sort the group buffer by group level
2347 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2350 @kindex G S v (Group)
2351 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2352 Sort the group buffer by group score
2353 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2356 @kindex G S r (Group)
2357 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2358 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2359 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2362 @kindex G S m (Group)
2363 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2364 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2365 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2369 All the commands below obeys the process/prefix convention
2370 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2372 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
2373 commands will sort in reverse order.
2375 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2379 @kindex G P a (Group)
2380 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
2381 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
2382 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
2385 @kindex G P u (Group)
2386 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
2387 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
2388 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
2391 @kindex G P l (Group)
2392 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
2393 Sort the groups by group level
2394 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
2397 @kindex G P v (Group)
2398 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
2399 Sort the groups by group score
2400 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2403 @kindex G P r (Group)
2404 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
2405 Sort the groups by group rank
2406 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2409 @kindex G P m (Group)
2410 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
2411 Sort the groups alphabetically by backend name
2412 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
2418 @node Group Maintenance
2419 @section Group Maintenance
2420 @cindex bogus groups
2425 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
2426 Find bogus groups and delete them
2427 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
2431 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
2432 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
2433 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
2434 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
2435 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
2439 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
2440 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
2441 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
2442 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
2445 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
2446 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
2447 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
2448 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
2453 @node Browse Foreign Server
2454 @section Browse Foreign Server
2455 @cindex foreign servers
2456 @cindex browsing servers
2461 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
2462 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
2463 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
2464 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
2467 @findex gnus-browse-mode
2468 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
2469 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
2470 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
2472 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
2477 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2478 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2482 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2483 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2486 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
2487 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
2488 Enter the current group and display the first article
2489 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
2492 @kindex RET (Browse)
2493 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
2494 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
2498 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
2499 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
2500 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2506 @findex gnus-browse-exit
2507 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
2511 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
2512 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
2513 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
2518 @section Exiting Gnus
2519 @cindex exiting Gnus
2521 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
2526 @findex gnus-group-suspend
2527 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
2528 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
2529 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
2533 @findex gnus-group-exit
2534 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
2535 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
2539 @findex gnus-group-quit
2540 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
2541 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
2544 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
2545 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
2546 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
2547 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
2548 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
2553 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
2554 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
2555 trying to customize meta-variables.
2560 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
2561 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
2562 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
2568 @section Group Topics
2571 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
2572 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
2573 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
2574 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
2575 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
2576 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
2580 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
2581 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
2592 2: alt.religion.emacs
2595 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2597 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2598 13: comp.sources.unix
2601 @findex gnus-topic-mode
2603 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
2604 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
2605 is a toggling command.)
2607 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
2608 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
2609 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
2610 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
2613 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
2614 the hook for the group mode:
2617 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
2621 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
2622 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
2623 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
2624 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
2625 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
2629 @node Topic Variables
2630 @subsection Topic Variables
2631 @cindex topic variables
2633 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
2634 really neat, I think.
2636 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
2637 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
2638 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
2651 Number of groups in the topic.
2653 Number of unread articles in the topic.
2655 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
2658 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
2659 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
2660 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
2663 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
2664 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
2666 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
2667 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
2668 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
2671 @node Topic Commands
2672 @subsection Topic Commands
2673 @cindex topic commands
2675 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
2676 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
2677 definitions slightly.
2683 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
2684 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
2685 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
2689 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
2690 Move the current group to some other topic
2691 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2692 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2696 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
2697 Copy the current group to some other topic
2698 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2699 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2703 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
2704 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
2705 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
2706 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
2707 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
2708 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
2709 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
2712 This command uses the process/prefix convention
2713 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2717 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
2718 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2719 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
2723 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
2724 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2725 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
2729 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
2730 Toggle hiding empty topics
2731 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
2735 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
2736 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
2737 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
2740 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
2741 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
2742 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
2743 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
2747 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
2749 @findex gnus-topic-indent
2750 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2751 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
2752 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
2755 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
2756 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
2757 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2758 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
2762 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
2764 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
2765 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
2766 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
2767 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
2768 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
2769 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
2772 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
2773 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
2774 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the expiry
2775 process (if any) (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}).
2779 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
2780 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
2781 topic will be removed along with the topic.
2785 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
2786 Yank the previously killed group or topic
2787 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
2792 @findex gnus-topic-rename
2793 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
2796 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
2797 @findex gnus-topic-delete
2798 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
2802 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
2803 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
2804 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
2808 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
2809 @cindex group parameters
2810 @cindex topic parameters
2812 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
2813 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
2819 @subsection Topic Sorting
2820 @cindex topic sorting
2822 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
2828 @kindex T S a (Topic)
2829 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2830 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
2831 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2834 @kindex T S u (Topic)
2835 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
2836 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
2837 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2840 @kindex T S l (Topic)
2841 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
2842 Sort the current topic by group level
2843 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
2846 @kindex T S v (Topic)
2847 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
2848 Sort the current topic by group score
2849 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2852 @kindex T S r (Topic)
2853 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
2854 Sort the current topic by group rank
2855 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2858 @kindex T S m (Topic)
2859 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
2860 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
2861 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
2865 @xref{Sorting Groups} for more information about group sorting.
2868 @node Topic Topology
2869 @subsection Topic Topology
2870 @cindex topic topology
2873 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
2879 2: alt.religion.emacs
2882 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2884 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2885 13: comp.sources.unix
2888 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
2889 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
2890 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
2895 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
2896 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
2900 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
2901 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
2902 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
2903 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
2904 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
2905 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
2907 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
2908 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
2909 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
2912 @node Topic Parameters
2913 @subsection Topic Parameters
2914 @cindex topic parameters
2916 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
2917 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
2918 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
2920 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
2921 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
2922 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
2923 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
2929 2: alt.religion.emacs
2933 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2935 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2936 13: comp.sources.unix
2940 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
2941 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
2942 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
2943 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
2944 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
2945 . "religion.SCORE")}.
2947 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
2948 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
2949 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
2950 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
2951 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
2953 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
2954 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
2955 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
2956 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
2957 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
2958 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
2959 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
2960 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
2963 @node Misc Group Stuff
2964 @section Misc Group Stuff
2967 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
2968 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
2969 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
2970 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
2977 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
2978 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
2979 @xref{The Server Buffer}.
2983 @findex gnus-group-post-news
2984 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
2985 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
2989 @findex gnus-group-mail
2990 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
2994 Variables for the group buffer:
2998 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
2999 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
3000 is called after the group buffer has been
3003 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
3004 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3005 is called after the group buffer is
3006 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
3009 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
3010 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3011 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
3012 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
3014 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3015 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3016 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
3017 whether they are empty or not.
3022 @node Scanning New Messages
3023 @subsection Scanning New Messages
3024 @cindex new messages
3025 @cindex scanning new news
3031 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
3032 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
3033 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
3034 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
3035 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
3036 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
3041 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
3042 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
3043 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
3044 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
3045 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
3046 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
3047 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
3049 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
3050 @cindex activating groups
3052 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
3053 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
3058 @findex gnus-group-restart
3059 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
3060 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
3061 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
3065 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
3066 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
3068 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
3069 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
3073 @node Group Information
3074 @subsection Group Information
3075 @cindex group information
3076 @cindex information on groups
3083 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
3084 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
3087 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
3088 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
3089 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
3090 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
3091 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
3092 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
3093 for fetching the file.
3095 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
3096 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
3100 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
3102 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
3103 @cindex describing groups
3104 @cindex group description
3105 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
3106 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
3107 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
3111 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
3112 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
3113 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
3120 @findex gnus-version
3121 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
3125 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
3126 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
3129 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
3132 @findex gnus-info-find-node
3133 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3137 @node Group Timestamp
3138 @subsection Group Timestamp
3140 @cindex group timestamps
3142 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
3143 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3144 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3147 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3150 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3152 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3153 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3156 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3157 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3160 This will result in lines looking like:
3163 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3164 0: custom 19961002T012713
3167 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3168 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3172 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3173 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3178 @subsection File Commands
3179 @cindex file commands
3185 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3186 @vindex gnus-init-file
3187 @cindex reading init file
3188 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3189 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3193 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3194 @cindex saving .newsrc
3195 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3196 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3197 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3200 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3201 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3202 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3207 @node The Summary Buffer
3208 @chapter The Summary Buffer
3209 @cindex summary buffer
3211 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3212 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3214 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3215 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3217 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3220 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3221 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3222 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3223 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3224 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3225 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
3226 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3227 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3228 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3229 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3230 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3231 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3232 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3233 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3234 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3235 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3236 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3237 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
3238 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3239 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3240 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3241 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3242 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3243 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3244 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3245 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
3246 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3247 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3251 @node Summary Buffer Format
3252 @section Summary Buffer Format
3253 @cindex summary buffer format
3257 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
3258 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
3259 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
3265 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3266 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
3267 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3268 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3271 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3272 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3273 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3274 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3275 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3276 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
3277 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3278 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
3279 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
3280 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
3281 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
3284 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
3285 'mail-extract-address-components)
3288 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3289 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3290 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3291 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
3294 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3295 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3297 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3298 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3299 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3300 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3301 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3303 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3305 The following format specification characters are understood:
3313 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
3314 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3315 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
3317 Full @code{From} header.
3319 The name (from the @code{From} header).
3321 The name, code @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header
3322 (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
3324 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
3325 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
3326 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
3327 may be more thorough.
3329 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
3332 Number of lines in the article.
3334 Number of characters in the article.
3336 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3338 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
3339 pushes everything after it off the screen).
3341 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
3342 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3344 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
3345 for adopted articles.
3347 One space for each thread level.
3349 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
3354 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
3355 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
3359 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
3361 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
3362 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
3363 default level. If the difference between
3364 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
3365 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
3373 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
3375 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
3381 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
3382 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
3384 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
3385 article has any children.
3391 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
3392 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
3393 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
3394 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
3395 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
3396 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
3399 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
3400 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
3401 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
3402 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
3403 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
3404 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
3406 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
3407 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
3409 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
3412 @node To From Newsgroups
3413 @subsection To From Newsgroups
3417 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
3418 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
3419 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
3420 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
3421 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
3425 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
3426 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
3427 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
3431 (setq gnus-extra-headers
3432 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
3435 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
3436 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
3439 @findex gnus-extra-header
3440 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
3441 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
3442 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
3445 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
3449 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
3450 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
3451 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
3452 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
3453 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
3454 headers are used instead.
3458 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
3459 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
3460 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files.
3462 In summary, you'd typically do something like the following:
3465 (setq gnus-extra-headers
3467 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
3468 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
3469 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20f%]%) %s\n")
3470 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
3474 Now, this is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
3475 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
3482 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
3483 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
3486 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
3487 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
3489 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
3490 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
3491 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
3492 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
3494 Here are the elements you can play with:
3500 Unprefixed group name.
3502 Current article number.
3504 Current article score.
3508 Number of unread articles in this group.
3510 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
3513 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
3514 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
3515 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
3516 and no unselected ones.
3518 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
3519 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
3521 Subject of the current article.
3523 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
3525 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
3527 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3529 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3531 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
3533 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
3537 @node Summary Highlighting
3538 @subsection Summary Highlighting
3542 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3543 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3544 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
3545 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
3546 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3548 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
3549 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
3550 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
3551 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3553 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
3554 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
3555 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
3556 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
3558 @item gnus-summary-highlight
3559 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
3560 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
3561 list where the elements are of the format @var{(FORM . FACE)}. If you
3562 would, for instance, like ticked articles to be italic and high-scored
3563 articles to be bold, you could set this variable to something like
3565 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
3566 ((> score default) . bold))
3568 As you may have guessed, if @var{FORM} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
3569 @var{FACE} will be applied to the line.
3573 @node Summary Maneuvering
3574 @section Summary Maneuvering
3575 @cindex summary movement
3577 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
3578 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
3580 None of these commands select articles.
3585 @kindex M-n (Summary)
3586 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
3587 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
3588 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
3589 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
3593 @kindex M-p (Summary)
3594 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
3595 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
3596 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
3597 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
3602 @kindex G j (Summary)
3603 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
3604 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
3605 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
3608 @kindex G g (Summary)
3609 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
3610 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
3611 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
3614 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
3615 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
3616 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
3617 to the group buffer.
3619 Variables related to summary movement:
3623 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
3624 @item gnus-auto-select-next
3625 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
3626 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
3627 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
3628 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
3629 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
3630 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
3631 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the
3632 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
3633 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
3634 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
3635 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
3636 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
3638 @item gnus-auto-select-same
3639 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
3640 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
3641 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
3642 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
3643 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
3644 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
3646 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
3648 @item gnus-summary-check-current
3649 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
3650 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
3651 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
3652 Instead, they will choose the current article.
3654 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
3655 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
3656 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
3657 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
3658 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
3659 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
3660 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
3661 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
3664 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
3665 the given number of lines from the top.
3670 @node Choosing Articles
3671 @section Choosing Articles
3672 @cindex selecting articles
3675 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
3676 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
3680 @node Choosing Commands
3681 @subsection Choosing Commands
3683 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
3684 and they all select and display an article.
3688 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3689 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3690 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
3691 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3696 @kindex G n (Summary)
3697 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
3698 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
3699 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
3704 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
3705 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
3706 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
3711 @kindex G N (Summary)
3712 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
3713 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
3718 @kindex G P (Summary)
3719 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
3720 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
3723 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
3724 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
3725 Go to the next article with the same subject
3726 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
3729 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
3730 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
3731 Go to the previous article with the same subject
3732 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
3736 @kindex G f (Summary)
3738 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
3739 Go to the first unread article
3740 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
3744 @kindex G b (Summary)
3746 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
3747 Go to the article with the highest score
3748 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
3753 @kindex G l (Summary)
3754 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
3755 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
3758 @kindex G o (Summary)
3759 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
3761 @cindex article history
3762 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
3763 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
3764 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
3765 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
3766 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
3767 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
3771 @node Choosing Variables
3772 @subsection Choosing Variables
3774 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
3777 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3778 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3779 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
3780 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
3781 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
3782 the server and display it in the article buffer.
3784 @item gnus-select-article-hook
3785 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
3786 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
3787 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
3789 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
3790 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
3791 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
3792 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
3793 @findex gnus-unread-mark
3794 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
3795 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
3796 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
3797 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
3798 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
3799 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
3800 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
3801 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
3802 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
3807 @node Paging the Article
3808 @section Scrolling the Article
3809 @cindex article scrolling
3814 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3815 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3816 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
3817 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
3818 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3821 @kindex DEL (Summary)
3822 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
3823 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
3826 @kindex RET (Summary)
3827 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
3828 Scroll the current article one line forward
3829 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
3832 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
3833 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
3834 Scroll the current article one line backward
3835 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
3839 @kindex A g (Summary)
3841 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
3842 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
3843 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
3844 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
3845 the way it came from the server.
3850 @kindex A < (Summary)
3851 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
3852 Scroll to the beginning of the article
3853 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
3858 @kindex A > (Summary)
3859 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
3860 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
3864 @kindex A s (Summary)
3866 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
3867 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
3868 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
3872 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
3873 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
3878 @node Reply Followup and Post
3879 @section Reply, Followup and Post
3882 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
3883 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
3887 @node Summary Mail Commands
3888 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
3890 @cindex composing mail
3892 Commands for composing a mail message:
3898 @kindex S r (Summary)
3900 @findex gnus-summary-reply
3901 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
3902 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
3903 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
3904 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
3909 @kindex S R (Summary)
3910 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
3911 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
3912 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
3913 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
3914 command uses the process/prefix convention.
3917 @kindex S w (Summary)
3918 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
3919 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
3920 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
3921 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
3922 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
3925 @kindex S W (Summary)
3926 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
3927 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
3928 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
3929 the process/prefix convention.
3932 @kindex S o m (Summary)
3933 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
3934 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
3935 Forward the current article to some other person
3936 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3937 headers of the forwarded article.
3942 @kindex S m (Summary)
3943 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
3944 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
3945 Send a mail to some other person
3946 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
3949 @kindex S D b (Summary)
3950 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
3951 @cindex bouncing mail
3952 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
3953 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
3954 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
3955 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
3956 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
3957 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
3958 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
3959 very well fail, though.
3962 @kindex S D r (Summary)
3963 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
3964 Not to be confused with the previous command,
3965 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
3966 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
3967 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
3968 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
3969 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
3970 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
3971 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
3973 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
3974 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
3975 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
3976 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
3977 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
3979 This command understands the process/prefix convention
3980 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3983 @kindex S O m (Summary)
3984 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
3985 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
3986 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
3987 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3990 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
3991 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
3992 @cindex crossposting
3993 @cindex excessive crossposting
3994 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
3995 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
3997 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
3998 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
3999 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
4000 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
4001 command understands the process/prefix convention
4002 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
4006 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4009 @node Summary Post Commands
4010 @subsection Summary Post Commands
4012 @cindex composing news
4014 Commands for posting a news article:
4020 @kindex S p (Summary)
4021 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
4022 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
4023 Post an article to the current group
4024 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
4029 @kindex S f (Summary)
4030 @findex gnus-summary-followup
4031 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
4032 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
4036 @kindex S F (Summary)
4038 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
4039 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
4040 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
4041 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
4042 process/prefix convention.
4045 @kindex S n (Summary)
4046 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
4047 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4048 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
4051 @kindex S N (Summary)
4052 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
4053 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4054 message through mail and include the original message
4055 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
4056 the process/prefix convention.
4059 @kindex S o p (Summary)
4060 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
4061 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
4062 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
4063 headers of the forwarded article.
4066 @kindex S O p (Summary)
4067 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
4069 @cindex making digests
4070 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
4071 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
4072 process/prefix convention.
4075 @kindex S u (Summary)
4076 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
4077 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
4078 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
4079 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
4082 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4085 @node Canceling and Superseding
4086 @section Canceling Articles
4087 @cindex canceling articles
4088 @cindex superseding articles
4090 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
4091 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
4093 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
4095 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
4097 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
4098 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
4099 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
4100 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
4101 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
4102 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4104 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
4105 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
4108 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
4109 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
4110 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
4112 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
4113 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
4114 your original article.
4116 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
4118 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
4119 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
4120 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
4123 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
4124 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
4125 have posted almost the same article twice.
4127 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
4128 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
4129 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
4130 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
4131 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
4132 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
4133 header by substituting one of those words for the word
4134 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
4135 you would do normally. The previous article will be
4136 canceled/superseded.
4138 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
4141 @node Marking Articles
4142 @section Marking Articles
4143 @cindex article marking
4144 @cindex article ticking
4147 There are several marks you can set on an article.
4149 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
4150 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
4151 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
4153 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
4156 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
4157 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
4158 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
4162 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
4166 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
4167 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
4171 @node Unread Articles
4172 @subsection Unread Articles
4174 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
4179 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
4180 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
4182 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
4183 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
4184 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
4185 tick it. However, articles can be expired, so if you want to keep an
4186 article forever, you'll have to make it persistent (@pxref{Persistent
4190 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
4191 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
4193 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
4194 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
4195 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
4198 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
4199 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
4201 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
4206 @subsection Read Articles
4207 @cindex expirable mark
4209 All the following marks mark articles as read.
4214 @vindex gnus-del-mark
4215 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
4216 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
4219 @vindex gnus-read-mark
4220 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
4223 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
4224 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
4225 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
4228 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
4229 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
4232 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
4233 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
4236 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
4237 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
4240 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
4241 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
4244 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
4245 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
4248 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
4249 @sc{SOUP}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
4252 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
4253 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
4257 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
4258 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
4259 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
4263 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
4264 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
4266 One more special mark, though:
4270 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
4271 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
4273 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
4274 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
4275 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
4276 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
4282 @subsection Other Marks
4283 @cindex process mark
4286 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
4292 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
4293 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
4294 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
4295 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
4296 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
4299 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
4300 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
4301 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
4302 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
4305 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
4306 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
4307 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
4310 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
4311 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
4312 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
4313 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
4316 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
4317 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
4318 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
4319 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
4320 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
4323 @vindex gnus-process-mark
4324 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
4325 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
4326 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
4327 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
4328 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
4332 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
4333 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
4334 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
4336 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
4337 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
4338 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
4342 @subsection Setting Marks
4343 @cindex setting marks
4345 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
4350 @kindex M c (Summary)
4351 @kindex M-u (Summary)
4352 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
4353 @cindex mark as unread
4354 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
4355 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
4361 @kindex M t (Summary)
4362 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
4363 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
4364 @xref{Article Caching}.
4369 @kindex M ? (Summary)
4370 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
4371 Mark the current article as dormant
4372 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
4376 @kindex M d (Summary)
4378 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
4379 Mark the current article as read
4380 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
4384 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
4385 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
4386 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
4391 @kindex M k (Summary)
4392 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
4393 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
4394 and then select the next unread article
4395 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
4399 @kindex M K (Summary)
4400 @kindex C-k (Summary)
4401 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
4402 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
4403 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
4406 @kindex M C (Summary)
4407 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
4408 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
4409 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
4412 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
4413 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
4414 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
4415 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
4418 @kindex M H (Summary)
4419 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
4420 Catchup the current group to point
4421 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
4424 @kindex C-w (Summary)
4425 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
4426 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
4427 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
4430 @kindex M V k (Summary)
4431 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
4432 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
4433 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
4437 @kindex M e (Summary)
4439 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
4440 Mark the current article as expirable
4441 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
4444 @kindex M b (Summary)
4445 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
4446 Set a bookmark in the current article
4447 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
4450 @kindex M B (Summary)
4451 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
4452 Remove the bookmark from the current article
4453 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
4456 @kindex M V c (Summary)
4457 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
4458 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
4459 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4462 @kindex M V u (Summary)
4463 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
4464 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
4465 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
4468 @kindex M V m (Summary)
4469 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
4470 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
4471 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
4472 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4475 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
4476 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
4477 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
4478 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
4479 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
4480 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
4481 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
4482 The default is @code{t}.
4485 @node Setting Process Marks
4486 @subsection Setting Process Marks
4487 @cindex setting process marks
4494 @kindex M P p (Summary)
4495 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
4496 Mark the current article with the process mark
4497 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
4498 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
4502 @kindex M P u (Summary)
4503 @kindex M-# (Summary)
4504 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
4505 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
4508 @kindex M P U (Summary)
4509 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
4510 Remove the process mark from all articles
4511 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
4514 @kindex M P i (Summary)
4515 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
4516 Invert the list of process marked articles
4517 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
4520 @kindex M P R (Summary)
4521 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
4522 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
4523 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
4526 @kindex M P r (Summary)
4527 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
4528 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
4531 @kindex M P t (Summary)
4532 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4533 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4534 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4537 @kindex M P T (Summary)
4538 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4539 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4540 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4543 @kindex M P v (Summary)
4544 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
4545 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
4546 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
4549 @kindex M P s (Summary)
4550 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
4551 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4554 @kindex M P S (Summary)
4555 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
4556 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
4557 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
4560 @kindex M P a (Summary)
4561 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
4562 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4565 @kindex M P b (Summary)
4566 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
4567 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
4568 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
4571 @kindex M P k (Summary)
4572 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
4573 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
4574 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
4577 @kindex M P y (Summary)
4578 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
4579 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
4580 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
4583 @kindex M P w (Summary)
4584 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
4585 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
4586 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
4595 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
4596 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
4597 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
4600 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
4601 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
4602 additional articles.
4608 @kindex / / (Summary)
4609 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
4610 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
4611 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
4614 @kindex / a (Summary)
4615 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
4616 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
4617 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
4621 @kindex / u (Summary)
4623 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
4624 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
4625 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
4626 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
4627 dormant articles will also be excluded.
4630 @kindex / m (Summary)
4631 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
4632 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
4633 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
4636 @kindex / t (Summary)
4637 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
4638 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
4639 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}). If given a prefix, limit to
4640 articles younger than that number of days.
4643 @kindex / n (Summary)
4644 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
4645 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
4646 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
4647 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4650 @kindex / w (Summary)
4651 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
4652 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
4653 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
4657 @kindex / v (Summary)
4658 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
4659 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
4660 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
4664 @kindex M S (Summary)
4665 @kindex / E (Summary)
4666 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
4667 Include all expunged articles in the limit
4668 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
4671 @kindex / D (Summary)
4672 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
4673 Include all dormant articles in the limit
4674 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
4677 @kindex / * (Summary)
4678 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
4679 Include all cached articles in the limit
4680 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
4683 @kindex / d (Summary)
4684 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
4685 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
4686 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
4689 @kindex / T (Summary)
4690 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
4691 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
4694 @kindex / c (Summary)
4695 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
4696 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
4697 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
4700 @kindex / C (Summary)
4701 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
4702 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
4703 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
4704 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
4712 @cindex article threading
4714 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
4715 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
4716 hierarchical fashion.
4718 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
4719 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
4720 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
4721 or simply missing. Weird news propagation excarcerbates the problem,
4722 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
4723 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
4724 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
4726 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
4730 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
4733 A tree-like article structure.
4736 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
4739 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
4740 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
4741 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
4742 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
4743 called loose threads.
4745 @item thread gathering
4746 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
4748 @item sparse threads
4749 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
4750 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
4756 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
4757 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
4761 @node Customizing Threading
4762 @subsection Customizing Threading
4763 @cindex customizing threading
4766 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
4767 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
4768 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
4769 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
4774 @subsubsection Loose Threads
4777 @cindex loose threads
4780 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
4781 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
4782 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
4783 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
4784 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
4785 read or killed the root in a previous session.
4787 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
4788 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
4789 There are four possible values:
4793 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
4794 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
4795 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4796 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4797 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4802 @cindex adopting articles
4807 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
4808 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
4809 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
4810 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
4813 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
4814 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
4815 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
4816 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
4817 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
4818 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
4819 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
4822 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
4823 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
4824 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
4828 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
4829 display them after one another.
4832 Don't gather loose threads.
4835 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4836 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4837 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
4838 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
4839 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
4840 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
4841 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
4842 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
4843 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
4844 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
4845 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
4847 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
4848 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
4849 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
4852 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4853 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4854 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
4855 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
4856 simplification is used.
4858 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4859 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4860 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
4861 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
4863 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
4865 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4871 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
4872 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
4873 "answer" "reference" "announce"
4874 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
4879 (mapconcat 'identity
4880 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
4882 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
4885 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
4888 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
4889 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
4890 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
4891 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
4892 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
4893 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
4895 Useful functions to put in this list include:
4898 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
4899 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
4900 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
4902 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
4903 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
4906 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
4907 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
4908 Remove excessive whitespace.
4911 You may also write your own functions, of course.
4914 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4915 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4916 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
4917 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
4918 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
4919 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
4920 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
4921 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
4923 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4924 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4925 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
4926 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
4927 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
4928 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
4929 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
4930 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
4931 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
4935 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4936 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4937 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
4938 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
4940 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4941 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4942 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
4945 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
4949 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4950 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
4956 @node Filling In Threads
4957 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
4960 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
4961 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
4962 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
4963 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
4964 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
4965 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
4966 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
4967 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
4968 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
4969 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
4970 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
4971 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
4973 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
4974 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
4975 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
4977 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
4978 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
4979 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
4980 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
4981 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
4982 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
4983 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
4984 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
4985 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
4986 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
4987 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
4988 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
4989 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
4990 @code{nil} by default.
4995 @node More Threading
4996 @subsubsection More Threading
4999 @item gnus-show-threads
5000 @vindex gnus-show-threads
5001 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
5002 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
5003 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
5004 slower and more awkward.
5006 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5007 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5008 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
5011 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
5012 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
5013 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
5014 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
5015 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
5016 threads are expunged.
5018 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
5019 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
5020 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
5023 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5024 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5025 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
5026 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
5027 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
5030 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
5031 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
5032 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
5038 @node Low-Level Threading
5039 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
5043 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
5044 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
5045 Hook run before parsing any headers.
5047 @item gnus-alter-header-function
5048 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
5049 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
5050 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
5051 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
5052 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
5053 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
5054 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
5055 meaningful. Here's one example:
5058 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
5060 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
5061 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
5063 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
5065 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
5072 @node Thread Commands
5073 @subsection Thread Commands
5074 @cindex thread commands
5080 @kindex T k (Summary)
5081 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
5082 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
5083 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
5084 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
5085 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
5090 @kindex T l (Summary)
5091 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
5092 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
5093 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
5094 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
5097 @kindex T i (Summary)
5098 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
5099 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
5100 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
5103 @kindex T # (Summary)
5104 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5105 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
5106 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5109 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
5110 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5111 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
5112 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5115 @kindex T T (Summary)
5116 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
5117 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
5120 @kindex T s (Summary)
5121 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
5122 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
5123 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
5126 @kindex T h (Summary)
5127 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
5128 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
5131 @kindex T S (Summary)
5132 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
5133 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
5136 @kindex T H (Summary)
5137 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
5138 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
5141 @kindex T t (Summary)
5142 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
5143 Re-thread the current article's thread
5144 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
5145 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
5148 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
5149 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
5150 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
5151 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
5155 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
5156 understand the numeric prefix.
5161 @kindex T n (Summary)
5162 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
5163 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
5166 @kindex T p (Summary)
5167 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
5168 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
5171 @kindex T d (Summary)
5172 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
5173 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
5176 @kindex T u (Summary)
5177 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
5178 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
5181 @kindex T o (Summary)
5182 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
5183 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
5186 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
5187 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
5188 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
5189 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
5190 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
5191 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
5192 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
5193 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
5194 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
5195 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
5196 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
5197 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
5204 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
5205 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
5206 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
5207 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5208 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
5209 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5210 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
5211 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
5212 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
5213 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
5214 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
5216 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
5217 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
5218 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
5219 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
5220 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
5222 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
5223 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
5224 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
5226 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
5227 last function in the list. You should probably always include
5228 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
5229 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
5230 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
5231 ascending article order.
5233 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
5234 by number, you could do something like:
5237 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5238 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5239 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5240 (reverse gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
5243 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
5244 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
5245 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
5246 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
5247 which the articles arrived.
5249 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
5253 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5255 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
5256 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
5259 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
5260 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
5261 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
5262 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
5265 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
5266 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
5267 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
5268 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
5269 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
5270 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
5271 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
5272 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
5273 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
5274 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
5275 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
5276 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
5277 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
5279 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
5283 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
5284 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
5285 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
5290 @node Asynchronous Fetching
5291 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
5292 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
5293 @cindex article pre-fetch
5296 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
5297 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
5298 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
5299 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
5300 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
5302 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
5303 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
5305 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
5306 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
5307 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
5308 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
5309 connection is blocked.
5311 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
5312 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
5313 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
5314 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
5316 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
5317 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
5318 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
5319 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
5322 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
5325 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
5326 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
5327 happen automatically.
5329 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
5330 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
5331 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
5332 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
5333 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
5334 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
5335 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
5337 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
5338 @findex gnus-async-read-p
5339 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
5340 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
5341 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
5342 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
5343 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
5344 data structure as the only parameter.
5346 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
5349 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
5350 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
5351 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
5352 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
5355 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
5358 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
5359 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
5360 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
5362 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
5363 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
5364 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
5365 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
5369 Remove articles when they are read.
5372 Remove articles when exiting the group.
5375 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
5377 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
5378 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
5379 @c from the next group.
5382 @node Article Caching
5383 @section Article Caching
5384 @cindex article caching
5387 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
5388 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
5389 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
5390 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
5391 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
5393 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
5395 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5396 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
5397 @vindex gnus-use-cache
5398 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
5399 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
5400 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
5401 cache is flat or hierarchal is controlled by the
5402 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
5404 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
5405 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
5406 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
5407 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
5408 as dormant, and don't worry.
5410 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
5412 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
5413 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
5414 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
5415 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
5416 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
5417 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
5418 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
5419 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
5420 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
5421 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
5423 @findex gnus-jog-cache
5424 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
5425 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
5426 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
5427 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
5428 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
5429 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
5430 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
5431 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
5432 not then be downloaded by this command.
5434 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
5435 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
5436 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
5437 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
5438 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
5439 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
5441 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
5442 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
5443 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
5444 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
5445 variables, the group is not cached.
5447 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
5448 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
5449 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
5450 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
5451 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
5452 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
5453 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
5454 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
5455 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
5459 @node Persistent Articles
5460 @section Persistent Articles
5461 @cindex persistent articles
5463 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
5464 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
5465 useful in my opinion.
5467 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
5468 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
5469 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
5470 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
5471 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
5472 the expiry going on at the news server.
5474 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
5475 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
5476 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
5482 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
5483 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
5486 @kindex M-* (Summary)
5487 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
5488 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
5489 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
5493 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
5495 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
5496 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
5497 interested in persistent articles:
5500 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
5504 @node Article Backlog
5505 @section Article Backlog
5507 @cindex article backlog
5509 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
5510 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
5511 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
5512 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
5513 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
5514 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
5515 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
5516 increase memory usage some.
5518 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
5519 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
5520 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
5521 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
5522 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
5523 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
5524 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
5526 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
5529 @node Saving Articles
5530 @section Saving Articles
5531 @cindex saving articles
5533 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
5534 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
5535 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
5536 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
5537 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
5539 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
5540 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
5541 unwanted headers before saving the article.
5543 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
5544 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
5545 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
5546 deleted before saving.
5552 @kindex O o (Summary)
5554 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
5555 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
5556 Save the current article using the default article saver
5557 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
5560 @kindex O m (Summary)
5561 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
5562 Save the current article in mail format
5563 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
5566 @kindex O r (Summary)
5567 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
5568 Save the current article in rmail format
5569 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
5572 @kindex O f (Summary)
5573 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
5574 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
5575 Save the current article in plain file format
5576 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
5579 @kindex O F (Summary)
5580 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
5581 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
5582 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
5585 @kindex O b (Summary)
5586 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
5587 Save the current article body in plain file format
5588 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
5591 @kindex O h (Summary)
5592 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
5593 Save the current article in mh folder format
5594 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
5597 @kindex O v (Summary)
5598 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
5599 Save the current article in a VM folder
5600 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
5603 @kindex O p (Summary)
5604 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
5605 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
5606 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
5609 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
5610 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
5611 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
5612 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
5613 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
5614 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
5615 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
5616 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
5617 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
5618 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
5619 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
5620 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
5624 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
5625 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
5626 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
5627 functions below, or you can create your own.
5631 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5632 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5633 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
5634 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5635 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
5636 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5637 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5639 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5640 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5641 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
5642 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
5643 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5644 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5646 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
5647 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
5648 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
5649 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5650 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
5651 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5652 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5654 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5655 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5656 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
5657 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5658 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5660 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5661 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5662 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
5663 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
5664 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
5667 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
5668 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
5669 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
5670 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
5671 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
5673 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5674 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5675 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
5676 reader to use this setting.
5679 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
5680 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
5681 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
5682 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
5685 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
5686 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
5687 available functions that generate names:
5691 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
5692 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
5693 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5695 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
5696 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5697 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5699 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
5700 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
5701 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5703 @item gnus-plain-save-name
5704 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5705 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5708 @vindex gnus-split-methods
5709 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
5710 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
5711 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
5712 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
5716 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
5717 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
5718 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
5719 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
5722 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
5723 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
5724 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
5725 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
5726 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
5727 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
5728 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
5729 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
5730 called returns a string or a list of strings.
5732 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
5733 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
5734 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
5735 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
5737 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
5738 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
5739 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
5742 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
5743 lots of mail groups called things like
5744 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
5745 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
5746 following will do just that:
5749 (defun my-save-name (group)
5750 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
5751 (substring group (match-end 0))))
5753 (setq gnus-split-methods
5754 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
5759 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5760 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
5761 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
5762 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
5763 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
5764 all the files in the top level directory
5765 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
5766 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
5767 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
5768 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
5770 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
5771 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
5772 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
5773 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
5774 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
5777 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
5781 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
5782 (setq gnus-default-article-saver 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
5785 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
5786 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
5787 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
5788 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
5791 @node Decoding Articles
5792 @section Decoding Articles
5793 @cindex decoding articles
5795 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
5796 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
5799 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
5800 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
5801 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
5802 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
5803 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
5804 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
5808 @cindex article series
5809 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
5810 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
5811 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
5812 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
5813 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
5815 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
5816 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
5817 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
5819 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
5820 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
5821 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
5823 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
5824 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
5825 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
5828 @node Uuencoded Articles
5829 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
5831 @cindex uuencoded articles
5836 @kindex X u (Summary)
5837 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
5838 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
5839 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
5842 @kindex X U (Summary)
5843 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
5844 Uudecodes and saves the current series
5845 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5848 @kindex X v u (Summary)
5849 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
5850 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
5853 @kindex X v U (Summary)
5854 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
5855 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
5856 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
5860 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
5861 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
5862 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
5863 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
5864 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5866 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
5867 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
5868 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
5869 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
5872 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
5873 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
5874 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
5875 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
5876 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
5877 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
5881 @node Shell Archives
5882 @subsection Shell Archives
5884 @cindex shell archives
5885 @cindex shared articles
5887 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
5888 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
5889 some commands to deal with these:
5894 @kindex X s (Summary)
5895 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
5896 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
5899 @kindex X S (Summary)
5900 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
5901 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
5904 @kindex X v s (Summary)
5905 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
5906 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
5909 @kindex X v S (Summary)
5910 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
5911 Unshars, views and saves the current series
5912 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
5916 @node PostScript Files
5917 @subsection PostScript Files
5923 @kindex X p (Summary)
5924 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
5925 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
5928 @kindex X P (Summary)
5929 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
5930 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
5931 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
5934 @kindex X v p (Summary)
5935 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
5936 View the current PostScript series
5937 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
5940 @kindex X v P (Summary)
5941 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
5942 View and save the current PostScript series
5943 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
5948 @subsection Other Files
5952 @kindex X o (Summary)
5953 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
5954 Save the current series
5955 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
5958 @kindex X b (Summary)
5959 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
5960 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
5961 doesn't really work yet.
5965 @node Decoding Variables
5966 @subsection Decoding Variables
5968 Adjective, not verb.
5971 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
5972 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
5973 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
5977 @node Rule Variables
5978 @subsubsection Rule Variables
5979 @cindex rule variables
5981 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
5982 variables are of the form
5985 (list '(regexp1 command2)
5992 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5993 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5995 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
5996 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
5999 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6000 (list '(\"\\\\.au$\" \"sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio\")))
6003 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6004 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6005 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
6006 user and default view rules.
6008 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6009 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6010 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
6015 @node Other Decode Variables
6016 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
6019 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6021 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6022 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
6023 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
6024 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
6025 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
6029 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
6030 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
6033 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
6034 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
6035 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
6038 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6039 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6040 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
6041 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
6042 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
6045 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6046 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6047 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
6049 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6050 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6051 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
6052 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
6053 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
6056 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6057 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6058 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
6060 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6061 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6062 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
6063 looking for files to display.
6065 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
6066 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
6067 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
6070 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6071 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6072 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
6075 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6076 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6077 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
6080 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6081 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6082 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
6085 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6086 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6087 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
6088 decoded articles as unread.
6090 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6091 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6092 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
6093 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
6095 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6096 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6097 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
6099 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6100 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6102 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
6103 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
6104 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
6105 @code{metamail} for viewing.
6107 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6108 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6109 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
6110 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
6111 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
6112 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC1153---no easy way
6113 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
6114 simply dropped them.
6119 @node Uuencoding and Posting
6120 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
6124 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6125 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6126 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
6127 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
6128 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
6129 for you when you post the article.
6131 @item gnus-uu-post-length
6132 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
6133 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
6134 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
6136 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
6137 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
6138 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
6139 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
6140 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
6141 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
6142 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
6144 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6145 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6146 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
6147 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
6148 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
6149 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
6150 Default is @code{t}.
6156 @subsection Viewing Files
6157 @cindex viewing files
6158 @cindex pseudo-articles
6160 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
6161 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
6162 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
6163 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
6164 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
6165 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
6166 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
6168 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
6169 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
6170 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
6171 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
6173 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
6174 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
6175 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
6177 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
6178 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
6179 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
6180 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
6181 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
6183 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
6184 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
6185 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
6186 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
6187 a list of parameters to that command.
6189 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
6190 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
6191 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
6193 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
6194 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
6195 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
6198 @node Article Treatment
6199 @section Article Treatment
6201 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
6202 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
6203 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
6204 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
6205 these articles easier.
6208 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
6209 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
6210 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
6211 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
6212 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
6213 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
6214 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
6218 @node Article Highlighting
6219 @subsection Article Highlighting
6220 @cindex highlighting
6222 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
6223 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
6228 @kindex W H a (Summary)
6229 @findex gnus-article-highlight
6230 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
6231 Do much highlighting of the current article
6232 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
6233 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
6235 Most users would prefer using @code{gnus-article-maybe-highlight} in
6236 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} (@pxref{Customizing Articles}) instead.
6237 This is a bit less agressive---it highlights only the headers, the
6238 signature and adds buttons.
6241 @kindex W H h (Summary)
6242 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
6243 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
6244 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
6245 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
6246 variable, which is a list where each element has the form @var{(regexp
6247 name content)}. @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
6248 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
6249 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
6250 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
6251 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
6254 @kindex W H c (Summary)
6255 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
6256 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
6258 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
6261 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6263 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6264 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
6265 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
6267 @item gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6268 @vindex gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6269 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
6271 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
6272 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
6273 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
6275 @item gnus-cite-face-list
6276 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
6277 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
6278 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
6279 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
6280 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
6282 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
6283 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
6284 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
6286 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6287 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6288 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
6290 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6291 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6292 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
6293 that it's a citation.
6295 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6296 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6297 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
6299 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6300 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6301 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
6303 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
6304 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
6305 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
6306 cited text belonging to the attribution.
6312 @kindex W H s (Summary)
6313 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6314 @vindex gnus-signature-face
6315 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
6316 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
6317 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
6318 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
6319 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
6324 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to highlight articles automatically.
6327 @node Article Fontisizing
6328 @subsection Article Fontisizing
6330 @cindex article emphasis
6332 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
6333 @kindex W e (Summary)
6334 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
6335 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*}. Gnus can make this look nicer by
6336 running the article through the @kbd{W e}
6337 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
6339 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
6340 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
6341 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
6342 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
6343 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
6344 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
6345 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
6346 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
6350 (setq gnus-article-emphasis
6351 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
6352 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
6355 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
6356 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
6357 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
6358 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
6359 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
6360 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
6361 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
6362 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
6363 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
6364 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
6365 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
6366 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
6367 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
6369 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
6370 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
6371 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
6375 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
6378 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to fontize articles automatically.
6381 @node Article Hiding
6382 @subsection Article Hiding
6383 @cindex article hiding
6385 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
6386 too much cruft in most articles.
6391 @kindex W W a (Summary)
6392 @findex gnus-article-hide
6393 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
6394 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
6395 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
6398 @kindex W W h (Summary)
6399 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
6400 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
6404 @kindex W W b (Summary)
6405 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
6406 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
6407 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
6410 @kindex W W s (Summary)
6411 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
6412 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
6416 @kindex W W p (Summary)
6417 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
6418 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
6419 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
6420 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
6421 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
6422 articles that have signatures in them do:
6424 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
6426 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp)
6428 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
6429 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
6431 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
6434 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
6439 @kindex W W P (Summary)
6440 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
6441 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
6442 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
6445 @kindex W W c (Summary)
6446 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
6447 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
6448 customizing the hiding:
6452 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
6453 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
6454 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
6455 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
6456 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
6457 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
6458 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
6463 Starting point of the hidden text.
6465 Ending point of the hidden text.
6467 Number of characters in the hidden region.
6469 Number of lines of hidden text.
6472 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
6473 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
6474 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave shown.
6479 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
6480 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
6482 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
6483 following two variables:
6486 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6487 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6488 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
6489 50), hide the cited text.
6491 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6492 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6493 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
6498 @kindex W W C (Summary)
6499 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
6500 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
6501 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
6502 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
6503 in @code{gnus-article-display-hook} (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
6507 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
6508 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
6509 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
6511 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
6512 citation customization.
6514 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to hide article elements
6518 @node Article Washing
6519 @subsection Article Washing
6521 @cindex article washing
6523 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
6524 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
6526 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
6527 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
6533 @kindex W l (Summary)
6534 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
6535 Remove page breaks from the current article
6536 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article} for page
6540 @kindex W r (Summary)
6541 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
6542 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
6543 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
6544 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
6545 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
6546 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
6548 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
6549 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
6550 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
6551 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
6554 @kindex W t (Summary)
6555 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
6556 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
6557 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
6560 @kindex W v (Summary)
6561 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
6562 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
6563 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
6566 @kindex W m (Summary)
6567 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
6568 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
6569 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
6572 @kindex W o (Summary)
6573 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
6574 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
6577 @kindex W d (Summary)
6578 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
6579 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
6581 @cindex M******** sm*rtq**t*s
6583 Treat M******** sm*rtq**t*s according to
6584 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
6585 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}).
6588 @kindex W w (Summary)
6589 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
6590 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}). If you use this
6591 function in @code{gnus-article-display-hook}, it should be run fairly
6592 late and certainly after any highlighting.
6594 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
6598 @kindex W c (Summary)
6599 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
6600 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
6601 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
6602 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
6603 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
6606 @kindex W q (Summary)
6607 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
6608 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
6609 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
6610 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
6611 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
6615 @kindex W f (Summary)
6617 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
6618 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
6619 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
6620 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
6626 Look for and display any X-Face headers
6627 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
6628 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
6629 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
6630 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
6631 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
6632 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
6633 The default action under Emacs is to fork off an @code{xv} to view the
6634 face; under XEmacs the default action is to display the face before the
6635 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
6636 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
6637 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
6638 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends.) If you
6639 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
6643 @kindex W b (Summary)
6644 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
6645 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
6646 @xref{Article Buttons}.
6649 @kindex W B (Summary)
6650 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
6651 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
6652 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
6655 @kindex W E l (Summary)
6656 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
6657 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
6658 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
6661 @kindex W E m (Summary)
6662 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
6663 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
6664 lines with a single empty line.
6665 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
6668 @kindex W E t (Summary)
6669 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
6670 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
6671 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
6674 @kindex W E a (Summary)
6675 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
6676 Do all the three commands above
6677 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
6680 @kindex W E A (Summary)
6681 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
6682 Remove all blank lines
6683 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
6686 @kindex W E s (Summary)
6687 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
6688 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
6689 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
6692 @kindex W E e (Summary)
6693 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
6694 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
6695 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
6699 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to wash articles automatically.
6702 @node Article Buttons
6703 @subsection Article Buttons
6706 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
6707 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
6708 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
6709 button on these references.
6711 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
6712 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
6713 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
6718 @item gnus-button-alist
6719 @vindex gnus-button-alist
6720 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
6723 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6729 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
6730 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
6731 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
6734 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
6735 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
6736 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
6739 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
6740 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
6741 avoid false matches.
6744 This function will be called when you click on this button.
6747 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
6748 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
6752 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
6755 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
6758 @item gnus-header-button-alist
6759 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
6760 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
6761 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
6762 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
6765 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6768 @var{HEADER} is a regular expression.
6770 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
6771 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
6772 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
6773 default values of the variables above.
6775 @item gnus-article-button-face
6776 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
6777 Face used on buttons.
6779 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
6780 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
6781 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
6785 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to buttonize articles automatically.
6789 @subsection Article Date
6791 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
6792 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
6793 when the article was sent.
6798 @kindex W T u (Summary)
6799 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
6800 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
6801 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
6804 @kindex W T i (Summary)
6805 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
6807 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
6808 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
6811 @kindex W T l (Summary)
6812 @findex gnus-article-date-local
6813 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
6816 @kindex W T s (Summary)
6817 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
6818 @findex gnus-article-date-user
6819 @findex format-time-string
6820 Display the date using a user-defined format
6821 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
6822 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
6823 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
6824 for a list of possible format specs.
6827 @kindex W T e (Summary)
6828 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
6829 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
6830 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
6831 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
6832 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). If you want to have this line
6833 updated continually, you can put
6836 (gnus-start-date-timer)
6839 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
6840 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
6844 @kindex W T o (Summary)
6845 @findex gnus-article-date-original
6846 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
6847 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
6848 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
6849 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
6850 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
6854 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to display the date in your
6855 preferred format automatically.
6858 @node Article Signature
6859 @subsection Article Signature
6861 @cindex article signature
6863 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6864 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
6865 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
6866 that says what is to be considered a signature is
6867 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
6868 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
6869 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
6870 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
6871 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
6874 (setq gnus-signature-separator
6875 '("^-- $" ; The standard
6876 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
6877 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
6878 ; line of dashes. Shame!
6879 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
6880 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
6881 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
6884 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
6887 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
6888 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
6893 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
6896 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
6899 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
6900 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
6902 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
6903 in question is not a signature.
6906 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
6907 listed above. Here's an example:
6910 (setq gnus-signature-limit
6911 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
6914 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
6915 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
6916 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
6917 signature after all.
6921 @section MIME Commands
6922 @cindex MIME decoding
6925 @item M-tgnus-summary-display-buttonized
6926 @kindex M-t (Summary)
6927 @findex gnus-summary-display-buttonized
6928 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
6929 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
6932 @kindex W M w (Summary)
6933 Decode RFC2047-encoded words in the article headers
6934 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
6937 @kindex W M c (Summary)
6938 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
6939 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
6941 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
6942 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
6943 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
6944 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not include
6945 MIME headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic parameter to
6946 the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
6949 @kindex W M v (Summary)
6950 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
6951 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
6958 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
6959 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
6960 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
6961 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
6964 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
6967 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
6971 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
6972 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
6973 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
6974 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
6975 displayed. The default value is @code{(".*/.*")}.
6977 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
6978 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
6979 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
6980 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
6981 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
6982 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
6983 save all jpegs into some directory).
6985 Here's an example function the does the latter:
6988 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
6989 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
6991 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
6992 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
6993 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
6994 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
6995 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
7001 @node Article Commands
7002 @section Article Commands
7009 @kindex A P (Summary)
7010 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
7011 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
7012 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
7013 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
7014 run just before printing the buffer.
7019 @node Summary Sorting
7020 @section Summary Sorting
7021 @cindex summary sorting
7023 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
7024 can't really see why you'd want that.
7029 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
7030 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
7031 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
7034 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
7035 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
7036 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
7039 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
7040 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
7041 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
7044 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
7045 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
7046 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
7049 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
7050 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
7051 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
7054 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
7055 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
7056 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
7059 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
7060 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
7061 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
7062 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
7063 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
7067 @node Finding the Parent
7068 @section Finding the Parent
7069 @cindex parent articles
7070 @cindex referring articles
7075 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
7076 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
7077 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
7078 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
7079 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
7080 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
7081 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
7082 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
7083 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
7085 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
7086 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
7087 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
7088 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
7089 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
7093 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
7094 @kindex A R (Summary)
7095 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
7096 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
7099 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
7100 @kindex A T (Summary)
7101 Display the full thread where the current article appears
7102 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
7103 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
7104 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
7105 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
7106 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
7107 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
7109 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
7110 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
7111 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
7112 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
7113 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
7114 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
7117 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
7118 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
7120 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
7121 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
7122 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
7123 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
7124 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
7125 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
7126 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
7129 The current select method will be used when fetching by
7130 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
7131 by giving this command a prefix.
7133 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
7134 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
7135 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
7136 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
7137 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
7138 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
7141 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
7142 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
7143 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
7144 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
7145 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
7146 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
7149 @node Alternative Approaches
7150 @section Alternative Approaches
7152 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
7153 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
7156 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
7157 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
7162 @subsection Pick and Read
7163 @cindex pick and read
7165 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
7166 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
7167 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
7168 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
7170 @findex gnus-pick-mode
7171 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
7172 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
7173 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
7174 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
7175 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
7177 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
7182 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
7183 Pick the article or thread on the current line
7184 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
7185 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
7186 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
7187 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
7188 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
7189 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
7192 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
7193 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
7194 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
7195 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
7199 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
7200 Unpick the thread or article
7201 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
7202 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
7203 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
7204 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
7205 the thread or article at that line.
7209 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
7210 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
7211 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
7212 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
7213 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
7214 will still be visible when you are reading.
7218 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
7219 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
7220 which is mapped to the same function
7221 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
7223 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
7226 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
7229 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
7230 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
7232 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
7233 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
7234 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
7236 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
7237 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
7238 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
7239 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
7240 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
7241 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
7242 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
7246 @subsection Binary Groups
7247 @cindex binary groups
7249 @findex gnus-binary-mode
7250 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
7251 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
7252 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
7253 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
7254 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
7255 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
7258 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
7259 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
7260 command, when you have turned on this mode
7261 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
7263 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
7264 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
7268 @section Tree Display
7271 @vindex gnus-use-trees
7272 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
7273 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
7274 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
7277 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
7280 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
7281 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
7282 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
7284 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
7285 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
7286 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
7287 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
7288 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
7290 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
7291 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
7292 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
7293 default is @code{modeline}.
7295 @item gnus-tree-line-format
7296 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
7297 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
7298 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
7299 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
7300 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
7301 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
7307 The name of the poster.
7309 The @code{From} header.
7311 The number of the article.
7313 The opening bracket.
7315 The closing bracket.
7320 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
7322 Variables related to the display are:
7325 @item gnus-tree-brackets
7326 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
7327 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
7328 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @var{((real-open . real-close)
7329 (sparse-open . sparse-close) (dummy-open . dummy-close))}, and the
7330 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
7332 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
7333 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
7334 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
7335 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
7339 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
7340 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
7341 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
7342 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
7343 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
7344 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
7345 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
7346 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
7347 other windows displayed next to it.
7349 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
7350 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
7351 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
7352 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
7353 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
7354 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
7355 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
7359 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
7362 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
7372 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
7376 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
7377 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
7379 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
7381 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
7386 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
7387 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
7388 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
7391 (setq gnus-use-trees t
7392 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
7393 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
7394 (gnus-add-configuration
7398 (summary 0.75 point)
7403 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
7406 @node Mail Group Commands
7407 @section Mail Group Commands
7408 @cindex mail group commands
7410 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
7411 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
7413 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
7414 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7419 @kindex B e (Summary)
7420 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
7421 Expire all expirable articles in the group
7422 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
7425 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
7426 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
7427 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
7428 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
7429 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
7430 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
7433 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
7434 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
7435 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
7436 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
7437 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
7438 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
7441 @kindex B m (Summary)
7443 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
7444 Move the article from one mail group to another
7445 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
7448 @kindex B c (Summary)
7450 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
7451 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
7452 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
7453 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}).
7456 @kindex B B (Summary)
7457 @cindex crosspost mail
7458 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
7459 Crosspost the current article to some other group
7460 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
7461 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
7462 be properly updated.
7465 @kindex B i (Summary)
7466 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
7467 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
7468 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
7469 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
7472 @kindex B r (Summary)
7473 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
7474 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
7475 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
7476 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
7477 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
7481 @kindex B w (Summary)
7483 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
7484 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
7485 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
7486 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
7487 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
7488 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
7491 @kindex B q (Summary)
7492 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
7493 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
7494 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
7495 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
7498 @kindex B t (Summary)
7499 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
7500 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
7501 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
7504 @kindex B p (Summary)
7505 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
7506 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
7507 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
7508 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
7509 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
7510 article from your news server (or rather, from
7511 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
7512 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
7513 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
7514 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
7515 just not have arrived yet.
7519 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
7520 @cindex moving articles
7521 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
7522 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
7523 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
7524 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
7525 suggestions you find reasonable.
7528 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
7529 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
7530 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
7531 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
7535 @node Various Summary Stuff
7536 @section Various Summary Stuff
7539 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
7540 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
7541 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
7542 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
7546 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
7547 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
7548 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
7550 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
7551 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
7552 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
7553 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
7554 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
7555 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
7558 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7559 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7560 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
7561 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
7562 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
7564 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
7565 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
7566 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
7569 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7570 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7571 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
7572 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
7573 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
7574 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
7575 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
7576 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
7577 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
7578 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
7583 @node Summary Group Information
7584 @subsection Summary Group Information
7589 @kindex H f (Summary)
7590 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
7591 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
7592 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
7593 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
7594 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
7595 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
7596 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
7597 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
7598 be used for fetching the file.
7601 @kindex H d (Summary)
7602 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
7603 Give a brief description of the current group
7604 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
7605 rereading the description from the server.
7608 @kindex H h (Summary)
7609 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
7610 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
7611 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
7614 @kindex H i (Summary)
7615 @findex gnus-info-find-node
7616 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
7620 @node Searching for Articles
7621 @subsection Searching for Articles
7626 @kindex M-s (Summary)
7627 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
7628 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
7629 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
7632 @kindex M-r (Summary)
7633 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
7634 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
7635 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
7639 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
7640 This command will prompt you for a header field, a regular expression to
7641 match on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
7642 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If given a prefix, search
7646 @kindex M-& (Summary)
7647 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
7648 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
7649 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
7652 @node Summary Generation Commands
7653 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
7658 @kindex Y g (Summary)
7659 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
7660 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
7663 @kindex Y c (Summary)
7664 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
7665 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
7666 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
7671 @node Really Various Summary Commands
7672 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
7677 @kindex C-d (Summary)
7678 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
7679 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
7680 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
7681 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
7682 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
7683 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
7684 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
7685 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
7689 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
7690 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
7691 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
7692 several documents into one biiig group
7693 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
7694 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
7695 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
7696 command understands the process/prefix convention
7697 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7700 @kindex C-t (Summary)
7701 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
7702 Toggle truncation of summary lines
7703 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
7704 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
7705 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
7709 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
7710 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
7711 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
7714 @kindex M-C-e (Summary)
7715 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
7716 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
7717 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
7720 @kindex M-C-g (Summary)
7721 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
7722 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
7723 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
7728 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
7729 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
7730 @cindex summary exit
7731 @cindex exiting groups
7733 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
7734 group and return you to the group buffer.
7740 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
7742 @findex gnus-summary-exit
7743 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
7744 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
7745 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
7746 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
7747 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
7748 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
7749 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
7750 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
7751 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
7752 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
7756 @kindex Z E (Summary)
7758 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
7759 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
7760 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
7764 @kindex Z c (Summary)
7766 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
7767 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
7768 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
7769 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
7772 @kindex Z C (Summary)
7773 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
7774 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
7775 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
7778 @kindex Z n (Summary)
7779 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
7780 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
7781 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
7784 @kindex Z R (Summary)
7785 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
7786 Exit this group, and then enter it again
7787 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
7788 all articles, both read and unread.
7792 @kindex Z G (Summary)
7793 @kindex M-g (Summary)
7794 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
7795 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
7796 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
7797 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
7798 articles, both read and unread.
7801 @kindex Z N (Summary)
7802 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
7803 Exit the group and go to the next group
7804 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
7807 @kindex Z P (Summary)
7808 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
7809 Exit the group and go to the previous group
7810 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
7813 @kindex Z s (Summary)
7814 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
7815 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
7816 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
7817 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
7818 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
7821 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
7822 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current
7825 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
7826 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
7827 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
7828 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
7829 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
7830 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
7831 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
7832 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
7833 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
7834 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
7835 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
7836 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
7838 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
7840 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
7841 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
7842 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
7843 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
7844 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
7845 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
7846 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
7847 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
7848 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
7851 @node Crosspost Handling
7852 @section Crosspost Handling
7856 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
7857 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
7858 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
7859 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
7860 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
7861 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
7864 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
7865 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
7866 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
7867 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
7868 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
7870 @cindex cross-posting
7873 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
7874 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
7875 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
7876 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
7877 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
7878 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
7879 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
7880 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
7881 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
7882 the cross reference mechanism.
7884 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
7885 @cindex overview.fmt
7886 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
7887 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
7888 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
7889 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
7890 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
7891 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
7894 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
7895 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
7896 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
7901 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
7904 @node Duplicate Suppression
7905 @section Duplicate Suppression
7907 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
7908 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
7909 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
7910 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
7915 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
7916 is evil and not very common.
7919 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
7920 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
7923 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
7924 different @sc{nntp} servers.
7927 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
7930 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
7931 well, but these four are the most common situations.
7933 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
7934 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
7935 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
7936 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
7937 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
7938 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
7939 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
7942 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
7943 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
7944 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
7945 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
7946 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
7950 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
7951 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
7952 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
7954 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
7955 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
7956 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
7957 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
7958 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
7959 session are suppressed.
7961 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
7962 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
7963 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
7964 suppression list. The default is 10000.
7966 @item gnus-duplicate-file
7967 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
7968 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
7969 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
7972 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
7973 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
7974 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
7975 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
7976 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
7977 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
7978 to you to figure out, I think.
7981 @node The Article Buffer
7982 @chapter The Article Buffer
7983 @cindex article buffer
7985 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
7986 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
7987 tell Gnus otherwise.
7990 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
7991 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
7992 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
7993 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
7994 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
7998 @node Hiding Headers
7999 @section Hiding Headers
8000 @cindex hiding headers
8001 @cindex deleting headers
8003 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
8004 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
8006 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
8007 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
8008 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
8009 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
8010 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
8011 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
8012 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
8013 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
8014 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
8016 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
8020 @item gnus-visible-headers
8021 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
8022 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
8023 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
8024 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
8026 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
8027 the article and the subject, you'd say:
8030 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
8033 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
8036 @item gnus-ignored-headers
8037 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
8038 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
8039 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
8040 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
8041 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
8043 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
8044 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
8047 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
8050 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
8053 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
8054 variable will have no effect.
8058 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
8059 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
8060 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
8061 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
8062 the headers are to be displayed.
8064 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
8065 and then the subject, you might say something like:
8068 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
8071 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
8072 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
8074 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8075 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
8076 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
8077 You can hide further boring headers by entering
8078 @code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers} into
8079 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}. What this function does depends on
8080 the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a list, but this
8081 list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is lists various
8082 @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove from sight.
8084 These conditions are:
8087 Remove all empty headers.
8089 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
8090 @code{Newsgroups} header.
8092 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
8095 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
8098 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
8101 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
8103 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
8106 To include the four three elements, you could say something like;
8109 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
8110 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
8113 This is also the default value for this variable.
8117 @section Using @sc{mime}
8120 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
8121 while people stand around yawning.
8123 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
8124 while all newsreaders die of fear.
8126 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
8127 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
8128 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
8130 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
8131 @findex gnus-display-mime
8132 Gnus pushes @sc{mime} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
8133 to display the @sc{mime} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
8134 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
8135 display, save and manipulate the @sc{mime} objects.
8137 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
8141 @findex gnus-article-press-button
8143 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
8144 Toggle displaying of the @sc{mime} object
8145 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}).
8147 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
8148 @item M-RET (Article)
8150 Prompt for a method, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
8151 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
8153 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
8155 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @sc{mime} object
8156 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
8158 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
8160 Copy the @sc{mime} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
8161 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}).
8163 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
8165 Output the @sc{mime} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
8168 Gnus will display some @sc{mime} objects automatically. The way Gnus
8169 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs MIME
8172 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
8173 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
8174 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
8175 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
8176 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
8177 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
8178 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
8179 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
8180 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
8182 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
8185 @node Customizing Articles
8186 @section Customizing Articles
8187 @cindex article customization
8189 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
8190 The @code{gnus-article-display-hook} is called after the article has
8191 been inserted into the article buffer. It is meant to handle all
8192 treatment of the article before it is displayed.
8194 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
8195 @findex gnus-article-maybe-hide-headers
8196 By default this hook just contains
8197 @code{gnus-article-maybe-hide-headers},
8198 @code{gnus-hide-boring-headers}, @code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike},
8199 and @code{gnus-article-maybe-highlight} (and under XEmacs,
8200 @code{gnus-article-display-x-face}), but there are thousands, nay
8201 millions, of functions you can put in this hook. For an overview of
8202 functions @pxref{Article Highlighting}, @pxref{Article Hiding},
8203 @pxref{Article Washing}, @pxref{Article Buttons} and @pxref{Article
8204 Date}. Note that the order of functions in this hook might affect
8205 things, so you may have to fiddle a bit to get the desired results.
8207 You can, of course, write your own functions. The functions are called
8208 from the article buffer, and you can do anything you like, pretty much.
8209 There is no information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can
8210 change everything. However, you shouldn't delete any headers. Instead
8211 make them invisible if you want to make them go away.
8214 @node Article Keymap
8215 @section Article Keymap
8217 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
8218 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
8219 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
8220 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
8223 A few additional keystrokes are available:
8228 @kindex SPACE (Article)
8229 @findex gnus-article-next-page
8230 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
8233 @kindex DEL (Article)
8234 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
8235 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
8238 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
8239 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
8240 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
8241 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
8242 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
8245 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
8246 @findex gnus-article-mail
8247 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
8248 given a prefix, include the mail.
8252 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
8253 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
8254 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
8258 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
8259 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
8260 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
8263 @kindex TAB (Article)
8264 @findex gnus-article-next-button
8265 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
8266 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
8269 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
8270 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
8271 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
8277 @section Misc Article
8281 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
8282 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
8283 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
8284 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
8287 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
8288 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
8290 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
8291 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
8293 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
8294 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
8295 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
8296 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
8297 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
8298 the contents of the article buffer.
8300 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
8301 @item gnus-article-display-hook
8302 This hook is called as the last thing when displaying an article, and is
8303 intended for modifying the contents of the buffer, doing highlights,
8304 hiding headers, and the like.
8306 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
8307 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
8308 Hook called in article mode buffers.
8310 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
8311 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
8312 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
8313 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
8315 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
8316 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
8317 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
8318 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
8319 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with one
8324 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
8325 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
8328 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
8331 @vindex gnus-break-pages
8333 @item gnus-break-pages
8334 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
8335 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
8336 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
8337 paging will not be done.
8339 @item gnus-page-delimiter
8340 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
8341 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
8346 @node Composing Messages
8347 @chapter Composing Messages
8348 @cindex composing messages
8351 @cindex sending mail
8356 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
8357 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
8358 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the article
8359 by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The Message
8360 Manual}. If you are in a foreign news group, and you wish to post the
8361 article using the foreign server, you can give a prefix to @kbd{C-c C-c}
8362 to make Gnus try to post using the foreign server.
8365 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
8366 * Post:: Posting and following up.
8367 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
8368 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
8369 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
8370 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
8371 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
8372 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
8375 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
8376 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
8382 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
8385 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
8386 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
8387 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
8388 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
8390 @item gnus-add-to-list
8391 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
8392 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
8393 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
8401 Variables for composing news articles:
8404 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-file
8405 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-file
8406 Gnus will keep a @code{Message-ID} history file of all the mails it has
8407 sent. If it discovers that it has already sent a mail, it will ask the
8408 user whether to re-send the mail. (This is primarily useful when
8409 dealing with @sc{soup} packets and the like where one is apt to send the
8410 same packet multiple times.) This variable says what the name of this
8411 history file is. It is @file{~/News/Sent-Message-IDs} by default. Set
8412 this variable to @code{nil} if you don't want Gnus to keep a history
8415 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-length
8416 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-length
8417 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the history
8418 file. It is 1000 by default.
8423 @node Posting Server
8424 @section Posting Server
8426 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
8427 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
8429 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
8431 @vindex gnus-post-method
8433 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will use the same native
8434 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
8435 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
8436 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
8437 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
8440 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
8443 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
8444 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
8445 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
8446 the ``current'' server for posting.
8448 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
8449 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
8451 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
8452 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
8455 Finally, if you want to always post using the same select method as
8456 you're reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
8457 groups from different private servers), you can set this variable to
8462 @section Mail and Post
8464 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
8468 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
8469 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
8470 @cindex mailing lists
8472 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
8473 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
8474 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
8475 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
8476 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
8477 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
8478 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
8479 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
8480 still a pain, though.
8484 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
8485 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
8486 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
8489 @findex ispell-message
8491 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
8495 @node Archived Messages
8496 @section Archived Messages
8497 @cindex archived messages
8498 @cindex sent messages
8500 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
8501 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
8502 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
8503 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
8506 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
8507 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
8508 use to store sent messages. The default is:
8512 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
8513 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
8514 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
8515 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
8518 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
8519 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likeable select method
8520 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
8521 directory chosen, you could say something like:
8524 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
8525 '(nnfolder "archive"
8526 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
8527 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
8528 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
8531 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
8533 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
8534 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
8535 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
8537 This variable can be used to do the following:
8541 Messages will be saved in that group.
8542 @item a list of strings
8543 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
8544 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
8545 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
8547 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
8552 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
8554 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
8557 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
8559 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
8562 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
8564 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8565 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
8566 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
8567 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
8572 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8573 '((if (message-news-p)
8578 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
8579 messages in one file per month:
8582 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8583 '((if (message-news-p)
8585 (concat "mail." (format-time-string
8586 "%Y-%m" (current-time))))))
8589 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
8590 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
8592 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
8593 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
8594 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
8595 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
8596 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
8597 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
8598 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
8599 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
8600 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
8601 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
8603 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
8604 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
8605 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
8606 this will disable archiving.
8609 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
8610 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
8611 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
8612 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
8613 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
8616 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
8617 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
8618 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
8621 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
8622 but the latter is the preferred method.
8626 @node Posting Styles
8627 @section Posting Styles
8628 @cindex posting styles
8631 All them variables, they make my head swim.
8633 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
8634 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
8635 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
8638 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
8639 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
8640 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
8641 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
8642 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
8647 (signature "Peace and happiness")
8648 (organization "What me?"))
8650 (signature "Death to everybody"))
8651 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
8652 (organization "Emacs is it")))
8655 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
8656 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
8657 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
8658 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
8659 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
8660 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
8661 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
8662 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
8664 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
8665 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
8666 If it's a function symbol, that function will be called with no
8667 arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
8668 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
8669 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
8672 Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
8673 attribute consists of a @var{(name . value)} pair. The attribute name
8674 can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
8675 @code{organization}, @code{address}, @code{name} or @code{body}. The
8676 attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
8677 a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
8680 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function (the
8681 return value will be used), a variable (its value will be used) or a
8682 list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value will be used).
8684 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
8685 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
8686 of the two dynamically bound variables @code{message-this-is-news} and
8687 @code{message-this-is-mail}.
8689 @vindex message-this-is-mail
8690 @vindex message-this-is-news
8692 So here's a new example:
8695 (setq gnus-posting-styles
8697 (signature-file "~/.signature")
8699 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
8700 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
8702 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
8703 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
8704 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
8705 (message-this-is-news
8706 (signature my-news-signature))
8707 (posting-from-work-p
8708 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
8709 (address "user@@bar.foo")
8710 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
8711 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
8713 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
8721 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
8722 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
8723 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
8724 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
8725 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
8727 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
8728 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
8729 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
8730 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
8731 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
8735 @vindex nndraft-directory
8736 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
8737 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
8738 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
8739 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
8740 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
8741 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
8743 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
8744 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
8747 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
8748 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
8749 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
8750 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
8751 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
8752 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
8753 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
8754 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
8755 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
8756 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
8757 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
8758 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
8759 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
8760 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
8762 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
8763 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
8764 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
8766 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
8768 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
8769 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
8770 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
8772 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
8775 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
8776 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
8777 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
8778 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
8779 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
8780 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
8781 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
8784 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
8785 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
8786 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
8789 @node Rejected Articles
8790 @section Rejected Articles
8791 @cindex rejected articles
8793 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
8794 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
8795 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
8796 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
8798 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
8799 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
8800 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
8801 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
8802 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
8804 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
8805 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
8806 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
8809 @node Select Methods
8810 @chapter Select Methods
8811 @cindex foreign groups
8812 @cindex select methods
8814 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
8815 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
8816 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
8817 personal mail group.
8819 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
8820 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
8821 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
8822 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
8823 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
8824 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
8826 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
8827 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
8829 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
8832 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
8833 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
8834 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
8835 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
8836 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
8838 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
8841 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
8842 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
8843 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
8844 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
8845 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
8846 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
8850 @node The Server Buffer
8851 @section The Server Buffer
8853 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
8854 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
8855 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
8856 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
8857 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
8858 backend represents a virtual server.
8860 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
8861 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
8862 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
8863 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
8865 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
8866 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
8867 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
8868 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
8869 Anyways, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
8870 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
8871 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
8873 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
8874 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
8877 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
8878 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
8879 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
8880 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
8881 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
8882 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
8883 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
8886 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
8887 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
8890 @node Server Buffer Format
8891 @subsection Server Buffer Format
8892 @cindex server buffer format
8894 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
8895 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
8896 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
8897 variable, with some simple extensions:
8902 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
8905 The name of this server.
8908 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
8911 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
8914 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
8915 The mode line can also be customized by using the
8916 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
8917 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
8927 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
8930 @node Server Commands
8931 @subsection Server Commands
8932 @cindex server commands
8938 @findex gnus-server-add-server
8939 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
8943 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
8944 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
8947 @kindex SPACE (Server)
8948 @findex gnus-server-read-server
8949 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
8953 @findex gnus-server-exit
8954 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
8958 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
8959 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
8963 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
8964 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
8968 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
8969 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
8973 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
8974 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
8978 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
8979 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
8980 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
8985 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
8986 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
8987 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
8988 a mail backend that has gotten out of synch.
8993 @node Example Methods
8994 @subsection Example Methods
8996 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
8999 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
9002 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
9008 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
9009 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
9012 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
9013 @var{(variable form)} pairs.
9015 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
9016 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
9020 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
9023 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
9024 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
9026 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
9027 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
9028 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
9032 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
9035 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
9038 Here's the method for a public spool:
9042 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
9043 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
9046 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
9047 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
9048 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
9049 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
9050 should probably look something like this:
9054 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
9055 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
9056 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
9057 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
9058 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
9061 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
9062 compressed connection over the modem line, you could create a virtual
9063 server that would look something like this:
9067 (nntp-address "copper.uio.no")
9068 (nntp-rlogin-program "ssh")
9069 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
9070 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
9071 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
9072 ("telnet" "news.uio.no" "nntp")))
9075 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
9076 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
9077 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
9078 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
9081 @node Creating a Virtual Server
9082 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
9084 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
9085 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
9087 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
9088 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
9089 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
9091 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
9093 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
9094 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
9095 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
9096 will contain the following:
9106 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
9107 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
9108 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
9111 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
9112 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
9113 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
9116 @node Server Variables
9117 @subsection Server Variables
9119 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
9120 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
9121 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
9122 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
9123 won't change the "derived" variables.
9125 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
9126 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
9127 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
9128 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
9129 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
9130 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
9131 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
9132 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
9133 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
9137 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
9138 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
9139 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
9143 @node Servers and Methods
9144 @subsection Servers and Methods
9146 Wherever you would normally use a select method
9147 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
9148 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
9149 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
9153 @node Unavailable Servers
9154 @subsection Unavailable Servers
9156 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
9157 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
9158 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
9159 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
9160 actually the case or not.
9162 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
9163 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
9164 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
9165 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
9166 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
9167 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
9168 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
9169 it will regard that server as ``down''.
9171 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
9172 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
9174 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
9175 with the following commands:
9181 @findex gnus-server-open-server
9182 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
9183 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
9187 @findex gnus-server-close-server
9188 Close the connection (if any) to the server
9189 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
9193 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
9194 Mark the current server as unreachable
9195 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
9198 @kindex M-o (Server)
9199 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
9200 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
9201 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
9204 @kindex M-c (Server)
9205 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
9206 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
9207 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
9211 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
9212 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
9213 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
9219 @section Getting News
9220 @cindex reading news
9221 @cindex news backends
9223 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
9224 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
9225 or it can read from a local spool.
9228 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
9229 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
9234 @subsection @sc{nntp}
9237 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
9238 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
9239 server as the, uhm, address.
9241 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
9242 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
9243 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
9244 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
9246 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
9247 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
9248 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
9250 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
9255 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
9256 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
9257 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
9259 @cindex authentification
9260 @cindex nntp authentification
9261 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
9262 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
9263 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
9264 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
9265 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
9266 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
9267 present in this hook.
9269 @item nntp-authinfo-function
9270 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
9271 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
9272 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
9273 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
9274 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
9275 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
9276 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
9277 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
9278 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
9279 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
9280 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
9284 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
9287 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs. The
9288 valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
9289 @samp{default} and @samp{force}. (The latter is not a valid
9290 @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} token, which is the only way the
9291 @file{.authinfo} file format deviates from the @file{.netrc} file
9296 Here's an example file:
9299 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
9300 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
9303 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
9304 have to be first, for instance.
9306 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
9307 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
9308 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
9309 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
9310 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
9311 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
9312 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
9314 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
9315 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
9321 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
9322 previously mentioned.
9324 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
9326 @item nntp-server-action-alist
9327 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
9328 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
9329 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
9330 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
9333 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
9337 You probably don't want to do that, though.
9339 The default value is
9342 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
9343 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
9346 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
9347 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
9349 @item nntp-maximum-request
9350 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
9351 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
9352 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
9353 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
9354 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
9355 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
9356 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
9358 @item nntp-connection-timeout
9359 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
9360 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
9361 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
9362 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
9363 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
9364 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
9365 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
9366 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
9367 no timeouts are done.
9369 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
9370 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
9371 @c @cindex PPP connections
9372 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
9373 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
9374 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
9375 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
9376 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
9377 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
9378 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
9379 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
9380 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
9381 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
9383 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
9384 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
9385 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
9386 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
9389 @item nntp-server-hook
9390 @vindex nntp-server-hook
9391 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
9394 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
9395 @findex nntp-open-telnet
9396 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
9397 @item nntp-open-connection-function
9398 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
9399 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Four pre-made
9400 functions are supplied:
9403 @item nntp-open-network-stream
9404 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
9407 @item nntp-open-rlogin
9408 Does an @samp{rlogin} on the
9409 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
9412 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
9416 @item nntp-rlogin-program
9417 @vindex nntp-rlogin-program
9418 Program used to log in on remote machines. The default is @samp{rsh},
9419 but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
9421 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
9422 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
9423 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
9425 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
9426 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
9427 User name on the remote system.
9431 @item nntp-open-telnet
9432 Does a @samp{telnet} to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet}
9433 to get to the @sc{nntp} server.
9435 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
9438 @item nntp-telnet-command
9439 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
9440 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
9442 @item nntp-telnet-switches
9443 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
9444 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
9446 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
9447 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
9448 User name for log in on the remote system.
9450 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
9451 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
9452 Password to use when logging in.
9454 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
9455 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
9456 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
9459 @item nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
9460 @vindex nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
9461 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the remote machine. The default is
9462 @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
9464 @item nntp-open-telnet-envuser
9465 @vindex nntp-open-telnet-envuser
9466 If non-@code{nil}, the @code{telnet} session (client and server both)
9467 will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for login name.
9468 This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
9472 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
9473 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
9474 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
9475 you must have SSLay installed
9476 (@file{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also need
9477 @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distributeion, for instance). You then
9478 define a server as follows:
9481 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
9483 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
9485 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
9486 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
9487 (nntp-port-number "snews")
9488 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
9493 @item nntp-end-of-line
9494 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
9495 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
9496 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
9497 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
9499 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
9500 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
9501 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
9505 @vindex nntp-address
9506 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
9508 @item nntp-port-number
9509 @vindex nntp-port-number
9510 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
9513 @item nntp-buggy-select
9514 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
9515 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
9517 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
9518 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
9519 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
9520 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
9523 @item nntp-xover-commands
9524 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
9527 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
9528 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
9532 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
9533 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
9534 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
9535 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
9536 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
9537 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
9538 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
9539 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
9540 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
9541 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
9542 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
9544 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
9545 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
9546 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
9548 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
9549 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
9550 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
9551 server closes connection.
9553 @item nntp-record-commands
9554 @vindex nntp-record-commands
9555 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
9556 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestep) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
9557 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
9558 that doesn't seem to work.
9564 @subsection News Spool
9568 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
9569 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
9570 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
9573 Anyways, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
9574 anything else) as the address.
9576 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
9577 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
9578 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
9579 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
9583 @item nnspool-inews-program
9584 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
9585 Program used to post an article.
9587 @item nnspool-inews-switches
9588 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
9589 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
9591 @item nnspool-spool-directory
9592 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
9593 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
9594 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
9596 @item nnspool-nov-directory
9597 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
9598 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
9599 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
9601 @item nnspool-lib-dir
9602 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
9603 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
9605 @item nnspool-active-file
9606 @vindex nnspool-active-file
9607 The path to the active file.
9609 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
9610 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
9611 The path to the group descriptions file.
9613 @item nnspool-history-file
9614 @vindex nnspool-history-file
9615 The path to the news history file.
9617 @item nnspool-active-times-file
9618 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
9619 The path to the active date file.
9621 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
9622 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
9623 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
9626 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
9627 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
9629 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
9630 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
9631 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
9637 @section Getting Mail
9638 @cindex reading mail
9641 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
9645 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
9646 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
9647 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
9648 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
9649 * Mail and Procmail:: Reading mail groups that procmail create.
9650 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
9651 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
9652 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
9653 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
9654 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
9655 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
9659 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
9660 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
9662 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
9663 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
9664 and things will happen automatically.
9666 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
9667 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
9670 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
9671 '((nnml "private")))
9674 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
9675 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
9676 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
9677 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
9678 like any other group.
9680 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
9683 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9684 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9685 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9689 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
9690 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
9691 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
9694 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
9695 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
9696 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
9699 @node Splitting Mail
9700 @subsection Splitting Mail
9701 @cindex splitting mail
9702 @cindex mail splitting
9704 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
9705 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
9706 to be split into groups.
9709 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9710 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9711 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9715 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
9716 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
9717 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
9718 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
9719 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
9720 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
9721 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
9724 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
9727 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
9728 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
9729 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
9730 mail belongs in that group.
9732 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
9733 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
9734 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
9735 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
9736 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
9737 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
9739 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
9740 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
9741 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
9742 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
9743 thinks should carry this mail message.
9745 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
9746 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
9747 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
9748 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
9750 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
9751 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
9752 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
9753 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
9754 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
9756 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
9759 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
9760 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
9761 links. If that's the case for you, set
9762 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
9763 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
9765 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
9766 @kindex nnmail-split-history
9767 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
9768 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command.
9770 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
9771 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
9772 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
9773 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
9774 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
9775 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
9776 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
9777 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
9781 @node Mail Backend Variables
9782 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
9784 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
9788 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
9789 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
9790 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
9791 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
9793 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
9794 @item nnmail-spool-file
9798 @vindex nnmail-pop-password
9799 @vindex nnmail-pop-password-required
9800 The backends will look for new mail in this file. If this variable is
9801 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
9802 themselves. If you are using a POP mail server and your name is
9803 @samp{larsi}, you should set this variable to @samp{po:larsi}. If
9804 your name is not @samp{larsi}, you should probably modify that
9805 slightly, but you may have guessed that already, you smart & handsome
9806 devil! You can also set this variable to @code{pop}, and Gnus will try
9807 to figure out the POP mail string by itself. In any case, Gnus will
9808 call @code{movemail} which will contact the POP server named in the
9809 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable. If the POP server needs a
9810 password, you can either set @code{nnmail-pop-password-required} to
9811 @code{t} and be prompted for the password, or set
9812 @code{nnmail-pop-password} to the password itself.
9814 @code{nnmail-spool-file} can also be a list of mailboxes.
9816 Your Emacs has to have been configured with @samp{--with-pop} before
9817 compilation. This is the default, but some installations have it
9820 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
9821 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
9822 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
9823 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
9824 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
9825 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
9827 @vindex nnmail-use-procmail
9828 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
9829 @item nnmail-use-procmail
9830 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will look in
9831 @code{nnmail-procmail-directory} for incoming mail. All the files in
9832 that directory that have names ending in @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix}
9833 will be considered incoming mailboxes, and will be searched for new
9836 @vindex nnmail-crash-box
9837 @item nnmail-crash-box
9838 When a mail backend reads a spool file, mail is first moved to this
9839 file, which is @file{~/.gnus-crash-box} by default. If this file
9840 already exists, it will always be read (and incorporated) before any
9843 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
9844 @item nnmail-split-hook
9845 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
9846 @findex RFC1522 decoding
9847 @findex RFC2047 decoding
9848 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
9849 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
9850 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
9851 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
9852 in the buffer will show up in any files.
9853 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
9856 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9857 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
9858 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9859 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
9860 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
9861 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
9862 starting to handle the new mail) and
9863 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
9864 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
9865 default file modes the new mail files get:
9868 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9869 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
9871 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
9872 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
9875 @item nnmail-tmp-directory
9876 @vindex nnmail-tmp-directory
9877 This variable says where to move incoming mail to -- while processing
9878 it. This is usually done in the same directory that the mail backend
9879 inhabits (e.g., @file{~/Mail/}), but if this variable is non-@code{nil},
9880 it will be used instead.
9882 @item nnmail-movemail-program
9883 @vindex nnmail-movemail-program
9884 This program is executed to move mail from the user's inbox to her home
9885 directory. The default is @samp{movemail}.
9887 This can also be a function. In that case, the function will be called
9888 with two parameters -- the name of the inbox, and the file to be moved
9891 @item nnmail-delete-incoming
9892 @vindex nnmail-delete-incoming
9893 @cindex incoming mail files
9894 @cindex deleting incoming files
9895 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will delete the temporary incoming
9896 file after splitting mail into the proper groups. This is @code{t} by
9899 @c This is @code{nil} by
9900 @c default for reasons of security.
9902 @c Since Red Gnus is an alpha release, it is to be expected to lose mail.
9903 (No Gnus release since (ding) Gnus 0.10 (or something like that) have
9904 lost mail, I think, but that's not the point. (Except certain versions
9905 of Red Gnus.)) By not deleting the Incoming* files, one can be sure not
9906 to lose mail -- if Gnus totally whacks out, one can always recover what
9909 You may delete the @file{Incoming*} files at will.
9911 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
9912 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
9913 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
9914 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
9915 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
9916 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
9917 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
9919 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
9920 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
9922 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
9924 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
9925 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
9926 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
9927 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
9928 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
9933 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
9934 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
9935 @cindex mail splitting
9936 @cindex fancy mail splitting
9938 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
9939 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
9940 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
9941 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
9942 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
9943 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
9945 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
9948 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
9949 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
9950 ;; from real errors.
9951 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
9953 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
9954 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
9955 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
9956 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
9957 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
9958 ;; Other mailing lists...
9959 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
9960 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
9962 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
9963 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
9967 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
9968 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
9969 the five possible split syntaxes:
9974 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
9975 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
9979 @var{(FIELD VALUE SPLIT)}: If the split is a list, the first element of
9980 which is a string, then store the message as specified by SPLIT, if
9981 header FIELD (a regexp) contains VALUE (also a regexp).
9984 @var{(| SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
9985 @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each SPLIT until one of them
9986 matches. A SPLIT is said to match if it will cause the mail message to
9987 be stored in one or more groups.
9990 @var{(& SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
9991 @code{&}, then process all SPLITs in the list.
9994 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
9995 this message. Use with extreme caution.
9998 @var{(: function arg1 arg2 ...)}: If the split is a list, and the first
9999 element is @code{:}, then the second element will be called as a
10000 function with @var{args} given as arguments. The function should return
10004 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
10008 In these splits, @var{FIELD} must match a complete field name.
10009 @var{VALUE} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
10010 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
10011 field names or words. In other words, all @var{VALUE}'s are wrapped in
10012 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
10014 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
10015 @var{FIELD} and @var{VALUE} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
10016 are expanded as specified by the variable
10017 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
10018 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
10021 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
10022 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
10023 when all this splitting is performed.
10025 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
10026 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
10027 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
10030 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
10033 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
10034 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
10035 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
10036 groupings 1 through 9.
10039 @node Mail and Procmail
10040 @subsection Mail and Procmail
10045 Many people use @code{procmail} (or some other mail filter program or
10046 external delivery agent---@code{slocal}, @code{elm}, etc) to split
10047 incoming mail into groups. If you do that, you should set
10048 @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{procmail} to ensure that the mail
10049 backends never ever try to fetch mail by themselves.
10051 If you have a combined @code{procmail}/POP/mailbox setup, you can do
10052 something like the following:
10054 @vindex nnmail-use-procmail
10056 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
10057 (setq nnmail-spool-file
10058 '("/usr/spool/mail/my-name" "po:my-name"))
10061 This also means that you probably don't want to set
10062 @code{nnmail-split-methods} either, which has some, perhaps, unexpected
10065 When a mail backend is queried for what groups it carries, it replies
10066 with the contents of that variable, along with any groups it has figured
10067 out that it carries by other means. None of the backends, except
10068 @code{nnmh}, actually go out to the disk and check what groups actually
10069 exist. (It's not trivial to distinguish between what the user thinks is
10070 a basis for a newsgroup and what is just a plain old file or directory.)
10072 This means that you have to tell Gnus (and the backends) by hand what
10075 Let's take the @code{nnmh} backend as an example:
10077 The folders are located in @code{nnmh-directory}, say, @file{~/Mail/}.
10078 There are three folders, @file{foo}, @file{bar} and @file{mail.baz}.
10080 Go to the group buffer and type @kbd{G m}. When prompted, answer
10081 @samp{foo} for the name and @samp{nnmh} for the method. Repeat
10082 twice for the two other groups, @samp{bar} and @samp{mail.baz}. Be sure
10083 to include all your mail groups.
10085 That's it. You are now set to read your mail. An active file for this
10086 method will be created automatically.
10088 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
10089 @vindex nnmail-procmail-directory
10090 If you use @code{nnfolder} or any other backend that store more than a
10091 single article in each file, you should never have procmail add mails to
10092 the file that Gnus sees. Instead, procmail should put all incoming mail
10093 in @code{nnmail-procmail-directory}. To arrive at the file name to put
10094 the incoming mail in, append @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix} to the group
10095 name. The mail backends will read the mail from these files.
10097 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
10098 When Gnus reads a file called @file{mail.misc.spool}, this mail will be
10099 put in the @code{mail.misc}, as one would expect. However, if you want
10100 Gnus to split the mail the normal way, you could set
10101 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to @code{t}.
10103 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
10104 If you use @code{procmail} to split things directly into an @code{nnmh}
10105 directory (which you shouldn't do), you should set
10106 @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} to non-@code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
10107 ever expiring the final article (i.e., the article with the highest
10108 article number) in a mail newsgroup. This is quite, quite important.
10110 Here's an example setup: The incoming spools are located in
10111 @file{~/incoming/} and have @samp{""} as suffixes (i.e., the incoming
10112 spool files have the same names as the equivalent groups). The
10113 @code{nnfolder} backend is to be used as the mail interface, and the
10114 @code{nnfolder} directory is @file{~/fMail/}.
10117 (setq nnfolder-directory "~/fMail/")
10118 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
10119 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/incoming/")
10120 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnfolder "")))
10121 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "")
10125 @node Incorporating Old Mail
10126 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
10128 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
10129 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
10130 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
10133 Doing so can be quite easy.
10135 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
10136 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
10137 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
10138 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
10139 your @code{nnml} groups.
10145 Go to the group buffer.
10148 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
10149 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
10152 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
10155 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
10156 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
10159 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
10160 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
10163 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
10164 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
10165 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
10166 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
10167 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
10169 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
10170 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
10171 using the new mail backend.
10174 @node Expiring Mail
10175 @subsection Expiring Mail
10176 @cindex article expiry
10178 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
10179 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
10180 different approach to mail reading.
10182 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
10183 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
10184 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
10185 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
10186 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
10187 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
10190 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
10191 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
10192 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
10193 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
10194 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
10195 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
10196 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
10197 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
10199 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
10200 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
10201 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
10202 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
10203 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
10204 column in the summary buffer.
10206 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
10207 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
10208 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
10209 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
10212 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
10214 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
10215 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
10216 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
10219 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
10220 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
10221 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
10222 groups expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
10223 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
10225 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
10226 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
10229 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
10230 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
10233 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
10234 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
10236 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
10237 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
10238 don't really mix very well.
10240 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
10241 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
10242 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
10243 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
10246 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
10247 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
10248 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
10249 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
10252 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
10254 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
10256 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
10258 ((string= group "mail.junk")
10260 ((string= group "important")
10266 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
10267 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
10269 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
10270 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
10271 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
10274 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
10275 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
10277 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
10278 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
10279 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
10280 easier for procmail users.
10282 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
10283 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
10284 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
10285 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
10286 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
10287 caution. Even more dangerous is the
10288 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
10289 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
10290 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
10291 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
10292 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
10293 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
10294 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
10297 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
10299 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
10300 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
10301 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
10302 auto-expire turned on.
10306 @subsection Washing Mail
10307 @cindex mail washing
10308 @cindex list server brain damage
10309 @cindex incoming mail treatment
10311 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
10312 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC822 doesn't explicitly
10313 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
10314 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
10315 Yes, but RFC822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
10316 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
10318 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
10319 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
10320 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
10323 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
10324 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
10325 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
10326 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
10329 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
10330 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
10331 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
10332 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
10333 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
10336 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
10337 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
10338 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
10339 Emacs running on MS machines.
10343 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
10344 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
10345 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
10346 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
10349 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
10350 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
10351 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
10352 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
10354 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
10355 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
10356 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
10357 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
10358 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
10359 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
10360 also be a list of regexp.
10362 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
10363 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
10366 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
10367 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
10370 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
10371 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
10372 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
10376 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
10377 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
10378 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
10382 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
10383 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
10384 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
10391 @subsection Duplicates
10393 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
10394 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
10395 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
10396 @cindex duplicate mails
10397 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
10398 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
10399 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
10400 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
10401 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
10402 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
10403 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
10404 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
10405 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
10406 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
10407 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
10408 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
10409 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
10411 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
10412 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
10413 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
10414 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
10416 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
10419 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
10420 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
10424 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
10425 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
10426 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
10427 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
10428 (any mail "mail.misc")
10435 (setq nnmail-split-methods
10436 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
10441 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
10442 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
10443 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
10444 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
10445 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
10448 @node Not Reading Mail
10449 @subsection Not Reading Mail
10451 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
10452 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
10453 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
10455 If you set @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{nil}, none of the backends
10456 will ever attempt to read incoming mail, which should help.
10458 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10459 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
10460 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
10461 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
10462 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
10463 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
10464 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
10465 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
10466 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
10467 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
10468 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
10470 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
10471 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
10475 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
10476 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
10478 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
10479 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
10480 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
10483 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
10484 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
10485 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
10486 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
10487 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
10491 @node Unix Mail Box
10492 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
10494 @cindex unix mail box
10496 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
10497 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
10498 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
10499 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
10500 which group it belongs in.
10502 Virtual server settings:
10505 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
10506 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
10507 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
10509 @item nnmbox-active-file
10510 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
10511 The name of the active file for the mail box.
10513 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
10514 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
10515 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
10521 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
10525 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
10526 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
10527 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
10528 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each mail
10529 article to say which group it belongs in.
10531 Virtual server settings:
10534 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
10535 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
10536 The name of the rmail mbox file.
10538 @item nnbabyl-active-file
10539 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
10540 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
10542 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10543 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10544 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
10549 @subsubsection Mail Spool
10551 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
10553 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
10554 format. It should be used with some caution.
10556 @vindex nnml-directory
10557 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
10558 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
10559 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
10560 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
10562 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
10565 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
10566 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
10567 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
10568 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
10569 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
10570 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
10571 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
10572 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
10574 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
10575 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
10576 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
10577 backend when it comes to reading mail.
10579 Virtual server settings:
10582 @item nnml-directory
10583 @vindex nnml-directory
10584 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
10586 @item nnml-active-file
10587 @vindex nnml-active-file
10588 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
10590 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
10591 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
10592 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
10595 @item nnml-get-new-mail
10596 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
10597 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
10599 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
10600 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
10601 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
10603 @item nnml-nov-file-name
10604 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
10605 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
10607 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
10608 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
10609 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
10613 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
10614 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
10615 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
10616 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
10617 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
10618 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
10619 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
10624 @subsubsection MH Spool
10626 @cindex mh-e mail spool
10628 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
10629 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
10630 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
10631 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
10633 Virtual server settings:
10636 @item nnmh-directory
10637 @vindex nnmh-directory
10638 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
10640 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
10641 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
10642 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
10645 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
10646 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
10647 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
10648 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
10649 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
10650 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
10651 to set this variable to @code{t}.
10656 @subsubsection Mail Folders
10658 @cindex mbox folders
10659 @cindex mail folders
10661 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
10662 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
10663 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
10666 Virtual server settings:
10669 @item nnfolder-directory
10670 @vindex nnfolder-directory
10671 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
10673 @item nnfolder-active-file
10674 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
10675 The name of the active file.
10677 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
10678 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
10679 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
10681 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
10682 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
10683 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
10685 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
10686 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
10687 @cindex backup files
10688 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
10689 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
10690 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
10691 your @file{.emacs} file:
10694 (defun turn-off-backup ()
10695 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
10697 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
10700 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
10701 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
10702 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
10703 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
10704 extract some information from it before removing it.
10709 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
10710 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
10711 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
10712 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
10713 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
10714 @code{nnfolder-directory}.
10717 @node Other Sources
10718 @section Other Sources
10720 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
10721 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
10725 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
10726 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
10727 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
10728 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{SOUP} packets ``offline''.
10729 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
10730 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
10734 @node Directory Groups
10735 @subsection Directory Groups
10737 @cindex directory groups
10739 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
10740 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
10743 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
10744 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
10745 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
10746 backend to read directories. Big deal.
10748 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
10749 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
10750 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
10751 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
10752 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
10754 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
10756 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
10757 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
10758 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
10759 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
10762 @node Anything Groups
10763 @subsection Anything Groups
10766 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
10767 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
10768 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
10771 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
10772 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
10773 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
10774 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're
10775 forgetting. @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it
10776 snoops each file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e.,
10777 the first few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head.
10778 If this is just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source
10779 file), @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It
10780 will use file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
10783 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
10784 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
10785 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
10786 in the article buffer, just as usual.
10788 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
10789 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
10790 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
10791 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
10793 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
10794 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
10795 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
10796 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
10797 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
10798 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
10799 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
10800 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
10805 @item nneething-map-file-directory
10806 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
10807 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
10808 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
10810 @item nneething-exclude-files
10811 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
10812 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
10813 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
10815 @item nneething-include-files
10816 @vindex nneething-include-files
10817 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
10818 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
10820 @item nneething-map-file
10821 @vindex nneething-map-file
10822 Name of the map files.
10826 @node Document Groups
10827 @subsection Document Groups
10829 @cindex documentation group
10832 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
10833 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
10840 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
10845 The standard Unix mbox file.
10847 @cindex MMDF mail box
10849 The MMDF mail box format.
10852 Several news articles appended into a file.
10855 @cindex rnews batch files
10856 The rnews batch transport format.
10857 @cindex forwarded messages
10860 Forwarded articles.
10863 MIME multipart messages, besides digests.
10867 @cindex MIME digest
10868 @cindex 1153 digest
10869 @cindex RFC 1153 digest
10870 @cindex RFC 341 digest
10871 MIME (RFC 1341) digest format.
10873 @item standard-digest
10874 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
10877 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
10880 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
10881 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
10882 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
10885 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
10886 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
10887 group. And that's it.
10889 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
10890 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
10891 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
10892 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
10893 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
10894 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
10895 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
10896 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
10897 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
10898 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
10900 Virtual server variables:
10903 @item nndoc-article-type
10904 @vindex nndoc-article-type
10905 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
10906 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
10907 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{mime-digest},
10908 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs} or
10911 @item nndoc-post-type
10912 @vindex nndoc-post-type
10913 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
10914 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
10919 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
10923 @node Document Server Internals
10924 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
10926 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
10927 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
10928 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
10929 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
10931 First, here's an example document type definition:
10935 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
10936 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
10939 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
10940 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
10941 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
10942 types can be defined with very few settings:
10945 @item first-article
10946 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
10947 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
10950 @item article-begin
10951 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
10952 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
10954 @item head-begin-function
10955 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
10958 @item nndoc-head-begin
10959 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
10962 @item nndoc-head-end
10963 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
10964 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
10966 @item body-begin-function
10967 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
10971 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
10974 @item body-end-function
10975 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
10979 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
10982 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
10983 regexp will be totally ignored.
10987 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
10988 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
10989 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
10990 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
10991 something that's palatable for Gnus:
10994 @item prepare-body-function
10995 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
10996 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
10997 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
10999 @item article-transform-function
11000 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
11001 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
11002 body of the article.
11004 @item generate-head-function
11005 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
11006 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
11007 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
11008 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
11012 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
11017 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
11018 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
11019 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
11020 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
11021 (head-end . "^ ?$")
11022 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
11023 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
11024 (subtype digest guess))
11027 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
11028 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
11029 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
11030 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
11031 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
11033 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
11034 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
11035 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
11036 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
11037 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
11038 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
11039 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
11040 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
11041 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
11042 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
11050 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
11051 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
11052 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
11054 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
11055 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
11056 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
11059 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something a that's a bit
11060 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
11061 that interested in doing things properly.
11063 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
11064 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
11067 First some terminology:
11072 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
11073 get news and/or mail from.
11076 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
11077 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
11080 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
11084 @item message packets
11085 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
11086 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
11087 default, where @var{X} is a number.
11089 @item response packets
11090 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
11091 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
11092 default, where @var{X} is a number.
11102 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
11103 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
11104 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
11105 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
11108 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
11111 You put the packet in your home directory.
11114 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
11115 the native or secondary server.
11118 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
11119 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
11122 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
11126 You transfer this packet to the server.
11129 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
11132 You then repeat until you die.
11136 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
11137 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
11140 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
11141 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
11142 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
11146 @node SOUP Commands
11147 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
11149 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
11153 @kindex G s b (Group)
11154 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
11155 Pack all unread articles in the current group
11156 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
11157 process/prefix convention.
11160 @kindex G s w (Group)
11161 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
11162 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
11165 @kindex G s s (Group)
11166 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
11167 Send all replies from the replies packet
11168 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
11171 @kindex G s p (Group)
11172 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
11173 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
11176 @kindex G s r (Group)
11177 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
11178 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
11181 @kindex O s (Summary)
11182 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
11183 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
11184 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
11185 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
11190 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
11195 @item gnus-soup-directory
11196 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
11197 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
11198 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
11200 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
11201 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
11202 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
11203 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
11205 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
11206 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
11207 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
11208 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
11210 @item gnus-soup-packer
11211 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
11212 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
11213 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
11215 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
11216 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
11217 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
11218 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
11220 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
11221 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
11222 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
11224 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
11225 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
11226 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
11227 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
11233 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
11236 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
11237 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
11238 you can read them at leisure.
11240 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
11244 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
11245 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
11246 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
11247 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
11249 @item nnsoup-directory
11250 @vindex nnsoup-directory
11251 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
11252 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
11254 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
11255 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
11256 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
11257 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
11259 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
11260 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
11261 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
11262 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
11263 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
11265 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
11266 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
11267 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
11268 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
11270 @item nnsoup-active-file
11271 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
11272 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
11273 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
11274 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
11275 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
11277 @item nnsoup-packer
11278 @vindex nnsoup-packer
11279 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
11280 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
11282 @item nnsoup-unpacker
11283 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
11284 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
11285 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
11287 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
11288 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
11289 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
11292 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
11293 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
11294 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
11297 @item nnsoup-always-save
11298 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
11299 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
11305 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
11307 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
11308 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
11309 more for that to happen.
11311 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
11312 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
11313 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
11316 In specific, this is what it does:
11319 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
11320 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
11323 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
11324 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
11325 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
11329 @subsection Web Searches
11333 @cindex InReference
11334 @cindex Usenet searches
11335 @cindex searching the Usenet
11337 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
11338 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
11339 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
11340 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
11341 searches without having to use a browser.
11343 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
11344 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
11345 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
11346 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
11347 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
11349 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
11350 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
11351 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
11352 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
11353 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
11354 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
11355 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
11356 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
11357 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
11358 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
11361 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
11362 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
11363 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
11364 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
11365 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
11366 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
11368 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
11369 to use @code{nnweb}.
11371 Virtual server variables:
11376 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
11377 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
11381 @vindex nnweb-search
11382 The search string to feed to the search engine.
11384 @item nnweb-max-hits
11385 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
11386 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
11389 @item nnweb-type-definition
11390 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
11391 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
11392 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
11397 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
11401 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
11404 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
11407 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
11411 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
11418 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
11419 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
11420 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
11423 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
11424 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
11425 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
11427 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
11433 @item nngateway-address
11434 @vindex nngateway-address
11435 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
11437 @item nngateway-header-transformation
11438 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
11439 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
11440 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
11441 transformation should be called, and defaults to
11442 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
11443 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
11446 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
11447 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
11448 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
11451 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
11454 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
11457 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
11460 The following pre-defined functions exist:
11462 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
11465 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
11466 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
11467 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
11469 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
11471 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
11472 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
11473 @code{nngateway-address}.
11478 (setq gnus-post-method
11479 '(nngateway "mail2news@@replay.com"
11480 (nngateway-header-transformation
11481 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
11489 So, to use this, simply say something like:
11492 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
11496 @node Combined Groups
11497 @section Combined Groups
11499 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
11503 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
11504 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
11508 @node Virtual Groups
11509 @subsection Virtual Groups
11511 @cindex virtual groups
11512 @cindex merging groups
11514 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
11517 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
11518 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
11519 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
11521 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
11522 regexp to match component groups.
11524 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
11525 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
11526 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
11527 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
11528 the virtual group.)
11530 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
11531 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
11534 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
11537 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
11538 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
11540 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
11541 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
11542 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
11543 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
11546 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
11549 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
11550 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
11551 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
11553 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
11554 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
11555 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
11556 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
11557 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
11559 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
11560 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
11561 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
11563 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
11564 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
11565 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
11566 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
11567 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
11568 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
11569 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
11570 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
11571 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
11572 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
11573 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
11575 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
11576 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
11577 has to ask the backend of the component group the article comes from
11578 whether it is a news or mail backend. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
11579 there is typically no sure way for the component backend to know this,
11580 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
11581 not-news backend. (Just to be on the safe side.)
11583 @kbd{C-c C-t} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
11584 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
11588 @node Kibozed Groups
11589 @subsection Kibozed Groups
11593 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
11594 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
11595 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
11596 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
11598 @kindex G k (Group)
11599 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
11602 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
11603 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
11604 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
11605 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
11607 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
11608 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
11609 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
11611 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
11612 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
11613 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
11614 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
11615 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
11616 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
11617 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
11618 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
11620 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
11621 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
11622 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
11623 Stranger things have happened.
11625 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
11626 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
11628 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
11629 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
11630 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
11631 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
11632 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
11633 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
11635 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
11636 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
11639 @node Gnus Unplugged
11640 @section Gnus Unplugged
11645 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
11647 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
11648 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
11649 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
11650 read news. Believe it or not.
11652 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
11653 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
11654 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
11655 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
11656 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
11658 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
11659 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
11660 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
11661 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
11662 reading news on a machine.
11664 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
11668 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
11669 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
11673 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
11674 @file{.gnus.el} file:
11681 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
11683 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
11686 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
11687 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
11688 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
11689 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
11690 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
11691 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
11692 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
11693 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
11694 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
11699 @subsection Agent Basics
11701 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
11703 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
11704 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
11705 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
11706 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
11708 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
11709 connected to the net continuously.
11711 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
11712 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
11714 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
11719 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
11720 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
11721 already fetched while in this mode.
11724 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
11725 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
11726 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged}.
11729 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
11730 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{J
11731 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
11732 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
11735 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
11736 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
11737 then you read the news offline.
11740 And then you go to step 2.
11743 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
11749 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
11750 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
11751 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
11752 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
11753 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
11754 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
11757 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
11764 @node Agent Categories
11765 @subsection Agent Categories
11767 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
11768 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
11769 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
11770 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
11771 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
11772 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
11773 you're interested in the articles anyway.
11775 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
11776 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
11777 Gnus has its own buffer for creating and managing categories.
11780 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
11781 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
11782 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
11786 @node Category Syntax
11787 @subsubsection Category Syntax
11789 A category consists of two things.
11793 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
11794 are eligible for downloading; and
11797 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
11798 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
11799 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
11802 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
11803 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
11804 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
11805 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
11807 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
11808 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
11809 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as descibed below.
11811 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
11812 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
11813 operators sprinkled in between.
11815 Perhaps some examples are in order.
11817 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
11818 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
11824 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
11825 short (for some value of ``short'').
11827 Here's a more complex predicate:
11836 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
11837 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
11840 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
11841 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
11842 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
11844 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
11845 you want to do, you can write your own.
11849 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
11850 lines; default 100.
11853 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
11854 lines; default 200.
11857 True iff the article has a download score less than
11858 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
11861 True iff the article has a download score greater than
11862 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
11865 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
11866 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
11867 checksum and sees whether articles match.
11876 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
11877 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
11878 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
11881 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
11882 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
11883 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
11884 something along the lines of the following:
11887 (defun my-article-old-p ()
11888 "Say whether an article is old."
11889 (< (time-to-day (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
11890 (- (time-to-day (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
11893 with the predicate then defined as:
11896 (not my-article-old-p)
11899 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
11900 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
11901 wherever. (Note: this would have to be at a point *after*
11902 @code{gnus-agent} has been loaded via @code{(gnus-agentize)})
11905 (defvar gnus-category-predicate-alist
11906 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
11907 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
11910 and simply specify your predicate as:
11916 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
11917 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
11918 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
11919 just don't give a damm.
11922 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
11923 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
11924 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
11925 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
11926 parameters like so:
11929 (agent-predicate . short)
11932 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category
11933 default. Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this,
11934 the @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair
11937 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
11940 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
11943 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
11944 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
11945 predicate is assumed to be a list.
11948 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
11949 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
11950 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
11951 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
11952 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
11953 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
11955 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
11956 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
11957 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
11958 if it's to be specific to that group.
11960 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
11967 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
11968 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
11974 Category specification
11978 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
11984 Group Parameter specification
11987 (agent-score ("from"
11988 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
11993 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
11999 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
12006 Category specification
12009 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
12015 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
12019 Group Parameter specification
12022 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
12025 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
12030 Use @code{normal} score files
12032 If you dont want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
12033 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
12034 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
12035 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
12037 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
12038 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
12039 files for a group, *filtering out* those those sections that do not
12040 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
12044 Category Specification
12051 Group Parameter specification
12054 (agent-score . file)
12059 @node The Category Buffer
12060 @subsubsection The Category Buffer
12062 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
12063 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
12064 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
12066 The following commands are available in this buffer:
12070 @kindex q (Category)
12071 @findex gnus-category-exit
12072 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
12075 @kindex k (Category)
12076 @findex gnus-category-kill
12077 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
12080 @kindex c (Category)
12081 @findex gnus-category-copy
12082 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
12085 @kindex a (Category)
12086 @findex gnus-category-add
12087 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
12090 @kindex p (Category)
12091 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
12092 Edit the predicate of the current category
12093 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
12096 @kindex g (Category)
12097 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
12098 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
12099 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
12102 @kindex s (Category)
12103 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
12104 Edit the download score rule of the current category
12105 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
12108 @kindex l (Category)
12109 @findex gnus-category-list
12110 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
12114 @node Category Variables
12115 @subsubsection Category Variables
12118 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
12119 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
12120 Hook run in category buffers.
12122 @item gnus-category-line-format
12123 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
12124 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
12125 Variables}). Valid elements are:
12129 The name of the category.
12132 The number of groups in the category.
12135 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
12136 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
12137 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
12139 @item gnus-agent-short-article
12140 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
12141 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
12143 @item gnus-agent-long-article
12144 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
12145 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
12147 @item gnus-agent-low-score
12148 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
12149 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
12152 @item gnus-agent-high-score
12153 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
12154 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
12160 @node Agent Commands
12161 @subsection Agent Commands
12163 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
12164 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
12165 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
12169 * Group Agent Commands::
12170 * Summary Agent Commands::
12171 * Server Agent Commands::
12174 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
12175 following incantation:
12177 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
12179 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
12184 @node Group Agent Commands
12185 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
12189 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
12190 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
12191 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
12192 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
12195 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
12196 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
12197 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
12200 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
12201 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
12202 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
12203 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
12206 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
12207 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
12208 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
12209 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}). @xref{Drafts}.
12212 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
12213 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
12214 Add the current group to an Agent category
12215 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}).
12220 @node Summary Agent Commands
12221 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
12225 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
12226 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
12227 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
12230 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
12231 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
12232 Remove the downloading mark from the article
12233 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
12236 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
12237 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
12238 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
12241 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
12242 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
12243 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
12248 @node Server Agent Commands
12249 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
12253 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
12254 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
12255 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
12256 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
12259 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
12260 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
12261 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
12262 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
12268 @subsection Agent Expiry
12270 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
12271 @findex gnus-agent-expire
12272 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
12273 @cindex Agent expiry
12274 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
12277 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
12278 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
12279 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
12280 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
12281 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
12282 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
12284 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
12285 if @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
12286 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
12287 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
12288 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
12291 @node Outgoing Messages
12292 @subsection Outgoing Messages
12294 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
12295 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
12296 after posting, and edit them at will.
12298 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
12299 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
12300 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
12301 messages in the draft group.
12305 @node Agent Variables
12306 @subsection Agent Variables
12309 @item gnus-agent-directory
12310 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
12311 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
12312 @file{~/News/agent/}.
12314 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
12315 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
12316 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
12317 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
12318 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
12321 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
12322 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
12323 Hook run when connecting to the network.
12325 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
12326 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
12327 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
12332 @node Example Setup
12333 @subsection Example Setup
12335 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
12336 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
12337 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
12340 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over NNTP
12341 ;;; from your ISP's server.
12342 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "nntp.your-isp.com"))
12344 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
12345 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
12346 (setenv "MAILHOST" "pop.your-isp.com")
12347 (setq nnmail-spool-file "po:username")
12349 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
12350 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12352 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
12356 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
12357 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
12360 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
12361 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
12362 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
12363 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
12364 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
12367 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
12368 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
12369 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
12370 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
12371 back all the killed groups.)
12373 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
12374 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
12375 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
12378 @node Batching Agents
12379 @subsection Batching Agents
12381 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
12382 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
12383 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
12387 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
12391 @node Agent Caveats
12392 @subsection Agent Caveats
12394 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
12395 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
12399 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the
12404 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists
12405 in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
12411 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
12412 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP.
12419 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
12420 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
12421 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
12424 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
12425 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
12426 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
12427 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
12428 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
12430 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
12431 before generating the summary buffer.
12433 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
12434 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
12435 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
12437 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
12438 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
12439 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
12440 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
12443 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
12444 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
12445 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
12446 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
12447 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
12448 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
12449 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
12450 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
12451 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
12452 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
12453 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
12454 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
12455 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
12456 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
12457 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
12458 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
12462 @node Summary Score Commands
12463 @section Summary Score Commands
12464 @cindex score commands
12466 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
12467 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
12468 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
12469 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
12470 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
12472 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
12473 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
12474 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
12475 score file the current one.
12477 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
12482 @kindex V s (Summary)
12483 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
12484 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
12487 @kindex V S (Summary)
12488 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
12489 Display the score of the current article
12490 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
12493 @kindex V t (Summary)
12494 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
12495 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
12496 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
12499 @kindex V R (Summary)
12500 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
12501 Run the current summary through the scoring process
12502 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
12503 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
12504 effect you're having.
12507 @kindex V c (Summary)
12508 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
12509 Make a different score file the current
12510 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
12513 @kindex V e (Summary)
12514 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
12515 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
12516 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
12520 @kindex V f (Summary)
12521 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
12522 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
12523 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
12526 @kindex V F (Summary)
12527 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
12528 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
12529 after editing score files.
12532 @kindex V C (Summary)
12533 @findex gnus-score-customize
12534 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
12535 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
12539 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
12544 @kindex V m (Summary)
12545 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
12546 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
12547 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
12550 @kindex V x (Summary)
12551 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
12552 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
12553 expunge all articles below this score
12554 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
12557 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
12558 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
12561 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
12562 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
12566 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
12567 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
12569 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
12570 keys are available:
12574 Score on the author name.
12577 Score on the subject line.
12580 Score on the Xref line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
12583 Score on the References line.
12589 Score on the number of lines.
12592 Score on the Message-ID.
12595 Score on followups.
12609 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
12610 what headers you are scoring on.
12622 Substring matching.
12625 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
12654 Greater than number.
12659 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
12660 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
12661 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
12665 Temporary score entry.
12668 Permanent score entry.
12671 Immediately scoring.
12676 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
12677 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
12678 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
12679 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
12681 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
12682 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
12683 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
12684 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
12685 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
12687 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
12688 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
12689 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
12690 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
12691 current score file.
12693 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
12694 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
12695 pretend they are keymaps or not.
12698 @node Group Score Commands
12699 @section Group Score Commands
12700 @cindex group score commands
12702 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
12707 @kindex W f (Group)
12708 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
12709 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
12710 all the time. This command will flush the cache
12711 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
12715 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
12717 @findex gnus-batch-score
12718 @cindex batch scoring
12720 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
12724 @node Score Variables
12725 @section Score Variables
12726 @cindex score variables
12730 @item gnus-use-scoring
12731 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
12732 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
12733 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
12735 @item gnus-kill-killed
12736 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
12737 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
12738 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
12739 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
12740 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
12741 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
12742 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
12744 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
12745 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
12746 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
12747 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
12748 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
12750 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
12751 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
12752 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
12753 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
12755 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
12756 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
12757 @cindex score cache
12758 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
12759 score files. However, if this might make you Emacs grow big and
12760 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
12761 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
12762 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
12763 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
12766 @item gnus-save-score
12767 @vindex gnus-save-score
12768 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
12769 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
12770 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
12772 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
12773 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
12774 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
12775 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
12776 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
12777 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
12778 manually entered data.
12780 @item gnus-summary-default-score
12781 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
12782 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
12784 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
12785 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
12786 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
12787 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
12788 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
12789 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
12791 @item gnus-score-over-mark
12792 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
12793 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
12794 default. Default is @samp{+}.
12796 @item gnus-score-below-mark
12797 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
12798 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
12799 default. Default is @samp{-}.
12801 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
12802 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
12803 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
12804 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
12806 Predefined functions available are:
12809 @item gnus-score-find-single
12810 @findex gnus-score-find-single
12811 Only apply the group's own score file.
12813 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
12814 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
12815 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
12816 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
12817 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
12818 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
12819 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
12820 then a regexp match is done.
12822 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
12823 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
12825 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
12826 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
12827 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
12828 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
12830 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
12831 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
12832 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
12833 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
12834 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE}.
12837 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
12838 functions will be called, and all the returned lists of score files will
12839 be applied. These functions can also return lists of score alists
12840 directly. In that case, the functions that return these non-file score
12841 alists should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file
12842 functions, to ensure that the last score file returned is the local
12845 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
12846 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
12847 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
12848 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
12849 are expired. It's 7 by default.
12851 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
12852 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
12853 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
12854 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
12855 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
12856 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
12857 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
12860 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
12861 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
12862 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
12864 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
12865 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
12866 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
12867 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
12868 threading---according to the current value of
12869 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
12870 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
12871 simplified in this manner.
12876 @node Score File Format
12877 @section Score File Format
12878 @cindex score file format
12880 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
12881 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
12882 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
12884 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
12888 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
12890 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
12892 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
12894 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
12899 (mark-and-expunge -10)
12903 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
12904 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
12905 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
12906 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
12910 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
12911 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
12913 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
12914 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
12915 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
12917 Six keys are supported by this alist:
12922 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
12923 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
12924 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
12925 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
12926 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
12927 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
12928 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
12929 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
12930 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
12931 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
12932 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
12933 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
12934 to articles that matches these score entries.
12936 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
12937 score entry has one to four elements.
12941 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
12942 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
12946 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
12947 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
12948 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
12949 is successful. If this element is not present, the
12950 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
12951 instead. This is 1000 by default.
12954 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
12955 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
12956 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
12957 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
12958 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
12961 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
12962 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
12963 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
12964 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
12967 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
12968 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
12969 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
12970 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
12971 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
12972 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
12973 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
12974 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
12975 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
12976 instead, if you feel like.
12979 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
12980 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
12982 These predicates are true if
12985 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
12988 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
12989 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
12996 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
12997 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
12998 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
12999 it's not. I think.)
13001 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some backends (like
13002 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
13003 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
13004 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
13007 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
13008 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
13009 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
13010 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
13011 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
13012 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
13013 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
13017 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
13018 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
13019 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
13020 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
13021 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
13022 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
13023 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
13024 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
13027 @item Head, Body, All
13028 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
13032 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
13033 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
13034 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
13035 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
13036 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
13037 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
13038 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
13042 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
13043 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{X}, then you add a
13044 @samp{thread} match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each
13045 article that has @var{X} in its @code{References} header. (These new
13046 @samp{thread} matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching
13047 articles.) This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an
13048 entire thread, even though some articles in the thread may not have
13049 complete @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
13050 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
13051 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
13055 @cindex Score File Atoms
13057 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
13058 lower than this number will be marked as read.
13061 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
13062 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
13064 @item mark-and-expunge
13065 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
13066 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
13069 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
13070 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
13071 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
13072 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
13073 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
13076 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
13077 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
13080 @item exclude-files
13081 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
13082 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
13086 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
13087 ignored when handling global score files.
13090 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
13091 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
13092 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
13093 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
13096 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
13097 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
13098 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
13099 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
13101 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
13105 (mark-and-expunge -100)
13108 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
13109 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
13110 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
13111 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
13112 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
13114 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where there
13115 exist a few interesting threads which can't be found automatically by
13116 ordinary scoring rules.
13119 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
13120 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
13121 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
13122 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
13123 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
13124 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
13125 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
13126 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
13127 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
13128 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
13129 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
13133 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
13134 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
13135 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
13136 file for a number of groups.
13139 @cindex local variables
13140 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
13141 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
13142 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
13143 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
13144 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
13148 @node Score File Editing
13149 @section Score File Editing
13151 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
13152 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
13153 with a mode for that.
13155 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
13156 additional commands:
13161 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
13162 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
13163 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
13164 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
13167 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
13168 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
13169 Insert the current date in numerical format
13170 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
13171 you were wondering.
13174 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
13175 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
13176 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
13177 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
13178 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
13183 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
13185 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
13186 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
13188 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
13189 e} to begin editing score files.
13192 @node Adaptive Scoring
13193 @section Adaptive Scoring
13194 @cindex adaptive scoring
13196 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
13197 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
13198 stupidity, to be precise.
13200 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
13201 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
13202 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
13203 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
13204 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
13205 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
13206 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
13207 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
13208 variable to @code{(word line)}.
13210 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
13211 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
13212 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
13213 might look something like this:
13216 (defvar gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
13217 '((gnus-unread-mark)
13218 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
13219 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
13220 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
13221 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
13222 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
13223 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
13224 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
13225 (gnus-ancient-mark)
13226 (gnus-low-score-mark)
13227 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
13230 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
13231 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
13232 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
13233 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
13234 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
13235 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
13238 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
13239 will be applied to each article.
13241 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
13242 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
13243 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
13244 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
13246 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
13247 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
13248 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
13249 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
13251 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
13252 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
13253 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
13254 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
13256 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
13257 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
13258 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
13259 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
13260 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
13261 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
13263 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
13264 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
13265 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
13266 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
13267 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
13268 aspirins afterwards.)
13270 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
13271 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
13272 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
13274 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
13275 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
13276 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
13278 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
13279 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
13280 let you use different rules in different groups.
13282 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
13283 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
13284 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
13287 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
13288 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
13289 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
13290 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
13291 the length of the match is less than
13292 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
13293 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
13296 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
13297 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
13298 headers. If you adapt on words, the
13299 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
13300 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
13303 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
13304 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
13305 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
13306 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
13307 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
13310 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
13311 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
13312 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
13313 score with 30 points.
13315 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
13316 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
13317 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
13318 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
13319 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
13321 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
13322 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
13323 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
13324 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
13326 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
13327 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
13328 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
13329 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
13331 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
13332 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
13333 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
13334 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
13335 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
13337 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
13338 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
13339 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
13341 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
13342 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
13343 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
13344 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
13347 @node Home Score File
13348 @section Home Score File
13350 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
13351 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
13352 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
13353 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
13355 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
13356 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
13357 could perhaps use the same home score file.
13359 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
13360 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
13365 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
13369 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
13370 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
13374 A list. The elements in this list can be:
13378 @var{(regexp file-name)}. If the @var{regexp} matches the group name,
13379 the @var{file-name} will will be used as the home score file.
13382 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
13383 the home score file.
13386 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
13389 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
13394 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
13397 (setq gnus-home-score-file
13398 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
13401 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
13402 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
13404 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
13406 (setq gnus-home-score-file
13407 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
13410 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
13411 Other functions include
13414 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
13415 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
13416 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
13417 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
13421 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
13422 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
13423 their own home score files:
13426 (setq gnus-home-score-file
13427 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
13428 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
13429 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
13430 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
13433 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
13434 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
13435 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
13436 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
13437 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
13439 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
13440 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
13441 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
13442 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
13443 precedence over this variable.
13446 @node Followups To Yourself
13447 @section Followups To Yourself
13449 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
13450 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
13451 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
13452 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
13453 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
13454 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
13458 @item gnus-score-followup-article
13459 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
13460 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
13463 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
13464 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
13465 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
13469 @vindex message-sent-hook
13470 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
13471 @code{message-sent-hook}.
13473 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
13474 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
13478 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
13479 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
13482 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
13483 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
13488 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore.no>"
13492 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
13493 is system-dependent.
13497 @section Scoring Tips
13498 @cindex scoring tips
13504 @cindex scoring crossposts
13505 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
13506 the @code{Xref} header.
13508 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
13511 @item Multiple crossposts
13512 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
13513 more than, say, 3 groups:
13515 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
13518 @item Matching on the body
13519 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
13520 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
13521 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
13522 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
13523 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
13524 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
13525 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
13528 @item Marking as read
13529 You will probably want to mark articles that has a score below a certain
13530 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
13531 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
13535 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
13537 @item Negated character classes
13538 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
13539 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
13540 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
13544 @node Reverse Scoring
13545 @section Reverse Scoring
13546 @cindex reverse scoring
13548 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
13549 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
13550 like this in your score file:
13554 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
13559 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
13560 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
13563 @node Global Score Files
13564 @section Global Score Files
13565 @cindex global score files
13567 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
13568 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
13569 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
13571 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
13572 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
13573 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
13575 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
13576 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
13577 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
13578 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
13579 files are applicable to which group.
13581 Say you want to use the score file
13582 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
13583 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
13586 (setq gnus-global-score-files
13587 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
13588 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
13591 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
13592 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
13593 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
13594 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
13595 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
13597 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
13598 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
13600 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
13601 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
13602 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
13603 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
13604 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
13605 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
13607 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
13613 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
13615 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
13617 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
13619 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
13620 lowered out of existence.
13622 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
13623 articles completely.
13626 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
13627 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
13628 old articles for a long time.
13631 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
13632 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
13633 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
13634 holding our breath yet?
13638 @section Kill Files
13641 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
13642 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
13643 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
13645 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
13646 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
13647 files into score files.
13649 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
13650 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
13651 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
13652 that isn't a very good idea.
13654 Normal kill files look like this:
13657 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13658 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
13662 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
13663 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
13665 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
13666 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
13669 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
13674 @kindex M-k (Summary)
13675 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
13676 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
13679 @kindex M-K (Summary)
13680 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
13681 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
13684 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
13689 @kindex M-k (Group)
13690 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
13691 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
13694 @kindex M-K (Group)
13695 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
13696 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
13699 Kill file variables:
13702 @item gnus-kill-file-name
13703 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
13704 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
13705 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
13706 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
13707 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
13708 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
13710 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
13711 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
13712 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
13713 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
13716 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
13717 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
13718 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
13719 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
13720 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
13721 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
13722 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
13723 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
13724 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
13726 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
13727 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
13728 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
13733 @node Converting Kill Files
13734 @section Converting Kill Files
13736 @cindex converting kill files
13738 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
13739 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
13740 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
13743 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
13744 You can fetch it from
13745 @file{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-other/gnus-kill-to-score}.
13747 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
13748 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
13749 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
13757 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
13758 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
13759 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
13761 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
13762 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
13763 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
13764 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
13765 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
13766 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
13767 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
13768 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
13772 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
13773 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
13774 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
13775 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
13779 @node Using GroupLens
13780 @subsection Using GroupLens
13782 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
13784 @samp{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
13785 better bit in town at the moment.
13787 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
13791 @item gnus-use-grouplens
13792 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
13793 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
13794 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
13796 @item grouplens-pseudonym
13797 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
13798 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
13799 with the Better Bit Bureau.
13801 @item grouplens-newsgroups
13802 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
13803 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
13807 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
13808 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
13809 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
13810 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
13811 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
13812 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
13815 @node Rating Articles
13816 @subsection Rating Articles
13818 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
13819 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
13820 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
13821 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
13824 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
13829 @kindex r (GroupLens)
13830 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
13831 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
13834 @kindex k (GroupLens)
13835 @findex grouplens-score-thread
13836 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
13837 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
13838 threads in rec.humor.
13842 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
13843 the score of the article you're reading.
13848 @kindex n (GroupLens)
13849 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
13850 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
13853 @kindex , (GroupLens)
13854 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
13855 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
13859 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
13860 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
13863 @node Displaying Predictions
13864 @subsection Displaying Predictions
13866 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
13867 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
13868 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
13869 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
13870 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
13872 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
13873 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
13874 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
13875 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
13876 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
13877 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
13878 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
13879 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
13880 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
13881 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
13882 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
13883 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
13884 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
13886 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
13887 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
13888 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
13889 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
13891 The following are valid values for that variable.
13894 @item prediction-spot
13895 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
13898 @item confidence-interval
13899 A numeric confidence interval.
13901 @item prediction-bar
13902 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
13904 @item confidence-bar
13905 Numerical confidence.
13907 @item confidence-spot
13908 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
13910 @item prediction-num
13911 Plain-old numeric value.
13913 @item confidence-plus-minus
13914 Prediction +/- confidence.
13919 @node GroupLens Variables
13920 @subsection GroupLens Variables
13924 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
13925 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
13926 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
13927 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
13930 @item grouplens-bbb-host
13931 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
13934 @item grouplens-bbb-port
13935 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
13937 @item grouplens-score-offset
13938 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
13939 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
13942 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
13943 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
13944 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
13949 @node Advanced Scoring
13950 @section Advanced Scoring
13952 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
13953 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
13954 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
13955 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
13956 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
13958 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
13962 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
13963 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
13964 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
13968 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
13969 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
13971 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
13972 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
13973 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
13974 non-@code{nil} value.
13976 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
13977 operator, and various match operators.
13984 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
13985 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
13986 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
13991 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
13992 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
13993 then this operator will return @code{false}.
13998 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
13999 logical negation of the value of its argument.
14003 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
14004 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
14005 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
14006 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
14007 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
14008 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
14009 the ancestry you want to go.
14011 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
14012 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
14013 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
14014 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
14015 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
14018 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
14019 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
14021 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
14022 when he's talking about Gnus:
14026 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14027 ("subject" "Gnus"))
14033 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
14037 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14044 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
14045 really don't want to read what he's written:
14049 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14050 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
14054 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
14055 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
14056 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
14063 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
14064 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
14065 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
14066 ("body" "white.*socks"))
14070 The possibilities are endless.
14073 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
14074 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
14076 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
14077 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
14078 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
14079 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
14080 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
14081 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
14082 @samp{subject}) first.
14084 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
14085 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
14096 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
14097 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
14103 ("subject" "Gnus")))
14110 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
14111 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
14116 @section Score Decays
14117 @cindex score decays
14120 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
14121 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
14122 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
14123 use them in any sensible way.
14125 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
14126 @findex gnus-decay-score
14127 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
14128 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
14129 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
14130 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
14131 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
14132 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
14133 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
14134 definition of that function:
14137 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
14139 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
14140 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
14143 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
14145 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
14147 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
14150 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
14151 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
14152 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
14153 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
14157 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
14160 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
14163 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
14167 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
14168 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
14169 the new score, which should be an integer.
14171 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
14172 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
14179 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
14180 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
14181 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
14182 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
14183 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
14184 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
14185 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
14186 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
14187 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
14188 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
14189 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
14190 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
14191 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
14192 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
14193 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
14194 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
14195 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
14196 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
14200 @node Process/Prefix
14201 @section Process/Prefix
14202 @cindex process/prefix convention
14204 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
14205 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
14207 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
14208 command to be performed on.
14212 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
14213 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
14214 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
14215 with the current one.
14217 @vindex transient-mark-mode
14218 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
14219 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
14221 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
14222 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
14225 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
14226 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
14228 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
14231 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
14232 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
14233 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
14234 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
14236 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
14237 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
14238 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
14239 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
14240 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
14241 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
14242 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
14243 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
14247 @section Interactive
14248 @cindex interaction
14252 @item gnus-novice-user
14253 @vindex gnus-novice-user
14254 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
14255 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
14256 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
14257 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
14260 @item gnus-expert-user
14261 @vindex gnus-expert-user
14262 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
14263 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
14264 matter how strange.
14266 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
14267 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
14268 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
14269 is @code{t} by default.
14271 @item gnus-interactive-exit
14272 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
14273 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
14278 @node Symbolic Prefixes
14279 @section Symbolic Prefixes
14280 @cindex symbolic prefixes
14282 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
14283 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
14284 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
14285 rule of 900 to the current article.
14287 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
14288 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
14289 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
14290 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
14291 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
14292 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
14293 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
14295 @kindex M-i (Summary)
14296 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
14297 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
14298 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
14299 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
14300 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a M-C-u} means ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u}
14301 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b M-C-u} means
14302 ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
14303 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
14305 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
14306 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
14307 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
14309 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
14313 @node Formatting Variables
14314 @section Formatting Variables
14315 @cindex formatting variables
14317 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
14318 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
14319 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
14320 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
14321 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
14324 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
14325 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
14326 lots of percentages everywhere.
14329 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
14330 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
14331 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
14332 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
14333 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
14336 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
14337 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
14338 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
14339 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
14340 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
14341 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
14342 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
14343 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
14345 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
14346 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
14348 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
14349 @findex gnus-update-format
14350 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
14351 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
14352 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
14353 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
14357 @node Formatting Basics
14358 @subsection Formatting Basics
14360 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
14361 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
14362 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
14364 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
14365 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
14366 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
14367 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
14368 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
14371 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
14372 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
14373 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
14374 less than 4 characters wide.
14377 @node Mode Line Formatting
14378 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
14380 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
14381 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
14382 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
14383 with the following two differences:
14388 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
14391 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
14392 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
14393 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
14394 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
14395 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
14396 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
14397 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
14402 @node Advanced Formatting
14403 @subsection Advanced Formatting
14405 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
14406 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
14407 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
14408 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
14410 These are the valid modifiers:
14415 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
14419 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
14424 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
14427 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
14432 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
14435 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
14438 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
14441 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
14445 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
14446 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
14447 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
14448 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
14449 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
14450 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
14451 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
14453 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
14454 last operation, padding.
14456 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
14457 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
14458 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
14459 @xref{Compilation}.
14462 @node User-Defined Specs
14463 @subsection User-Defined Specs
14465 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
14466 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
14467 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
14468 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
14469 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
14470 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
14471 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
14472 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
14473 should protect against that.
14475 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
14476 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
14477 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
14478 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
14482 @node Formatting Fonts
14483 @subsection Formatting Fonts
14485 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
14486 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
14487 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
14488 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
14491 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
14492 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
14493 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
14494 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
14495 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
14496 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
14498 Text inside the @samp{%<} and @samp{%>} specifiers will get the special
14499 @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say
14500 @samp{%1<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The
14501 @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or
14502 symbols naming functions that return a string. Under @code{balloon-help-mode},
14503 when the mouse passes over text with this property set, a balloon window
14504 will appear and display the string. Please refer to the doc string of
14505 @code{balloon-help-mode} for more information on this.
14507 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
14510 ;; Create three face types.
14511 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
14512 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
14514 ;; We want the article count to be in
14515 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
14516 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
14517 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
14519 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
14520 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
14522 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
14523 (setq gnus-group-line-format
14524 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
14527 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
14528 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
14530 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
14531 mode-line variables.
14534 @node Windows Configuration
14535 @section Windows Configuration
14536 @cindex windows configuration
14538 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
14540 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
14541 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
14542 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
14543 @code{t} by default.
14545 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
14546 glitches. Use at your own peril.
14548 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
14549 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
14550 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
14553 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
14554 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
14555 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
14559 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
14560 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
14561 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
14562 possible names is listed below.
14564 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
14565 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
14568 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
14572 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
14573 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
14574 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
14575 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
14576 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
14577 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
14578 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
14579 size spec per split.
14581 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
14582 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
14583 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
14584 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
14585 present) gets focus.
14587 Here's a more complicated example:
14590 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
14591 (summary 0.25 point)
14592 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
14596 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
14597 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
14598 occupy, not a percentage.
14600 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
14601 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
14602 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
14603 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
14604 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
14607 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
14610 (article (horizontal 1.0
14615 (summary 0.25 point)
14620 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
14621 @code{horizontal} thingie?
14623 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
14624 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
14625 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
14626 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
14627 the screen is to be given to this strip.
14629 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
14630 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
14631 lines from the splits.
14633 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
14637 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
14638 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
14639 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
14640 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
14641 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
14642 size = number | frame-params
14643 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
14646 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
14647 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
14648 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
14649 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
14651 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
14652 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
14653 @cindex window height
14654 @cindex window width
14655 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
14656 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
14657 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
14658 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
14659 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
14660 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
14662 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
14663 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
14664 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
14665 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
14667 @findex gnus-configure-frame
14668 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
14669 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
14670 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
14671 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
14672 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
14673 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
14674 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
14675 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
14676 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
14677 configuration list.
14680 (gnus-configure-frame
14684 (article 0.3 point))
14692 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
14693 @code{frame} split:
14696 (gnus-configure-frame
14699 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
14701 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
14702 (user-position . t)
14703 (left . -1) (top . 1))
14708 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
14709 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
14710 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
14711 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
14712 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
14713 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
14714 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
14715 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
14718 Here's a list of all possible keys for
14719 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration}:
14721 @code{group}, @code{summary}, @code{article}, @code{server},
14722 @code{browse}, @code{message}, @code{pick}, @code{info},
14723 @code{summary-faq}, @code{edit-group}, @code{edit-server},
14724 @code{edit-score}, @code{post}, @code{reply}, @code{forward},
14725 @code{reply-yank}, @code{mail-bounce}, @code{draft}, @code{pipe},
14726 @code{bug}, @code{compose-bounce}, and @code{score-trace}.
14728 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
14729 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
14730 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
14734 (message (horizontal 1.0
14735 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
14737 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
14742 @findex gnus-add-configuration
14743 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
14744 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
14745 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
14746 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
14749 (gnus-add-configuration
14750 '(article (vertical 1.0
14752 (summary .25 point)
14756 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
14757 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
14758 Gnus has been loaded.
14760 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
14761 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
14762 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
14763 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
14764 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
14766 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
14767 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
14768 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
14772 @node Faces and Fonts
14773 @section Faces and Fonts
14778 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
14779 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
14780 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
14785 @section Compilation
14786 @cindex compilation
14787 @cindex byte-compilation
14789 @findex gnus-compile
14791 Remember all those line format specification variables?
14792 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
14793 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
14794 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
14795 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
14796 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
14799 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
14800 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
14801 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
14802 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
14803 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
14804 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
14805 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
14809 @section Mode Lines
14812 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
14813 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
14814 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
14815 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
14816 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
14817 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
14818 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
14821 @cindex display-time
14823 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
14824 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
14825 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
14826 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
14827 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
14828 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
14829 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
14830 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
14833 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
14835 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
14836 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
14838 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
14839 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
14840 (length display-time-string)))))
14843 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
14844 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
14845 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
14846 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
14847 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
14850 @node Highlighting and Menus
14851 @section Highlighting and Menus
14853 @cindex highlighting
14856 @vindex gnus-visual
14857 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
14858 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
14859 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
14862 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
14863 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
14866 @item group-highlight
14867 Do highlights in the group buffer.
14868 @item summary-highlight
14869 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
14870 @item article-highlight
14871 Do highlights according to @code{gnus-article-display-hook} in the
14874 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
14876 Create menus in the group buffer.
14878 Create menus in the summary buffers.
14880 Create menus in the article buffer.
14882 Create menus in the browse buffer.
14884 Create menus in the server buffer.
14886 Create menus in the score buffers.
14888 Create menus in all buffers.
14891 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
14892 buffers, you could say something like:
14895 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
14898 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
14901 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
14904 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
14905 in all Gnus buffers.
14907 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
14910 @item gnus-mouse-face
14911 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
14912 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
14913 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
14917 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
14921 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
14922 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
14923 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
14925 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
14926 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
14927 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
14929 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
14930 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
14931 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
14933 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
14934 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
14935 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
14937 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
14938 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
14939 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
14941 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
14942 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
14943 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
14954 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
14955 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
14956 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
14957 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
14958 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
14962 @vindex gnus-carpal
14963 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
14964 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
14965 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
14970 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
14971 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
14972 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
14974 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
14975 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
14976 Face used on buttons.
14978 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
14979 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
14980 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
14982 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
14983 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
14984 Buttons in the group buffer.
14986 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
14987 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
14988 Buttons in the summary buffer.
14990 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
14991 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
14992 Buttons in the server buffer.
14994 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
14995 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
14996 Buttons in the browse buffer.
14999 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
15000 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
15001 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
15009 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
15010 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
15011 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
15012 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
15013 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
15015 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
15016 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
15017 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
15019 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
15020 been idle for thirty minutes:
15023 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
15026 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
15030 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
15033 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
15034 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
15035 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
15037 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
15038 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
15039 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
15040 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
15042 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
15043 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
15044 @var{idle} minutes.
15046 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
15047 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
15050 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
15051 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
15052 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
15054 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
15055 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
15056 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
15057 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
15059 @vindex gnus-use-demon
15060 To set the whole thing in motion, though, you have to set
15061 @code{gnus-use-demon} to @code{t}.
15063 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
15064 your @file{.gnus} file:
15066 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
15068 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
15071 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
15072 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
15073 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
15074 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
15075 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
15076 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
15077 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
15078 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
15079 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
15080 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
15081 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
15083 @findex gnus-demon-init
15084 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
15085 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
15086 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
15087 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
15088 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
15090 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
15091 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
15092 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
15101 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
15102 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
15104 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
15105 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
15106 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
15107 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
15110 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
15111 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
15112 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
15113 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
15115 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
15116 this will make spam disappear.
15118 There are some variables to customize, of course:
15121 @item gnus-use-nocem
15122 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
15123 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
15126 @item gnus-nocem-groups
15127 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
15128 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
15129 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
15130 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
15132 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
15133 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
15134 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
15135 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
15136 "rbraver@@ohww.norman.ok.us" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
15137 "jem@@xpat.com" "snowhare@@xmission.com" "red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us
15138 (Richard E. Depew)")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
15140 Known despammers that you can put in this list include:
15143 @item clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;
15144 @cindex Chris Lewis
15145 Chris Lewis---Major Canadian despammer who has probably canceled more
15146 usenet abuse than anybody else.
15149 @cindex CancelMoose[tm]
15150 The CancelMoose[tm] on autopilot. The CancelMoose[tm] is reputed to be
15151 Norwegian, and was the person(s) who invented NoCeM.
15153 @item jem@@xpat.com;
15155 John Milburn---despammer located in Korea who is getting very busy these
15158 @item red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)
15159 Richard E. Depew---lone American despammer. He mostly cancels binary
15160 postings to non-binary groups and removes spews (regurgitated articles).
15163 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
15164 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
15165 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
15166 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
15167 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
15168 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
15169 @var{(issuer conditions ...)} elements in the list. Each condition is
15170 either a string (which is a regexp that matches types you want to use)
15171 or a list on the form @code{(not STRING)}, where @var{string} is a
15172 regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
15174 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
15175 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
15178 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
15181 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
15182 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
15185 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
15188 The specs are applied left-to-right.
15191 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
15192 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
15194 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
15195 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
15196 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
15197 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
15199 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
15200 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
15203 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
15205 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
15213 This might be dangerous, though.
15215 @item gnus-nocem-directory
15216 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
15217 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
15218 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
15220 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
15221 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
15222 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
15223 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
15224 might then see old spam.
15228 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
15229 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
15230 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
15231 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
15238 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
15239 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
15240 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
15242 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
15243 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
15244 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
15245 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
15246 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
15247 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
15248 @code{undo} function.
15250 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
15251 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
15252 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
15253 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
15254 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
15255 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
15256 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
15257 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
15258 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
15259 never be totally undoable.
15261 @findex gnus-undo-mode
15262 @vindex gnus-use-undo
15264 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
15265 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
15266 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo} command
15267 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
15272 @section Moderation
15275 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
15276 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
15277 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
15280 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
15284 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
15287 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
15289 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
15294 You split your incoming mail by matching on
15295 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
15296 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
15299 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
15300 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
15303 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
15304 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
15308 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
15311 (setq gnus-moderated-list
15312 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
15316 @node XEmacs Enhancements
15317 @section XEmacs Enhancements
15320 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
15324 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
15325 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
15326 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
15327 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
15340 So... You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
15341 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
15342 over your shoulder as you read news.
15345 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
15346 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
15347 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
15348 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
15349 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
15354 @subsubsection Picon Basics
15356 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
15365 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
15366 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
15367 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
15368 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
15369 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
15370 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
15371 @code{GIF} formats.
15374 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
15375 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
15376 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
15377 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
15378 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
15380 @vindex gnus-picons-database
15381 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
15382 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
15383 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
15384 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
15385 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
15388 @node Picon Requirements
15389 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
15391 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
15392 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
15395 Additionally, you must have @code{x} support compiled into XEmacs. To
15396 display color picons which are much nicer than the black & white one,
15397 you also need one of @code{xpm} or @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
15399 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
15400 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
15401 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
15402 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
15403 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
15407 @subsubsection Easy Picons
15409 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
15410 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
15413 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
15414 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
15415 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
15416 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
15417 'gnus-picons-article-display-x-face)
15420 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
15421 containing the Picons databases.
15423 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
15426 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
15427 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
15432 @subsubsection Hard Picons
15440 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
15441 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
15442 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
15443 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
15444 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
15449 @item gnus-picons-database
15450 @vindex gnus-picons-database
15451 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
15452 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
15453 subdirectories. This is only useful if
15454 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
15455 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
15457 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
15458 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
15459 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
15460 engine is @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
15461 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
15462 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
15463 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
15465 @item gnus-picons-display-where
15466 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
15467 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
15468 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
15469 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
15470 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
15471 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
15472 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
15474 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
15475 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
15476 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
15481 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
15482 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
15484 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
15485 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
15488 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
15489 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
15491 @item gnus-article-display-picons
15492 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
15493 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
15494 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer. Should be added to the
15495 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
15497 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
15498 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
15499 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present. This function
15500 should be added to @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
15504 Note: You must append them to the hook, so make sure to specify 't'
15505 for the append flag of @code{add-hook}:
15508 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
15512 @node Picon Useless Configuration
15513 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
15521 The following variables offer further control over how things are
15522 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
15523 don't need to worry about.
15527 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
15528 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
15529 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
15530 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
15532 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
15533 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
15534 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
15535 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
15537 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
15538 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
15539 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
15540 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
15541 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
15543 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
15544 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
15545 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
15546 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
15547 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
15548 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
15549 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
15551 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
15552 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
15553 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
15554 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
15556 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
15557 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
15558 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
15559 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
15560 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
15561 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
15562 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
15564 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
15565 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
15566 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
15567 Defaults to @code{nil}.
15569 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
15570 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
15571 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
15572 Defaults to @code{t}.
15574 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
15575 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
15576 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
15577 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
15579 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
15580 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
15581 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
15582 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
15584 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
15585 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
15586 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
15587 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
15588 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
15589 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
15590 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
15591 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
15602 @subsection Smileys
15607 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/BigFace.ps,height=20cm}}
15612 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
15613 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
15615 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
15616 @file{.gnus.el} file:
15619 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-smiley-display t)
15622 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
15623 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
15624 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
15625 text and maps that to file names.
15627 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
15628 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
15629 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
15630 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
15631 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
15632 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
15634 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
15635 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
15637 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
15638 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
15639 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
15641 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
15642 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
15646 @item smiley-data-directory
15647 @vindex smiley-data-directory
15648 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
15650 @item smiley-flesh-color
15651 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
15652 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
15654 @item smiley-features-color
15655 @vindex smiley-features-color
15656 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
15658 @item smiley-tongue-color
15659 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
15660 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
15662 @item smiley-circle-color
15663 @vindex smiley-circle-color
15664 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
15666 @item smiley-mouse-face
15667 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
15668 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
15674 @subsection Toolbar
15684 @item gnus-use-toolbar
15685 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
15686 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
15687 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
15688 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
15690 @item gnus-group-toolbar
15691 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
15692 The toolbar in the group buffer.
15694 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
15695 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
15696 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
15698 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
15699 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
15700 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
15706 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
15709 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
15710 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
15711 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
15712 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
15713 unusual directory structure.
15715 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
15716 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
15717 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
15718 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
15720 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
15721 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
15722 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
15723 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
15724 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
15725 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
15727 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
15728 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
15729 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
15743 @node Fuzzy Matching
15744 @section Fuzzy Matching
15745 @cindex fuzzy matching
15747 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
15748 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
15750 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
15751 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
15752 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
15754 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
15755 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
15756 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
15757 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
15758 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
15761 @node Thwarting Email Spam
15762 @section Thwarting Email Spam
15766 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
15768 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
15769 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
15770 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
15771 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
15772 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
15773 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
15774 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
15775 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
15778 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
15779 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
15780 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
15781 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
15782 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
15783 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
15787 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
15788 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
15790 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
15791 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
15792 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
15793 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
15794 sysadm whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
15795 part of the mail address.)
15798 (setq message-default-news-headers
15799 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
15802 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
15803 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
15808 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
15809 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
15810 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
15816 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
15817 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
15818 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
15819 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
15821 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
15822 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
15823 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
15824 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
15825 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
15826 your fancy split rule in this way:
15831 (to "larsi" "misc")
15835 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
15836 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
15837 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
15838 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
15839 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
15841 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
15842 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
15843 at @* @file{<URL:http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html>}.
15844 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
15845 cosmic balance somewhat.
15847 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
15848 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
15849 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
15850 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
15853 @node Various Various
15854 @section Various Various
15860 @item gnus-home-directory
15861 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
15862 defaults to @file{~/}.
15864 @item gnus-directory
15865 @vindex gnus-directory
15866 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
15867 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
15868 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
15870 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
15871 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
15872 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
15873 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
15875 @item gnus-default-directory
15876 @vindex gnus-default-directory
15877 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
15878 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
15879 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
15880 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
15881 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
15882 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
15885 @vindex gnus-verbose
15886 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
15887 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
15888 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
15889 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
15890 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
15892 @item gnus-verbose-backends
15893 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
15894 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
15895 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
15897 @item nnheader-max-head-length
15898 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
15899 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
15900 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
15901 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
15902 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
15903 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
15904 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
15905 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
15906 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
15908 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
15909 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
15910 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
15911 read when doing the operation described above.
15913 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
15914 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
15916 @cindex invalid characters in file names
15917 @cindex characters in file names
15918 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
15919 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
15920 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
15923 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
15927 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
15928 Windows (phooey) systems.
15930 @item gnus-hidden-properties
15931 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
15932 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
15933 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
15934 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
15936 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
15937 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
15938 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
15939 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
15940 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
15942 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
15943 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
15944 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
15953 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
15954 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
15956 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
15958 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
15964 Not because of victories @*
15967 but for the common sunshine,@*
15969 the largess of the spring.
15973 but for the day's work done@*
15974 as well as I was able;@*
15975 not for a seat upon the dais@*
15976 but at the common table.@*
15981 @chapter Appendices
15984 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
15985 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
15986 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
15987 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
15988 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
15989 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
15990 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
15998 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
15999 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
16001 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage, you
16002 can point your (feh!) web browser to
16003 @file{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/}. This is also the primary
16004 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is known
16005 as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
16007 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
16008 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
16009 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
16010 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
16011 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
16012 appropriate name, don't you think?)
16014 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
16015 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
16016 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
16017 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
16019 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
16020 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
16021 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
16023 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
16024 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
16026 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
16027 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
16029 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37
16030 releases. If was released as ``Gnus 5.6 on March 8th 1998.
16032 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
16033 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'' --
16034 don't panic. Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away.
16035 Slowly. Whatever you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're
16036 out of its reach. Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up
16040 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
16041 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
16042 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
16043 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
16044 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
16045 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
16046 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
16053 What's the point of Gnus?
16055 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
16056 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
16057 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
16058 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
16059 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
16060 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
16061 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
16062 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
16063 keep track of millions of people who post?
16065 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
16066 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
16067 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
16068 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
16069 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
16070 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
16071 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
16072 every one of you to explore and invent.
16074 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
16075 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
16078 @node Compatibility
16079 @subsection Compatibility
16081 @cindex compatibility
16082 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
16083 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
16084 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
16089 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
16093 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
16096 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
16099 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
16100 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
16101 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
16102 important variables have their values copied into their global
16103 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
16104 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
16106 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
16107 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
16108 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
16109 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
16110 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
16114 @cindex highlighting
16115 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
16116 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
16117 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
16118 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
16119 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
16120 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
16123 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
16124 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
16125 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
16126 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
16128 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
16129 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
16130 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
16131 to stop doing it the old way.
16133 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
16135 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
16137 @cindex reporting bugs
16139 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
16140 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
16141 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
16143 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
16144 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
16145 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
16146 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
16151 @subsection Conformity
16153 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
16154 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
16161 There are no known breaches of this standard.
16165 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
16167 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
16168 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
16169 We do have some breaches to this one.
16174 Gnus does not yet fully handle MIME, and this standard-to-be seems to
16175 think that MIME is the bees' knees, so we have major breakage here.
16178 This is considered to be a ``vanity header'', while I consider it to be
16179 consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted articles
16180 coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use either of
16181 those for posting articles. I would not have known that if it wasn't
16182 for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
16187 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
16188 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
16189 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
16190 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
16194 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
16195 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
16200 @subsection Emacsen
16206 Gnus should work on :
16214 XEmacs 20.4 and up.
16218 Gnus will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than that. Not
16219 reliably, at least.
16221 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
16222 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
16223 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
16228 @subsection Contributors
16229 @cindex contributors
16231 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
16232 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
16233 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
16234 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
16235 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
16236 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
16237 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
16238 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
16239 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
16240 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
16242 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
16248 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
16251 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
16252 well as numerous other things).
16255 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
16258 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
16261 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el and many other things
16262 connected with @sc{mime} and other types of en/decoding.
16265 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
16266 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
16269 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
16272 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
16273 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
16276 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
16279 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
16282 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
16285 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
16288 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
16289 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
16292 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
16295 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
16298 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
16301 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
16305 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
16308 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
16311 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
16314 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
16315 well as autoconf support.
16319 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
16320 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
16322 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
16331 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
16335 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
16357 Massimo Campostrini,
16365 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
16371 Michael Welsh Duggan,
16374 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
16378 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
16385 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
16387 Michelangelo Grigni,
16390 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
16392 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
16394 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
16399 François Felix Ingrand,
16400 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
16402 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
16411 Peter Skov Knudsen,
16412 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
16413 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
16414 Thor Kristoffersen,
16417 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
16434 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
16435 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
16442 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
16446 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
16449 John McClary Prevost,
16455 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
16460 Christian von Roques,
16462 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
16469 Philippe Schnoebelen,
16471 Randal L. Schwartz,
16501 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka.
16503 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
16504 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
16505 (550kB and counting).
16507 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
16510 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
16511 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
16515 @subsection New Features
16516 @cindex new features
16519 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
16520 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.3/5.3.
16521 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
16522 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
16525 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
16526 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
16527 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
16531 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
16533 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
16538 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
16539 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
16542 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
16543 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
16546 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
16549 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
16550 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
16551 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
16554 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
16555 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
16556 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
16557 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
16560 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
16561 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
16564 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
16565 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
16566 (@pxref{The Active File}).
16569 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
16570 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
16573 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
16574 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
16575 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
16578 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
16579 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
16580 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
16583 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
16584 the @file{.emacs} file.
16587 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
16588 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16591 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
16592 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
16595 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
16596 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
16599 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
16600 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
16603 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
16604 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
16607 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
16610 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
16611 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
16614 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
16615 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
16618 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
16619 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
16622 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
16625 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
16626 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
16629 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
16633 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
16637 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
16638 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
16641 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
16647 @node September Gnus
16648 @subsubsection September Gnus
16652 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/september.ps,height=20cm}}
16656 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
16661 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
16662 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
16666 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
16667 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
16671 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
16675 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
16676 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
16679 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
16683 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
16686 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
16689 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
16692 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
16696 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
16697 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
16700 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
16704 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
16708 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
16712 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
16716 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
16719 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
16720 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
16723 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
16727 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
16728 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
16731 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
16734 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
16735 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
16736 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
16739 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
16743 The Gnus cache is much faster.
16746 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
16750 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
16751 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
16754 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
16755 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
16758 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
16759 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
16762 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
16763 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
16764 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
16767 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
16768 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
16771 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
16774 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
16777 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
16778 'gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head)
16782 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
16785 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
16788 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
16789 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
16792 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
16796 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
16799 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}}
16804 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
16807 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
16811 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
16814 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
16818 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
16821 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
16824 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
16825 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
16828 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
16829 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
16833 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
16834 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
16837 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
16841 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
16842 buffer to allow easier treatment.
16845 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
16848 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
16852 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
16856 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
16857 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
16860 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
16864 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
16865 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
16868 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
16869 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
16872 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
16876 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
16879 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
16880 'gnus-article-hide-boring-headers t)
16884 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
16887 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
16893 @subsubsection Red Gnus
16895 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
16899 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/red.ps,height=20cm}}
16906 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
16909 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
16910 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
16913 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
16914 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
16918 Article washing status can be displayed in the
16919 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
16922 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
16925 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
16926 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
16929 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
16933 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
16934 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
16938 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
16939 Server Internals}).
16942 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
16946 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
16949 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
16950 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
16953 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
16954 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
16955 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
16958 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
16959 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
16962 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
16963 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
16966 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
16970 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
16971 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
16974 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
16975 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
16978 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
16982 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
16985 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
16989 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
16990 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
16993 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
16994 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
16997 A new command for reading collections of documents
16998 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
16999 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
17002 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
17006 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the NNTP
17007 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
17010 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
17011 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
17012 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
17015 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
17016 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
17020 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
17024 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
17028 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}}
17033 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
17037 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
17041 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
17042 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
17045 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
17048 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
17049 'gnus-article-emphasize)
17056 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
17058 New features in Gnus 5.6:
17063 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
17064 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
17065 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
17068 The @code{nndraft} backend has returned, but works differently than
17069 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
17070 group, which is created automatically.
17073 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
17077 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
17080 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
17081 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
17084 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
17088 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
17091 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
17092 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
17095 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
17098 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
17099 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
17102 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
17103 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
17106 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
17107 control over simplification.
17110 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
17113 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
17117 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
17120 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
17123 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
17124 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
17125 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
17128 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
17129 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
17132 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
17136 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
17137 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
17140 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
17141 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
17144 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
17148 A history of where mails have been split is available.
17151 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
17154 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
17155 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
17158 A new function for citing in Message has been
17159 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
17162 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
17165 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
17169 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
17170 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
17173 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
17174 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
17177 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} backend.
17180 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
17185 @node Newest Features
17186 @subsection Newest Features
17189 Also known as the @dfn{todo list}. Sure to be implemented before the
17192 Be afraid. Be very afraid.
17194 (That a feature appears in this list doesn't necessarily mean that I've
17195 decided to actually implement it. It just means that I think it sounds
17198 (Yes, this is the actual, up-to-the-second todo list.)
17203 Native @sc{mime} support is something that should be done.
17206 Really do unbinhexing.
17209 I would like the zombie-page to contain an URL to the source of the
17210 latest version of gnus or some explanation on where to find it.
17213 A way to continue editing the latest Message composition.
17216 http://www.sonicnet.com/feature/ari3/
17219 facep is not declared.
17222 Include a section in the manual on why the number of articles
17223 isn't the same in the group buffer and on the SPC prompt.
17226 Interacting with rmail fcc isn't easy.
17231 <URL:http://www.falch.no/people/pepper/DSSSL-Lite/archives/>
17232 <URL:http://www.eit.com/software/hypermail/hypermail.html>
17233 <URL:http://homer.ncm.com/>
17234 <URL:http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/HTML_Converters/>
17235 http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/9610/index.html
17236 <URL:http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HyperNews/get/www/html/converters.html>
17237 http://www.miranova.com/gnus-list/
17242 @samp{^-- } is made into - in LaTeX.
17245 gnus-kill is much slower than it was in GNUS 4.1.3.
17248 when expunging articles on low score, the sparse nodes keep hanging on?
17250 starting the first time seems to hang Gnus on some systems. Does
17251 NEWGROUPS answer too fast?
17253 nndir doesn't read gzipped files.
17255 FAQ doesn't have an up node?
17257 when moving mail from a procmail spool to the crash-box,
17258 the crash-box is only appropriate to one specific group.
17260 `t' `t' makes X-Faces disappear.
17262 nnmh-be-safe means that crossposted articles will
17263 be marked as unread.
17265 Orphan score entries don't show on "V t" score trace
17267 when clearing out data, the cache data should also be reset.
17269 rewrite gnus-summary-limit-children to be non-recursive
17270 to avoid exceeding lisp nesting on huge groups.
17272 expunged articles are counted when computing scores.
17274 implement gnus-batch-brew-soup
17276 ticked articles aren't easy to read in pick mode -- `n' and
17277 stuff just skips past them. Read articles are the same.
17279 topics that contain just groups with ticked
17280 articles aren't displayed.
17282 nndoc should always allocate unique Message-IDs.
17284 If there are mail groups the first time you use Gnus, Gnus'll
17285 make the mail groups killed.
17287 no "no news is good news" when using topics.
17289 when doing crosspost marking, the cache has to be consulted
17290 and articles have to be removed.
17292 nnweb should fetch complete articles when they are split into several
17295 scoring on head immediate doesn't work.
17297 finding short score file names takes forever.
17299 canceling articles in foreign groups.
17301 nntp-open-rlogin no longer works.
17303 C-u C-x C-s (Summary) switches to the group buffer.
17305 move nnmail-split-history out to the backends.
17307 nnweb doesn't work properly.
17309 using a virtual server name as `gnus-select-method' doesn't work?
17311 when killing/yanking a group from one topic to another in a slave, the
17312 master will yank it first to one topic and then add it to another.
17316 warn user about `=' redirection of a group in the active file?
17318 really unbinhex binhex files.
17320 take over the XEmacs menubar and offer a toggle between the XEmacs
17321 bar and the Gnus bar.
17324 push active file and NOV file parsing down into C code.
17325 `(canonize-message-id id)'
17326 `(mail-parent-message-id references n)'
17327 `(parse-news-nov-line &optional dependency-hashtb)'
17328 `(parse-news-nov-region beg end &optional dependency-hashtb fullp)'
17329 `(parse-news-active-region beg end hashtb)'
17334 nnml .overview directory with splits.
17338 postponed commands.
17340 the selected article show have its Subject displayed in its summary line.
17342 when entering groups, get the real number of unread articles from
17345 sort after gathering threads -- make false roots have the
17346 headers of the oldest orphan with a 0 article number?
17348 nndoc groups should inherit the score files of their parents? Also
17349 inherit copy prompts and save files.
17351 command to start up Gnus (if not running) and enter a mail mode buffer.
17353 allow editing the group description from the group buffer
17354 for backends that support that.
17356 gnus-hide,show-all-topics
17358 groups and sub-topics should be allowed to mingle inside each topic,
17359 and not just list all subtopics at the end.
17361 a command to remove all read articles that are not needed to connect
17362 threads -- `gnus-summary-limit-to-sparse-unread'?
17364 a variable to turn off limiting/cutting of threads in the tree buffer.
17366 a variable to limit how many files are uudecoded.
17368 add zombie groups to a special "New Groups" topic.
17370 server mode command: close/open all connections
17372 put a file date in gnus-score-alist and check whether the file
17373 has been changed before using it.
17375 on exit from a digest group, go to the next article in the parent group.
17377 hide (sub)threads with low score.
17379 when expiring, remove all marks from expired articles.
17381 gnus-summary-limit-to-body
17383 a regexp alist that says what level groups are to be subscribed
17384 on. Eg. -- `(("nnml:" . 1))'.
17386 easier interface to nnkiboze to create ephemeral groups that
17387 contain groups that match a regexp.
17389 allow newlines in <URL:> urls, but remove them before using
17392 If there is no From line, the mail backends should fudge one from the
17395 fuzzy simplifying should strip all non-alpha-numerical info
17396 from subject lines.
17398 gnus-soup-brew-soup-with-high-scores.
17400 nntp-ping-before-connect
17402 command to check whether NOV is evil. "list overview.fmt".
17404 when entering a group, Gnus should look through the score
17405 files very early for `local' atoms and set those local variables.
17407 message annotations.
17409 topics are always yanked before groups, and that's not good.
17411 (set-extent-property extent 'help-echo "String to display in minibuf")
17412 to display help in the minibuffer on buttons under XEmacs.
17414 allow group line format spec to say how many articles there
17419 support qmail maildir spools
17421 `run-with-idle-timer' in gnus-demon.
17423 stop using invisible text properties and start using overlays instead
17425 C-c C-f C-e to add an Expires header.
17427 go from one group to the next; everything is expunged; go to the
17428 next group instead of going to the group buffer.
17430 gnus-renumber-cache -- to renumber the cache using "low" numbers.
17432 record topic changes in the dribble buffer.
17434 `nnfolder-generate-active-file' should look at the folders it
17435 finds and generate proper active ranges.
17437 nneething-look-in-files-for-article-heads variable to control
17438 whether nneething should sniff all files in the directories.
17440 gnus-fetch-article -- start Gnus, enter group, display article
17442 gnus-dont-move-articles-to-same-group variable when respooling.
17444 when messages are crossposted between several auto-expirable groups,
17445 articles aren't properly marked as expirable.
17447 nneething should allow deletion/moving.
17449 TAB on the last button should go to the first button.
17451 if the car of an element in `mail-split-methods' is a function,
17452 and the function returns non-nil, use that as the name of the group(s) to
17455 command for listing all score files that have been applied.
17457 a command in the article buffer to return to `summary' config.
17459 `gnus-always-post-using-current-server' -- variable to override
17460 `C-c C-c' when posting.
17462 nnmail-group-spool-alist -- says where each group should use
17465 when an article is crossposted to an auto-expirable group, the article
17466 should be marker as expirable.
17468 article mode command/menu for "send region as URL to browser".
17470 on errors, jump to info nodes that explain the error. For instance,
17471 on invalid From headers, or on error messages from the nntp server.
17473 when gathering threads, make the article that has no "Re: " the parent.
17474 Also consult Date headers.
17476 a token in splits to call shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer
17478 `1 0 A M' to do matches on the active hashtb.
17480 duplicates -- command to remove Gnus-Warning header, use the read
17481 Message-ID, delete the "original".
17483 when replying to several messages at once, put the "other" message-ids
17484 into a See-Also header.
17486 support setext: URL:http://www.bsdi.com/setext/
17488 support ProleText: <URL:http://proletext.clari.net/prole/proletext.html>
17490 when browsing a foreign server, the groups that are already subscribed
17491 should be listed as such and not as "K".
17493 generate font names dynamically.
17495 score file mode auto-alist.
17497 allow nndoc to change/add/delete things from documents. Implement
17498 methods for each format for adding an article to the document.
17500 `gnus-fetch-old-headers' `all' value to incorporate
17501 absolutely all headers there is.
17503 function like `|', but concatenate all marked articles
17504 and pipe them to the process.
17506 cache the list of killed (or active) groups in a separate file. Update
17507 the file whenever we read the active file or the list
17508 of killed groups in the .eld file reaches a certain length.
17510 function for starting to edit a file to put into
17511 the current mail group.
17513 score-find-trace should display the total score of the article.
17515 "ghettozie" -- score on Xref header and nix it out after using it
17516 to avoid marking as read in other groups it has been crossposted to.
17518 look at procmail splitting. The backends should create
17519 the groups automatically if a spool file exists for that group.
17521 function for backends to register themselves with Gnus.
17523 when replying to several process-marked articles,
17524 have all the From end up in Cc headers? Variable to toggle.
17526 command to delete a crossposted mail article from all
17527 groups it has been mailed to.
17529 `B c' and `B m' should be crosspost aware.
17531 hide-pgp should also hide PGP public key blocks.
17533 Command in the group buffer to respool process-marked groups.
17535 `gnus-summary-find-matching' should accept
17536 pseudo-"headers" like "body", "head" and "all"
17538 When buttifying <URL: > things, all white space (including
17539 newlines) should be ignored.
17541 Process-marking all groups in a topic should process-mark
17542 groups in subtopics as well.
17544 Add non-native groups to the list of killed groups when killing them.
17546 nntp-suggest-kewl-config to probe the nntp server and suggest
17549 add edit and forward secondary marks.
17551 nnml shouldn't visit its .overview files.
17553 allow customizing sorting within gathered threads.
17555 `B q' shouldn't select the current article.
17557 nnmbox should support a newsgroups file for descriptions.
17559 allow fetching mail from several pop servers.
17561 Be able to specify whether the saving commands save the original
17562 or the formatted article.
17564 a command to reparent with the child process-marked (cf. `T ^'.).
17566 I think the possibility to send a password with nntp-open-rlogin
17567 should be a feature in Red Gnus.
17569 The `Z n' command should be possible to execute from a mouse click.
17571 more limiting functions -- date, etc.
17573 be able to limit on a random header; on body; using reverse matches.
17575 a group parameter (`absofucking-total-expiry') that will make Gnus expire
17576 even unread articles.
17578 a command to print the article buffer as postscript.
17580 variable to disable password fetching when opening by nntp-open-telnet.
17582 manual: more example servers -- nntp with rlogin, telnet
17584 checking for bogus groups should clean topic alists as well.
17586 canceling articles in foreign groups.
17588 article number in folded topics isn't properly updated by
17591 Movement in the group buffer to the next unread group should go to the
17592 next closed topic with unread messages if no group can be found.
17594 Extensive info pages generated on the fly with help everywhere --
17595 in the "*Gnus edit*" buffers, for instance.
17597 Topic movement commands -- like thread movement. Up, down, forward, next.
17599 a way to tick/mark as read Gcc'd articles.
17601 a way to say that all groups within a specific topic comes
17602 from a particular server? Hm.
17604 `gnus-article-fill-if-long-lines' -- a function to fill
17605 the article buffer if there are any looong lines there.
17607 `T h' should jump to the parent topic and fold it.
17609 a command to create an ephemeral nndoc group out of a file,
17610 and then splitting it/moving it to some other group/backend.
17612 a group parameter for nnkiboze groups that says that
17613 all kibozed articles should be entered into the cache.
17615 It should also probably be possible to delimit what
17616 `gnus-jog-cache' does -- for instance, work on just some groups, or on
17617 some levels, and entering just articles that have a score higher than
17620 nnfolder should append to the folder instead of re-writing
17621 the entire folder to disk when accepting new messages.
17623 allow all backends to do the proper thing with .gz files.
17625 a backend for reading collections of babyl files nnbabylfolder?
17627 a command for making the native groups into foreign groups.
17629 server mode command for clearing read marks from all groups
17632 when following up multiple articles, include all To, Cc, etc headers
17635 a command for deciding what the total score of the current
17636 thread is. Also a way to highlight based on this.
17638 command to show and edit group scores
17640 a gnus-tree-minimize-horizontal to minimize tree buffers
17643 command to generate nnml overview file for one group.
17645 `C-u C-u a' -- prompt for many crossposted groups.
17647 keep track of which mail groups have received new articles (in this session).
17648 Be able to generate a report and perhaps do some marking in the group
17651 gnus-build-sparse-threads to a number -- build only sparse threads
17652 that are of that length.
17654 have nnmh respect mh's unseen sequence in .mh_profile.
17656 cache the newsgroups descriptions locally.
17658 asynchronous posting under nntp.
17660 be able to control word adaptive scoring from the score files.
17662 a variable to make `C-c C-c' post using the "current" select method.
17664 `limit-exclude-low-scored-articles'.
17666 if `gnus-summary-show-thread' is a number, hide threads that have
17667 a score lower than this number.
17669 split newsgroup subscription variable up into "order" and "method".
17671 buttonize ange-ftp file names.
17673 a command to make a duplicate copy of the current article
17674 so that each copy can be edited separately.
17676 nnweb should allow fetching from the local nntp server.
17678 record the sorting done in the summary buffer so that
17679 it can be repeated when limiting/regenerating the buffer.
17681 nnml-generate-nov-databses should generate for
17684 when the user does commands in the group buffer, check
17685 the modification time of the .newsrc.eld file and use
17686 ask-user-about-supersession-threat. Also warn when trying
17687 to save .newsrc.eld and it has changed.
17689 M-g on a topic will display all groups with 0 articles in
17692 command to remove all topic stuff.
17694 allow exploding incoming digests when reading incoming mail
17695 and splitting the resulting digests.
17697 nnsoup shouldn't set the `message-' variables.
17699 command to nix out all nnoo state information.
17701 nnmail-process-alist that calls functions if group names
17702 matches an alist -- before saving.
17704 use buffer-invisibility-spec everywhere for hiding text.
17706 variable to activate each group before entering them
17707 to get the (new) number of articles. `gnus-activate-before-entering'.
17709 command to fetch a Message-ID from any buffer, even
17710 starting Gnus first if necessary.
17712 when posting and checking whether a group exists or not, just
17713 ask the nntp server instead of relying on the active hashtb.
17715 buttonize the output of `C-c C-a' in an apropos-like way.
17717 `G p' should understand process/prefix, and allow editing
17718 of several groups at once.
17720 command to create an ephemeral nnvirtual group that
17721 matches some regexp(s).
17723 nndoc should understand "Content-Type: message/rfc822" forwarded messages.
17725 it should be possible to score "thread" on the From header.
17727 hitting RET on a "gnus-uu-archive" pseudo article should unpack it.
17729 `B i' should display the article at once in the summary buffer.
17731 remove the "*" mark at once when unticking an article.
17733 `M-s' should highlight the matching text.
17735 when checking for duplicated mails, use Resent-Message-ID if present.
17737 killing and yanking groups in topics should be better. If killing one copy
17738 of a group that exists in multiple topics, only that copy should
17739 be removed. Yanking should insert the copy, and yanking topics
17740 should be possible to be interspersed with the other yankings.
17742 command for enter a group just to read the cached articles. A way to say
17743 "ignore the nntp connection; just read from the cache."
17745 `X u' should decode base64 articles.
17747 a way to hide all "inner" cited text, leaving just the most
17748 recently cited text.
17750 nnvirtual should be asynchronous.
17752 after editing an article, gnus-original-article-buffer should
17755 there should probably be a way to make Gnus not connect to the
17756 server and just read the articles in the server
17758 allow a `set-default' (or something) to change the default
17759 value of nnoo variables.
17761 a command to import group infos from a .newsrc.eld file.
17763 groups from secondary servers have the entire select method
17764 listed in each group info.
17766 a command for just switching from the summary buffer to the group
17769 a way to specify that some incoming mail washing functions
17770 should only be applied to some groups.
17772 Message `C-f C-t' should ask the user whether to heed
17773 mail-copies-to: never.
17775 new group parameter -- `post-to-server' that says to post
17776 using the current server. Also a variable to do the same.
17778 the slave dribble files should auto-save to the slave file names.
17780 a group parameter that says what articles to display on group entry, based
17783 a way to visually distinguish slave Gnusae from masters. (Whip instead
17786 Use DJ Bernstein "From " quoting/dequoting, where applicable.
17788 Why is hide-citation-maybe and hide-citation different? Also
17791 group user-defined meta-parameters.
17795 From: John Griffith <griffith@@sfs.nphil.uni-tuebingen.de>
17797 I like the option for trying to retrieve the FAQ for a group and I was
17798 thinking it would be great if for those newsgroups that had archives
17799 you could also try to read the archive for that group. Part of the
17800 problem is that archives are spread all over the net, unlike FAQs.
17801 What would be best I suppose is to find the one closest to your site.
17803 In any case, there is a list of general news group archives at @*
17804 ftp://ftp.neosoft.com/pub/users/claird/news.lists/newsgroup_archives.html
17811 From: Jason L Tibbitts III <tibbs@@hpc.uh.edu>
17812 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
17814 (gnus-group-add-parameter group
17815 (cons 'gnus-group-date-last-entered (list (current-time-string))))))
17817 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
17818 "Return the date the group was last read."
17819 (cond ((car (gnus-group-get-parameter gnus-tmp-group 'gnus-group-date-last-entered)))
17824 tanken var at når du bruker `gnus-startup-file' som prefix (FOO) til å lete
17825 opp en fil FOO-SERVER, FOO-SERVER.el, FOO-SERVER.eld, kan du la den være en
17826 liste hvor du bruker hvert element i listen som FOO, istedet. da kunne man
17827 hatt forskjellige serveres startup-filer forskjellige steder.
17831 LMI> Well, nnbabyl could alter the group info to heed labels like
17832 LMI> answered and read, I guess.
17834 It could also keep them updated (the same for the Status: header of
17837 They could be used like this:
17841 `M l <name> RET' add label <name> to current message.
17842 `M u <name> RET' remove label <name> from current message.
17843 `/ l <expr> RET' limit summary buffer according to <expr>.
17845 <expr> would be a boolean expression on the labels, e.g.
17847 `/ l bug & !fixed RET'
17850 would show all the messages which are labeled `bug' but not labeled
17853 One could also imagine the labels being used for highlighting, or
17854 affect the summary line format.
17858 Sender: abraham@@dina.kvl.dk
17860 I'd like a gnus-find-file which work like find file, except that it
17861 would recognize things that looks like messages or folders:
17863 - If it is a directory containing numbered files, create an nndir
17866 - For other directories, create a nneething summary buffer.
17868 - For files matching "\\`From ", create a nndoc/mbox summary.
17870 - For files matching "\\`BABYL OPTIONS:", create a nndoc/baby summary.
17872 - For files matching "\\`[^ \t\n]+:", create an *Article* buffer.
17874 - For other files, just find them normally.
17876 I'd like `nneething' to use this function, so it would work on a
17877 directory potentially containing mboxes or babyl files.
17880 Please send a mail to bwarsaw@@cnri.reston.va.us (Barry A. Warsaw) and
17881 tell him what you are doing.
17884 Currently, I get prompted:
17888 decend into sci.something ?
17892 The problem above is that since there is really only one subsection of
17893 science, shouldn't it prompt you for only descending sci.something? If
17894 there was a sci.somethingelse group or section, then it should prompt
17895 for sci? first the sci.something? then sci.somethingelse?...
17898 Ja, det burde være en måte å si slikt. Kanskje en ny variabel?
17899 `gnus-use-few-score-files'? SÃ¥ kunne score-regler legges til den
17900 "mest" lokale score-fila. F. eks. ville no-gruppene betjenes av
17901 "no.all.SCORE", osv.
17904 What i want is for Gnus to treat any sequence or combination of the following
17905 as a single spoiler warning and hide it all, replacing it with a "Next Page"
17911 more than n blank lines
17913 more than m identical lines
17914 (which should be replaced with button to show them)
17916 any whitespace surrounding any of the above
17920 Well, we could allow a new value to `gnus-thread-ignore-subject' --
17921 `spaces', or something. (We could even default to that.) And then
17922 subjects that differ in white space only could be considered the
17923 "same" subject for threading purposes.
17926 Modes to preprocess the contents (e.g. jka-compr) use the second form
17927 "(REGEXP FUNCTION NON-NIL)" while ordinary modes (e.g. tex) use the first
17928 form "(REGEXP . FUNCTION)", so you could use it to distinguish between
17929 those two types of modes. (auto-modes-alist, insert-file-contents-literally.)
17932 Under XEmacs -- do funny article marks:
17935 soup - bowl of soup
17936 score below - dim light bulb
17937 score over - bright light bulb
17940 Yes. I think the algorithm is as follows:
17945 show-list-of-articles-in-group
17946 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
17947 if (no-more-articles-in-group-to-select)
17948 if (articles-selected)
17949 start-reading-selected-articles;
17950 junk-unread-articles;
17955 else if (key-pressed = '.')
17956 if (consolidated-menus) # same as hide-thread in Gnus
17957 select-thread-under-cursor;
17959 select-article-under-cursor;
17963 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
17964 if (more-pages-in-article)
17966 else if (more-selected-articles-to-read)
17973 My precise need here would have been to limit files to Incoming*.
17974 One could think of some `nneething-only-files' variable, but I guess
17975 it would have been unacceptable if one was using many unrelated such
17978 A more useful approach would be to, in response to the `G D' prompt, be
17979 allowed to say something like: `~/.mail/Incoming*', somewhat limiting
17980 the top-level directory only (in case directories would be matched by
17981 the wildcard expression).
17984 It would be nice if it also handled
17986 <URL:news://sunsite.auc.dk/>
17988 which should correspond to `B nntp RET sunsite.auc.dk' in *Group*.
17993 Take a look at w3-menu.el in the Emacs-W3 distribution - this works out
17994 really well. Each menu is 'named' by a symbol that would be on a
17995 gnus-*-menus (where * would be whatever, but at least group, summary, and
17996 article versions) variable.
17998 So for gnus-summary-menus, I would set to '(sort mark dispose ...)
18000 A value of '1' would just put _all_ the menus in a single 'GNUS' menu in
18001 the main menubar. This approach works really well for Emacs-W3 and VM.
18005 nndoc should take care to create unique Message-IDs for all its
18008 gnus-score-followup-article only works when you have a summary buffer
18009 active. Make it work when posting from the group buffer as well.
18010 (message-sent-hook).
18012 rewrite gnus-demon to use run-with-idle-timers.
18015 * Enhancements to Gnus:
18019 * gnus-servers (gnus-start-server-buffer?)--enters Gnus and goes
18020 straight to the server buffer, without opening any connections to
18023 * gnus-server-read-server-newsrc--produces a buffer very similar to
18024 the group buffer, but with only groups from that server listed;
18025 quitting this buffer returns to the server buffer.
18028 add a command to check the integrity of an nnfolder folder --
18029 go through the article numbers and see that there are no duplicates,
18033 `unsmileyfy-buffer' to undo smileification.
18036 a command to give all relevant info on an article, including all
18040 when doing `-request-accept-article', the backends should do
18041 the nnmail duplicate checking.
18044 allow `message-signature-file' to be a function to return the
18045 value of the signature file.
18048 In addition, I would love it if I could configure message-tab so that it
18049 could call `bbdb-complete-name' in other headers. So, some sort of
18052 (setq message-tab-alist
18053 '((message-header-regexp message-expand-group)
18054 ("^\\(To\\|[cC]c\\|[bB]cc\\)" bbdb-complete-name)))
18056 then you could run the relevant function to complete the information in
18060 cache the newsgroups file locally to avoid reloading it all the time.
18063 a command to import a buffer into a group.
18066 nnweb should allow fetching by Message-ID from servers.
18069 point in the article buffer doesn't always go to the
18070 beginning of the buffer when selecting new articles.
18073 a command to process mark all unread articles.
18076 `gnus-gather-threads-by-references-and-subject' -- first
18077 do gathering by references, and then go through the dummy roots and
18078 do more gathering by subject.
18081 gnus-uu-mark-in-numerical-order -- process mark articles in
18082 article numerical order.
18085 (gnus-thread-total-score
18086 (gnus-id-to-thread (mail-header-id (gnus-summary-article-header))))
18090 sorting by score is wrong when using sparse threads.
18093 a command to fetch an arbitrary article -- without having to be
18094 in the summary buffer.
18097 a new nncvs backend. Each group would show an article, using
18098 version branches as threading, checkin date as the date, etc.
18101 http://www.dejanews.com/forms/dnsetfilter_exp.html ?
18102 This filter allows one to construct advance queries on the Dejanews
18103 database such as specifying start and end dates, subject, author,
18104 and/or newsgroup name.
18107 new Date header scoring type -- older, newer
18110 use the summary toolbar in the article buffer.
18113 a command to fetch all articles that are less than X days old.
18116 in pick mode, `q' should save the list of selected articles in the
18117 group info. The next time the group is selected, these articles
18118 will automatically get the process mark.
18121 Isn't it possible to (also?) allow M-^ to automatically try the
18122 default server if it fails on the current server? (controlled by a
18123 user variable, (nil, t, 'ask)).
18126 make it possible to cancel articles using the select method for the
18130 `gnus-summary-select-article-on-entry' or something. It'll default
18131 to t and will select whatever article decided by `gnus-auto-select-first'.
18134 a new variable to control which selection commands should be unselecting.
18135 `first', `best', `next', `prev', `next-unread', `prev-unread' are
18139 be able to select groups that have no articles in them
18140 to be able to post in them (using the current select method).
18143 be able to post via DejaNews.
18146 `x' should retain any sortings that have been performed.
18149 allow the user to specify the precedence of the secondary marks. Also
18150 allow them to be displayed separately.
18153 gnus-summary-save-in-pipe should concatenate the results from
18154 the processes when doing a process marked pipe.
18157 a new match type, like Followup, but which adds Thread matches on all
18158 articles that match a certain From header.
18161 a function that can be read from kill-emacs-query-functions to offer
18162 saving living summary buffers.
18165 a function for selecting a particular group which will contain
18166 the articles listed in a list of article numbers/id's.
18169 a battery of character translation functions to translate common
18170 Mac, MS (etc) characters into ISO 8859-1.
18173 (defun article-fix-m$word ()
18174 "Fix M$Word smartquotes in an article."
18177 (let ((buffer-read-only nil))
18178 (goto-char (point-min))
18179 (while (search-forward "\221" nil t)
18180 (replace-match "`" t t))
18181 (goto-char (point-min))
18182 (while (search-forward "\222" nil t)
18183 (replace-match "'" t t))
18184 (goto-char (point-min))
18185 (while (search-forward "\223" nil t)
18186 (replace-match "\"" t t))
18187 (goto-char (point-min))
18188 (while (search-forward "\224" nil t)
18189 (replace-match "\"" t t)))))
18194 (add-hook 'gnus-exit-query-functions
18196 (if (and (file-exists-p nnmail-spool-file)
18197 (> (nnheader-file-size nnmail-spool-file) 0))
18198 (yes-or-no-p "New mail has arrived. Quit Gnus anyways? ")
18199 (y-or-n-p "Are you sure you want to quit Gnus? "))))
18203 allow message-default-headers to be a function.
18206 new Date score match types -- < > = (etc) that take floating point
18207 numbers and match on the age of the article.
18211 > > > If so, I've got one gripe: It seems that when I fire up gnus 5.2.25
18212 > > > under xemacs-19.14, it's creating a new frame, but is erasing the
18213 > > > buffer in the frame that it was called from =:-O
18215 > > Hm. How do you start up Gnus? From the toolbar or with
18216 > > `M-x gnus-other-frame'?
18218 > I normally start it up from the toolbar; at
18219 > least that's the way I've caught it doing the
18224 all commands that react to the process mark should push
18225 the current process mark set onto the stack.
18228 gnus-article-hide-pgp
18229 Selv ville jeg nok ha valgt å slette den dersom teksten matcher
18231 "\\(This\s+\\)?[^ ]+ has been automatically signed by"
18233 og det er maks hundre tegn mellom match-end og ----linja. Men -det-
18234 er min type heuristikk og langt fra alles.
18237 `gnus-subscribe-sorted' -- insert new groups where they would have been
18238 sorted to if `gnus-group-sort-function' were run.
18241 gnus-(group,summary)-highlight should respect any `face' text props set
18245 use run-with-idle-timer for gnus-demon instead of the
18246 home-brewed stuff for better reliability.
18249 add a way to select which NoCeM type to apply -- spam, troll, etc.
18252 nndraft-request-group should tally auto-save files.
18255 implement nntp-retry-on-break and nntp-command-timeout.
18258 gnus-article-highlight-limit that says when not to highlight (long)
18262 (nnoo-set SERVER VARIABLE VALUE)
18268 interrupitng agent fetching of articles should save articles.
18271 command to open a digest group, and copy all the articles there to the
18275 a variable to disable article body highlights if there's more than
18276 X characters in the body.
18279 handle 480/381 authinfo requests separately.
18282 include the texi/dir file in the distribution.
18285 format spec to "tab" to a position.
18288 Move all prompting to the new `M-n' default style.
18291 command to display all dormant articles.
18294 gnus-auto-select-next makeover -- list of things it should do.
18297 a score match type that adds scores matching on From if From has replied
18298 to something someone else has said.
18301 Read Netscape discussion groups:
18302 snews://secnews.netscape.com/netscape.communicator.unix
18305 One command to edit the original version if an article, and one to edit
18306 the displayed version.
18309 @kbd{T v} -- make all process-marked articles the children of the
18313 Switch from initial text to the new default text mechanism.
18316 How about making it possible to expire local articles? Will it be
18317 possible to make various constraints on when an article can be
18318 expired, e.g. (read), (age > 14 days), or the more interesting (read
18322 New limit command---limit to articles that have a certain string
18323 in the head or body.
18326 Allow breaking lengthy NNTP commands.
18329 gnus-article-highlight-limit, to disable highlighting in big articles.
18332 Editing an article should put the article to be edited
18333 in a special, unique buffer.
18336 A command to send a mail to the admin-address group param.
18339 A Date scoring type that will match if the article
18340 is less than a certain number of days old.
18343 New spec: %~(tab 56) to put point on column 56
18346 Allow Gnus Agent scoring to use normal score files.
18349 Rething the Agent active file thing. `M-g' doesn't update the active
18350 file, for instance.
18353 With dummy roots, `^' and then selecing the first article
18354 in any other dummy thread will make Gnus highlight the
18355 dummy root instead of the first article.
18358 Propagate all group properties (marks, article numbers, etc) up to the
18359 topics for displaying.
18362 `n' in the group buffer with topics should go to the next group
18363 with unread articles, even if that group is hidden in a topic.
18366 gnus-posting-styles doesn't work in drafts.
18369 gnus-summary-limit-include-cached is slow when there are
18370 many articles in the cache, since it regenerates big parts of the
18371 summary buffer for each article.
18374 Implement gnus-batch-brew-soup.
18377 Group parameters and summary commands for un/subscribing to mailing
18381 Introduce nnmail-home-directory.
18384 gnus-fetch-group and friends should exit Gnus when the user
18388 The jingle is only played on the second invocation of Gnus.
18391 Bouncing articles should do MIME.
18394 Crossposted articles should "inherit" the % or @ mark from the other
18395 groups it has been crossposted to, or something. (Agent.)
18398 `S D r' should allow expansion of aliases.
18401 If point is on a group that appears multiple times in topics, and
18402 you press `l', point will move to the first instance of the group.
18405 The documentation should mention pop3.el, fetchmail, smtpmail and why
18406 po:username often fails.
18409 Fetch by Message-ID from dejanews.
18411 <URL:http://search.dejanews.com/msgid.xp?MID=%3C62h9l9$hm4@@basement.replay.com%3E&fmt=raw>
18414 Solve the halting problem.
18423 @section The Manual
18427 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
18428 either @code{texi2dvi}
18430 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
18431 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
18433 to get what you hold in your hands now.
18435 The following conventions have been used:
18440 This is a @samp{string}
18443 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
18446 This is a @file{file}
18449 This is a @code{symbol}
18453 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
18457 (setq flargnoze "yes")
18460 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
18463 (setq flumphel 'yes)
18466 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
18467 ever get them confused.
18471 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
18472 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
18473 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
18474 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
18475 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
18476 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
18477 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
18485 @section Terminology
18487 @cindex terminology
18492 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
18493 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
18494 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
18495 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
18496 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
18500 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
18501 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
18502 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
18503 not posting, and replying is not following up.
18507 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
18511 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
18516 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
18517 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
18518 is all done by the backends.
18522 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
18523 default, way of getting news.
18527 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
18528 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
18533 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
18534 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
18538 A message that has been posted as news.
18541 @cindex mail message
18542 A message that has been mailed.
18546 A mail message or news article
18550 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
18555 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
18560 A line from the head of an article.
18564 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
18565 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
18569 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
18570 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
18571 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
18572 normal @sc{head} format.
18576 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
18577 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
18578 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
18579 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
18580 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
18581 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
18583 @item killed groups
18584 @cindex killed groups
18585 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
18586 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
18588 @item zombie groups
18589 @cindex zombie groups
18590 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
18593 @cindex active file
18594 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
18595 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
18596 is rather large, as you might surmise.
18599 @cindex bogus groups
18600 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
18601 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
18602 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
18605 @cindex activating groups
18606 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
18607 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
18608 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
18612 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
18614 @item select method
18615 @cindex select method
18616 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
18619 @item virtual server
18620 @cindex virtual server
18621 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
18622 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
18623 whole is a virtual server.
18627 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
18628 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
18631 @item ephemeral groups
18632 @cindex ephemeral groups
18633 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
18634 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
18635 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
18638 @cindex solid groups
18639 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
18640 group buffer are solid groups.
18642 @item sparse articles
18643 @cindex sparse articles
18644 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
18645 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
18649 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
18650 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
18654 @cindex thread root
18655 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
18656 articles in the thread.
18660 An article that has responses.
18664 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
18668 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
18669 specified by RFC1153.
18675 @node Customization
18676 @section Customization
18677 @cindex general customization
18679 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
18680 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
18681 for some quite common situations.
18684 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
18685 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
18686 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
18687 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
18691 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
18692 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
18694 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
18695 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
18696 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
18700 @item gnus-read-active-file
18701 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
18702 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
18703 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
18704 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
18705 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
18707 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
18708 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
18709 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
18710 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
18714 @node Slow Terminal Connection
18715 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
18717 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
18718 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
18719 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
18723 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
18724 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
18725 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
18726 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
18727 horizontal and vertical recentering.
18729 @item gnus-visible-headers
18730 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
18731 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
18732 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
18733 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
18735 @item gnus-article-display-hook
18736 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
18738 (setq gnus-article-display-hook
18739 '(gnus-article-hide-headers
18740 gnus-article-hide-signature
18741 gnus-article-hide-citation))
18744 @item gnus-use-full-window
18745 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
18746 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
18747 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
18748 want to read them anyway.
18750 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
18751 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
18754 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
18755 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
18756 lines, which might save some time.
18760 @node Little Disk Space
18761 @subsection Little Disk Space
18764 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
18765 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
18769 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
18770 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
18771 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
18772 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
18775 @item gnus-save-killed-list
18776 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
18777 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
18778 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
18779 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
18785 @subsection Slow Machine
18786 @cindex slow machine
18788 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
18789 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
18791 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
18792 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
18794 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
18795 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
18796 summary buffer faster.
18798 Set @code{gnus-article-display-hook} to @code{nil} to make article
18799 processing a bit faster.
18803 @node Troubleshooting
18804 @section Troubleshooting
18805 @cindex troubleshooting
18807 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
18815 Make sure your computer is switched on.
18818 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
18819 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
18823 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
18824 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
18825 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
18826 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
18829 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
18833 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
18834 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
18835 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
18836 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
18837 something like that.
18840 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
18843 @cindex reporting bugs
18845 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
18847 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
18848 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
18849 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
18850 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
18852 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
18853 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
18854 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
18855 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
18858 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
18859 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
18860 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
18861 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
18862 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
18863 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
18865 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
18866 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
18867 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
18870 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
18871 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
18873 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
18874 @cindex ding mailing list
18875 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
18876 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
18880 @node Gnus Reference Guide
18881 @section Gnus Reference Guide
18883 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
18884 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
18885 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
18886 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
18889 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
18890 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
18891 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
18892 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
18893 and general methods of operation.
18896 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
18897 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
18898 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
18899 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
18900 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
18901 * Group Info:: The group info format.
18902 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
18903 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
18904 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
18908 @node Gnus Utility Functions
18909 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
18910 @cindex Gnus utility functions
18911 @cindex utility functions
18913 @cindex internal variables
18915 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
18916 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
18917 Below is a list of the most common ones.
18921 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
18922 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
18923 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
18925 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
18926 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
18927 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
18929 @item gnus-group-real-name
18930 @findex gnus-group-real-name
18931 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
18934 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
18935 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
18936 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
18937 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
18939 @item gnus-get-info
18940 @findex gnus-get-info
18941 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
18943 @item gnus-group-unread
18944 @findex gnus-group-unread
18945 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
18949 @findex gnus-active
18950 The active entry for @var{group}.
18952 @item gnus-set-active
18953 @findex gnus-set-active
18954 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
18956 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
18957 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
18958 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
18961 @item gnus-continuum-version
18962 @findex gnus-continuum-version
18963 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
18964 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
18967 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
18968 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
18969 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
18971 @item gnus-news-group-p
18972 @findex gnus-news-group-p
18973 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
18975 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
18976 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
18977 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
18979 @item gnus-server-to-method
18980 @findex gnus-server-to-method
18981 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
18983 @item gnus-server-equal
18984 @findex gnus-server-equal
18985 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
18987 @item gnus-group-native-p
18988 @findex gnus-group-native-p
18989 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
18991 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
18992 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
18993 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
18995 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
18996 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
18997 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
18999 @item group-group-find-parameter
19000 @findex group-group-find-parameter
19001 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
19002 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
19004 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
19005 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
19006 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
19008 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
19009 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
19010 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
19012 @item gnus-check-backend-function
19013 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
19014 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
19015 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
19018 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
19022 @item gnus-read-method
19023 @findex gnus-read-method
19024 Prompts the user for a select method.
19029 @node Backend Interface
19030 @subsection Backend Interface
19032 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
19033 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
19034 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
19035 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
19036 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
19037 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
19039 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
19040 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
19041 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
19042 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
19043 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
19044 been opened, the function should fail.
19046 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
19047 name. Take this example:
19051 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
19052 (nntp-port-number 4324))
19055 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
19056 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
19058 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
19059 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
19060 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
19062 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
19063 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
19064 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
19066 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
19067 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
19068 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
19069 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
19070 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
19071 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
19074 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
19075 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
19076 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
19077 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
19080 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
19083 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
19086 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
19087 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
19088 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
19089 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
19090 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
19091 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
19095 @node Required Backend Functions
19096 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
19100 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
19102 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
19103 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
19104 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
19105 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
19107 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
19108 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
19109 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
19110 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
19112 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
19113 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
19114 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
19115 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
19116 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
19117 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
19118 number, do maximum fetches.
19120 Here's an example HEAD:
19123 221 1056 Article retrieved.
19124 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
19125 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
19126 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
19127 Subject: Re: Something very droll
19128 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
19129 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
19131 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
19132 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
19133 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
19137 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
19138 these in the data buffer.
19140 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
19144 head = error / valid-head
19145 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
19146 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
19147 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
19148 header = <text> eol
19151 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
19152 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
19156 nov-buffer = *nov-line
19157 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
19158 field = <text except TAB>
19161 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
19165 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
19167 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
19168 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
19170 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
19171 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
19172 server. In fact, it should do so.
19174 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
19175 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
19178 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
19180 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
19181 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
19184 There should be no data returned.
19187 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
19189 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
19190 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
19191 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
19192 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
19194 There should be no data returned.
19197 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
19199 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
19200 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
19201 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
19202 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
19204 There should be no data returned.
19207 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
19209 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
19211 There should be no data returned.
19214 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
19216 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
19217 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
19218 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
19219 it would be nice if that were possible.
19221 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
19222 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
19223 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
19224 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
19225 into its article buffer.
19227 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
19228 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
19229 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
19230 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
19231 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
19232 on successful article retrieval.
19235 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
19237 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
19238 making @var{group} the current group.
19240 If @var{FAST}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
19243 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
19246 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
19249 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
19250 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
19251 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
19252 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
19253 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
19254 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
19255 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
19256 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
19259 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
19260 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
19261 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
19265 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
19267 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
19268 a no-op on most backends.
19270 There should be no data returned.
19273 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
19275 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
19278 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
19281 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
19282 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
19285 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
19286 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
19289 active-file = *active-line
19290 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
19292 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
19295 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
19296 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
19297 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
19300 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
19302 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
19303 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
19304 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
19305 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
19306 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
19307 clear if the posting could not be completed.
19309 There should be no result data from this function.
19314 @node Optional Backend Functions
19315 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
19319 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
19321 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
19322 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
19323 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
19325 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
19326 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
19327 former is in the same format as the data from
19328 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
19329 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
19332 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
19336 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
19338 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
19339 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
19340 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
19341 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
19342 should return the (altered) group info.
19344 There should be no result data from this function.
19347 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
19349 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
19350 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
19351 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
19352 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
19353 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
19354 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
19355 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
19356 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
19358 There should be no result data from this function.
19361 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
19363 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
19364 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
19365 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some backends (such as IMAP) however carry all
19366 information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to propagate
19367 the mark information to the server.
19369 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
19372 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
19375 Range is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. Action is
19376 @code{set}, @code{add} or @code{del}, respectively used for removing all
19377 existing marks and setting them as specified, adding (preserving the
19378 marks not mentioned) mark and removing (preserving the marks not
19379 mentioned) marks. Mark is a list of marks; where each mark is a
19380 symbol. Currently used marks are @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply},
19381 @code{expire}, @code{killed}, @code{dormant}, @code{save},
19382 @code{download} and @code{unsend}, but your backend should, if possible,
19383 not limit itself to theese.
19385 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
19386 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
19387 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
19388 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
19390 An example action list:
19393 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
19394 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
19395 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
19398 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
19399 mark on (currently not used for anything).
19401 There should be no result data from this function.
19403 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
19405 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
19406 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
19407 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
19408 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
19409 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
19411 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
19412 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
19413 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
19416 There should be no result data from this function.
19419 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
19421 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
19422 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
19423 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
19424 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
19425 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
19426 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
19427 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
19429 There should be no result data from this function.
19432 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
19434 The result data from this function should be a description of
19438 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
19440 description = <text>
19443 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
19445 The result data from this function should be the description of all
19446 groups available on the server.
19449 description-buffer = *description-line
19453 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
19455 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
19456 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
19457 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
19460 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
19462 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
19464 There should be no return data.
19467 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
19469 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
19470 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
19471 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
19472 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
19473 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
19476 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
19479 There should be no result data returned.
19482 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
19485 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
19486 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
19488 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
19489 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
19490 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
19491 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
19492 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
19493 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
19495 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
19496 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
19499 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
19500 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
19502 There should be no data returned.
19505 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
19507 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
19508 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
19509 this function in short order.
19511 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
19512 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
19514 There should be no data returned.
19517 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
19519 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
19520 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
19522 There should be no data returned.
19525 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
19527 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
19528 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
19529 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
19531 There should be no data returned.
19534 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
19536 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
19537 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
19539 There should be no data returned.
19544 @node Error Messaging
19545 @subsubsection Error Messaging
19547 @findex nnheader-report
19548 @findex nnheader-get-report
19549 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
19550 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
19551 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
19552 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
19553 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
19554 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
19557 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
19559 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
19562 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
19563 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
19564 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
19565 takes one argument---the server symbol.
19567 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
19568 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
19569 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
19572 @node Writing New Backends
19573 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
19575 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
19576 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
19577 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
19578 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
19579 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
19582 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
19583 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
19584 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
19586 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
19587 package called @code{nnoo}.
19589 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
19590 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
19596 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
19597 parameters. For instance:
19600 (nnoo-declare nndir
19604 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
19605 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
19608 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
19609 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
19610 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
19612 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
19613 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
19614 a function in those backends.
19617 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
19618 "Where nndir will look for groups."
19619 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
19622 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
19623 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
19624 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
19626 @item nnoo-define-basics
19627 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
19631 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
19635 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
19636 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
19637 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
19639 @item nnoo-map-functions
19640 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
19641 functions from the parent backends.
19644 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
19645 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
19646 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
19649 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
19650 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
19651 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
19652 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
19655 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
19656 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
19657 haven't already been defined.
19663 nnmh-request-newgroups)
19667 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
19668 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
19669 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
19674 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
19677 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
19678 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
19682 (require 'nnheader)
19686 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
19688 (nnoo-declare nndir
19691 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
19692 "Where nndir will look for groups."
19693 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
19695 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
19696 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
19699 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
19700 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
19701 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
19703 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
19704 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
19706 ;;; Interface functions.
19708 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
19710 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
19711 (setq nndir-directory
19712 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
19714 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
19715 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
19716 (push `(nndir-current-group
19717 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
19719 (push `(nndir-top-directory
19720 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
19722 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
19724 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
19725 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
19726 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
19727 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
19728 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
19732 nnmh-status-message
19734 nnmh-request-newgroups))
19740 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
19741 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
19743 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
19744 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
19745 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
19746 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
19748 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
19749 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
19754 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
19757 The abilities can be:
19761 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
19763 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
19765 This backend supports both mail and news.
19767 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
19770 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
19771 articles and groups.
19773 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
19774 true for almost all backends.
19775 @item prompt-address
19776 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
19777 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
19778 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
19782 @node Mail-like Backends
19783 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
19785 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
19786 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
19787 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
19788 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
19791 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
19792 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
19793 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
19796 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
19797 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
19800 This function takes four parameters.
19804 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
19807 @item exit-function
19808 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
19810 @item temp-directory
19811 Where the temporary files should be stored.
19814 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
19815 performed for one group only.
19818 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
19819 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
19820 find the article number assigned to this article.
19822 The function also uses the following variables:
19823 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
19824 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
19825 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
19826 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
19830 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
19831 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
19835 @node Score File Syntax
19836 @subsection Score File Syntax
19838 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
19839 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
19840 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
19842 Here's a typical score file:
19846 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
19853 BNF definition of a score file:
19856 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
19857 element = rule / atom
19858 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
19859 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
19860 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
19861 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
19863 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
19864 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
19865 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
19866 date-header = "date"
19867 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
19868 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
19869 score = "nil" / <integer>
19870 date = "nil" / <natural number>
19871 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
19872 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
19873 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
19874 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
19875 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
19876 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
19877 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
19878 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
19879 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
19880 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
19881 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
19882 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
19883 exclude-files / read-only / touched
19884 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
19885 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
19886 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
19887 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
19888 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
19889 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
19890 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
19891 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
19892 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
19893 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
19894 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
19895 eval = "eval" space <form>
19896 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
19899 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
19902 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
19903 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
19904 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
19905 one looong line, then that's ok.
19907 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
19908 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
19912 @subsection Headers
19914 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
19915 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
19916 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
19917 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
19919 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
19920 RFC1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
19921 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
19922 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
19923 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
19924 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
19925 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
19927 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
19928 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
19929 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
19930 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
19931 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
19933 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
19934 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
19940 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
19941 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
19943 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
19944 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
19945 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
19946 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
19948 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
19952 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
19955 is transformed into
19958 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
19961 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
19962 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
19965 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
19968 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
19969 is slightly tricky:
19972 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
19978 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
19981 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
19987 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
19994 and is equal to the previous range.
19996 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
19997 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
19998 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
20002 range = simple-range / normal-range
20003 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
20004 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
20005 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
20006 number *[ " " contents ]
20009 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
20010 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
20011 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
20012 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
20013 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
20018 @subsection Group Info
20020 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
20021 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
20022 describes the group.
20024 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
20025 second is a more complex one:
20028 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
20030 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
20031 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
20033 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
20036 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
20037 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
20038 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
20039 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
20040 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
20041 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
20042 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
20043 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
20044 this section is about.
20046 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
20047 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
20048 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
20050 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
20053 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
20054 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
20055 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
20056 group = quote <string> quote
20057 ralevel = rank / level
20058 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
20059 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
20060 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
20062 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
20063 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
20064 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
20065 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
20068 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
20069 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
20072 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
20073 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
20076 @item gnus-info-group
20077 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
20078 @findex gnus-info-group
20079 @findex gnus-info-set-group
20080 Get/set the group name.
20082 @item gnus-info-rank
20083 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
20084 @findex gnus-info-rank
20085 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
20086 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
20088 @item gnus-info-level
20089 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
20090 @findex gnus-info-level
20091 @findex gnus-info-set-level
20092 Get/set the group level.
20094 @item gnus-info-score
20095 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
20096 @findex gnus-info-score
20097 @findex gnus-info-set-score
20098 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
20100 @item gnus-info-read
20101 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
20102 @findex gnus-info-read
20103 @findex gnus-info-set-read
20104 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
20106 @item gnus-info-marks
20107 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
20108 @findex gnus-info-marks
20109 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
20110 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
20112 @item gnus-info-method
20113 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
20114 @findex gnus-info-method
20115 @findex gnus-info-set-method
20116 Get/set the group select method.
20118 @item gnus-info-params
20119 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
20120 @findex gnus-info-params
20121 @findex gnus-info-set-params
20122 Get/set the group parameters.
20125 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
20126 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
20128 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
20129 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
20130 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
20131 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
20134 @node Extended Interactive
20135 @subsection Extended Interactive
20136 @cindex interactive
20137 @findex gnus-interactive
20139 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
20140 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
20141 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
20144 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
20145 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
20150 The best thing to do would have been to implement
20151 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
20152 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
20153 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
20154 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
20155 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
20156 @code{interactive}.
20158 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
20163 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
20164 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
20168 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
20169 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
20170 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
20173 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
20177 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
20181 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
20187 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
20188 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
20192 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
20193 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
20194 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
20196 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
20197 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
20198 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
20199 Gnus, that's very useful.
20201 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
20202 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
20203 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
20204 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
20205 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
20206 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
20207 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
20208 following function:
20211 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
20215 (,function ,@@args))
20219 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
20220 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
20221 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
20224 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
20225 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
20226 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
20228 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
20229 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
20230 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
20233 @node Various File Formats
20234 @subsection Various File Formats
20237 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
20238 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
20242 @node Active File Format
20243 @subsubsection Active File Format
20245 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
20246 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
20249 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
20252 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
20253 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
20254 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
20255 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
20256 no.general 1000 900 y
20259 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
20262 active = *group-line
20263 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
20264 group = <non-white-space string>
20266 high-number = <non-negative integer>
20267 low-number = <positive integer>
20268 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
20271 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
20272 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
20275 @node Newsgroups File Format
20276 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
20278 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
20279 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
20280 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
20283 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
20284 Here's the definition:
20288 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
20289 group = <non-white-space string>
20291 description = <string>
20296 @node Emacs for Heathens
20297 @section Emacs for Heathens
20299 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
20300 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
20301 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
20302 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
20303 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
20304 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
20305 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
20309 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
20310 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
20315 @subsection Keystrokes
20319 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
20322 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
20325 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
20326 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
20327 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
20328 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
20329 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
20330 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
20332 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
20333 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
20334 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
20335 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
20336 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
20337 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
20338 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
20340 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
20341 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
20342 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
20343 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
20344 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
20345 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
20346 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
20348 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
20349 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
20350 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
20351 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
20352 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
20358 @subsection Emacs Lisp
20360 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
20361 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
20362 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
20363 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
20365 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
20366 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
20367 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
20368 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
20369 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
20370 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
20371 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
20374 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
20375 write the following:
20378 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
20381 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
20382 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
20383 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
20386 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
20387 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
20388 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
20389 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
20390 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
20392 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
20393 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
20394 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
20398 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
20402 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
20405 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
20406 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
20409 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
20412 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
20413 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
20416 @include gnus-faq.texi