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4 @settitle T-gnus 6.14 Manual
10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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266 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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275 Copyright \copyright{} 1995,96,97,98,99,2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
278 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
279 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
280 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
281 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
282 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
283 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
284 License'' in the Emacs manual.
286 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
287 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
288 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
290 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
291 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
292 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
293 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
301 This file documents gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
303 Copyright (C) 1995,96,97,98,99,2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
305 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
306 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
307 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
308 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
309 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
310 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
311 License'' in the Emacs manual.
313 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
314 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
315 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
317 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
318 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
319 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
320 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
326 @title T-gnus 6.14 Manual
328 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
331 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
332 Copyright @copyright{} 1995,96,97,98,99,2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
334 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
335 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
336 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
337 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
338 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
339 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
340 License'' in the Emacs manual.
342 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
343 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
344 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
346 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
347 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
348 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
349 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
358 @top The gnus Newsreader
362 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using gnus. The news
363 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
364 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
367 T-gnus provides MIME features based on SEMI API. So T-gnus supports
368 your right to read strange messages including big images or other
369 various kinds of formats. T-gnus also supports
370 internationalization/localization and multiscript features based on MULE
371 API. So T-gnus does not discriminate various language communities.
372 Oh, if you are a Klingon, please wait Unicode Next Generation.
374 This manual corresponds to T-gnus 6.14.
385 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
386 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
388 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
389 being accused of plagiarism:
391 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
392 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
393 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
394 can even read news with it!
396 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
397 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
398 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend gnus to make it behave
399 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
400 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
406 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
407 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
408 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
409 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
410 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
411 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
412 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
413 * Various:: General purpose settings.
414 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
415 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
416 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
417 * Key Index:: Key Index.
420 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
424 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
425 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
426 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
427 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
428 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
429 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
430 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
431 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
432 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
433 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
434 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
438 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
439 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
440 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
444 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
445 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
446 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
447 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
448 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
449 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
450 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
451 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
452 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
453 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
454 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
455 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
456 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
457 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
458 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
459 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
460 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
464 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
465 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
466 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
470 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
471 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
472 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
473 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
474 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
478 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
479 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
480 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
481 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
485 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
486 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
487 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
488 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
489 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
490 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
491 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
492 * Threading:: How threads are made.
493 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
494 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
495 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
496 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
497 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
498 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
499 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
500 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
501 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
502 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
503 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
504 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
505 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
506 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
507 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
508 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
509 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
510 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
511 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
512 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
514 Summary Buffer Format
516 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
517 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
518 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
519 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
523 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
524 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
526 Reply, Followup and Post
528 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
529 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
530 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
531 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
535 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
536 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
537 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
538 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
539 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
540 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
544 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
545 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
547 Customizing Threading
549 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
550 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
551 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
552 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
556 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
557 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
558 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
559 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
560 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
561 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
565 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
566 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
567 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
571 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
572 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
573 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
574 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
575 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
576 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
577 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
578 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
580 Alternative Approaches
582 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
583 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
585 Various Summary Stuff
587 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
588 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
589 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
590 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
594 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
595 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
596 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
597 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
598 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
602 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
603 * Post:: Posting and following up.
604 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
605 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
606 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
607 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
608 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
609 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
613 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
614 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
615 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
616 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
617 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
618 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
619 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
623 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
624 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
625 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
626 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
627 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
628 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
629 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
633 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
634 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
638 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
639 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
640 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
641 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
642 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
643 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
644 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
645 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
646 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
647 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
648 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
649 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
650 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
654 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
655 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
656 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
658 Choosing a Mail Backend
660 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
661 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
662 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
663 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
664 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
665 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
669 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
670 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
671 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
672 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
676 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
677 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
678 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
679 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
680 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
681 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
685 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
689 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
690 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
691 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
695 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
696 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
697 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
701 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
702 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
706 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
707 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
708 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
709 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
710 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
711 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
712 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
713 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
714 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
715 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
719 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
720 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
721 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
725 * Group Agent Commands::
726 * Summary Agent Commands::
727 * Server Agent Commands::
731 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
732 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
733 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
734 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
735 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
736 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
737 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
738 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
739 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
740 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
741 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
742 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
743 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
744 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
745 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
746 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
750 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
751 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
752 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
753 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
757 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
758 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
759 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
763 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
764 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
765 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
766 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
767 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
768 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
769 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
770 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
771 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
772 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
773 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
774 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
775 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
776 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
777 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
778 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
779 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
780 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
784 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
785 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
786 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
787 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
788 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
792 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
793 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
794 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
795 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
799 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
800 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
801 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
802 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
803 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
807 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
808 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
809 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
810 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
811 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
812 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
813 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
814 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
818 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
819 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
820 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
821 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
822 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
823 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
824 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
825 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
826 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
827 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
831 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
832 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.3/5.3.
833 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
834 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
838 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
839 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
840 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
841 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
845 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
846 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
847 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
848 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
849 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
850 * Group Info:: The group info format.
851 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
852 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
853 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
857 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
858 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
859 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
860 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
861 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
862 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
866 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
867 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
871 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
872 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
878 @chapter Starting gnus
883 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting gnus
884 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
887 @findex gnus-other-frame
888 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
889 If you want to start gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
890 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
892 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
893 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
894 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
896 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
897 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
900 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
901 * The First Time:: What does gnus do the first time you start it?
902 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
903 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one gnus active at a time.
904 * Fetching a Group:: Starting gnus just to read a group.
905 * New Groups:: What is gnus supposed to do with new groups?
906 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
907 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
908 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
909 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
910 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
914 @node Finding the News
915 @section Finding the News
918 @vindex gnus-select-method
920 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where gnus should look for
921 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
922 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
923 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
926 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
927 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
930 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
933 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
936 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
939 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
940 certainly be much faster.
942 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
944 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
945 If this variable is not set, gnus will take a look at the
946 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
947 gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
948 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
949 that fails as well, gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
951 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
952 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
953 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
954 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
956 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
957 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
958 You can also make gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
959 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
960 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), gnus will let you choose between the servers
961 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
962 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
963 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
964 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
967 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
969 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
970 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
971 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
972 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
973 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
974 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
976 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
978 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
979 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
980 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
981 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
982 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
983 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
986 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
987 would typically set this variable to
990 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
995 @section The First Time
996 @cindex first time usage
998 If no startup files exist, gnus will try to determine what groups should
999 be subscribed by default.
1001 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1002 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, gnus
1003 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1004 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1007 Since she hasn't, gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1008 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1009 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1011 You'll also be subscribed to the gnus documentation group, which should
1012 help you with most common problems.
1014 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, gnus will just
1015 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1019 @node The Server is Down
1020 @section The Server is Down
1021 @cindex server errors
1023 If the default server is down, gnus will understandably have some
1024 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1025 the news groups, you may want to start gnus anyway.
1027 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1028 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1029 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1030 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1031 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1032 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1033 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1035 @findex gnus-no-server
1036 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1038 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1039 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1040 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start gnus. That might come in handy
1041 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1042 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1043 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1048 @section Slave Gnusae
1051 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one gnus at the
1052 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1053 are using the two different gnusae to read from two different servers),
1054 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1056 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1057 @code{.newsrc} file.
1059 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the gnus
1060 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1061 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1062 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1063 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1064 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1065 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1067 Anyways, you start one gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1068 however you do it). Each subsequent slave gnusae should be started with
1069 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1070 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1071 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master gnus
1072 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1073 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1074 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1076 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1077 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1080 @node Fetching a Group
1081 @section Fetching a Group
1082 @cindex fetching a group
1084 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1085 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1086 group and I don't care whether gnus has been started or not''. This is
1087 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1088 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1089 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1095 @cindex subscription
1097 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1098 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1099 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1100 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1101 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1102 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1103 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1104 @code{always}, then gnus will query the backends for new groups even
1105 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1108 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1109 * Subscription Methods:: What gnus should do with new groups.
1110 * Filtering New Groups:: Making gnus ignore certain new groups.
1114 @node Checking New Groups
1115 @subsection Checking New Groups
1117 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1118 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1119 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1120 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, gnus will ask the
1121 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1122 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1123 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1124 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1125 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1126 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1128 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1129 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1130 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1131 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1132 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1133 work. I could write a function to make gnus guess whether the server
1134 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1135 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1136 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1137 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1138 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1140 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, gnus will
1141 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1142 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1143 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1144 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1145 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1148 @node Subscription Methods
1149 @subsection Subscription Methods
1151 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1152 What gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1153 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1155 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1156 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1158 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1162 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1163 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1164 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1165 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1166 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1168 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1169 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1170 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1171 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1173 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1174 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1175 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1177 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1178 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1179 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1180 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1181 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1182 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1183 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1184 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1185 up. Or something like that.
1187 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1188 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1189 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that gnus will ask
1190 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1191 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1193 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1194 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1195 Kill all new groups.
1197 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1198 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1199 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1200 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1201 topic parameter that looks like
1207 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1210 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1215 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1216 A closely related variable is
1217 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1218 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will ask you in a
1219 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1220 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1223 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1224 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1225 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1226 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1229 @node Filtering New Groups
1230 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1232 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1233 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1234 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1237 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1240 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1241 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1242 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1243 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1244 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1245 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1246 subscribing these groups.
1247 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1248 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1250 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1251 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1252 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1253 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1254 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1255 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1256 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1257 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1259 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1260 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1261 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1262 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1263 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1264 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1265 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1266 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1267 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
1268 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
1270 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1271 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1274 @node Changing Servers
1275 @section Changing Servers
1276 @cindex changing servers
1278 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1279 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1280 very flaky and you want to use another.
1282 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1283 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1287 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1288 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1289 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1290 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1293 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1294 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1295 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1296 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1298 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1299 @findex gnus-change-server
1300 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1301 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1302 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1303 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1304 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1306 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1307 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1308 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1309 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1310 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1312 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1313 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1314 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1315 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1316 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1317 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1319 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1320 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1321 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1325 @section Startup Files
1326 @cindex startup files
1331 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1332 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1334 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1335 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1336 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1337 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1338 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1339 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1340 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1342 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1343 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1344 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1345 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1346 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1347 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1349 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1350 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1351 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1352 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1353 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from gnus faster.
1354 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1355 gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1356 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes gnus ignore the
1357 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1358 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1360 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1361 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1362 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1363 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1364 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1365 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1366 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1367 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1368 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1369 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1370 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1371 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1373 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1374 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1375 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1376 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1378 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1379 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1380 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1381 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1382 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1383 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1384 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1385 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1386 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1387 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1390 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1391 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1393 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1394 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1397 @vindex gnus-init-file
1398 When gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1399 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1400 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1401 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1402 @file{site-init} files with gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1403 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1404 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1405 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1406 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1412 @cindex dribble file
1415 Whenever you do something that changes the gnus data (reading articles,
1416 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1417 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1418 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1419 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1422 If gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1423 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1426 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1427 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, gnus won't create and
1428 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1430 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1431 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1432 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, gnus will dribble
1433 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1434 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1435 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1437 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1438 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1439 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1442 @node The Active File
1443 @section The Active File
1445 @cindex ignored groups
1447 When gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1448 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1449 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1451 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1452 Before examining the active file, gnus deletes all lines that match the
1453 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1454 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make gnus
1455 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1456 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1457 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1460 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1461 @c if you set it to anything else.
1463 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1465 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1466 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent gnus from
1467 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1469 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1470 you actually subscribe to.
1472 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1473 variable to @code{nil} will probably make gnus slower, not faster. At
1474 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow gnus down
1475 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1477 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1478 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1479 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1480 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1481 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1482 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1484 Some news servers (Leafnode and old versions of INN, for instance) do
1485 not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these servers, @code{nil}
1486 is probably the most efficient value for this variable.
1488 If this variable is @code{nil}, gnus will ask for group info in total
1489 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1490 @sc{nntp} server, gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1491 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1492 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1493 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1495 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1496 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1498 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1499 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1501 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1502 secondary select methods.
1505 @node Startup Variables
1506 @section Startup Variables
1510 @item gnus-load-hook
1511 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1512 A hook run while gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1513 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1514 times you start gnus.
1516 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1517 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1518 A hook run after starting up gnus successfully.
1520 @item gnus-startup-hook
1521 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1522 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1524 @item gnus-started-hook
1525 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1526 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1529 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1530 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1531 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1532 generating the group buffer.
1534 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1535 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1536 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1537 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1538 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1539 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1540 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1541 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1543 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1544 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1545 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1546 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1547 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1548 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1550 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1551 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1552 Message displayed by gnus when no groups are available.
1554 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1555 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1556 If non-@code{nil}, play the gnus jingle at startup.
1558 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1559 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1560 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1561 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1566 @node The Group Buffer
1567 @chapter The Group Buffer
1568 @cindex group buffer
1570 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1571 is the first buffer shown when gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1572 long as gnus is active.
1576 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1577 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1578 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1579 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1580 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1581 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1582 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1583 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1589 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1590 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1591 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1592 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1593 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1594 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1595 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1596 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1597 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1598 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1599 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1600 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1601 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1602 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1603 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1604 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1605 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1609 @node Group Buffer Format
1610 @section Group Buffer Format
1613 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1614 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1615 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1619 @node Group Line Specification
1620 @subsection Group Line Specification
1621 @cindex group buffer format
1623 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1624 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1626 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1629 25: news.announce.newusers
1630 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1635 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1636 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1637 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1638 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1640 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1641 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1642 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1643 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1644 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1645 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1647 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1649 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1650 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1651 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1652 never examined by gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1655 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1656 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1657 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1659 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1664 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1667 Whether the group is subscribed.
1670 Level of subscribedness.
1673 Number of unread articles.
1676 Number of dormant articles.
1679 Number of ticked articles.
1682 Number of read articles.
1685 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1686 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1689 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1692 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1701 Newsgroup description.
1704 @samp{m} if moderated.
1707 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1716 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1720 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1723 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1724 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1725 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1726 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1727 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1730 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1732 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1736 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1740 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1741 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1742 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1743 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1744 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1745 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1750 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1751 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1752 group, or a bogus native group.
1755 @node Group Modeline Specification
1756 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1757 @cindex group modeline
1759 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1760 The mode line can be changed by setting
1761 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1762 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1766 The native news server.
1768 The native select method.
1772 @node Group Highlighting
1773 @subsection Group Highlighting
1774 @cindex highlighting
1775 @cindex group highlighting
1777 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1778 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1779 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1780 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1781 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1783 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1787 (cond (window-system
1788 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1789 (defface my-group-face-1
1790 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1791 (defface my-group-face-2
1792 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1793 (defface my-group-face-3
1794 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1795 (defface my-group-face-4
1796 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1797 (defface my-group-face-5
1798 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1800 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1801 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1802 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1803 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1804 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1805 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1808 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1810 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1817 The number of unread articles in the group.
1821 Whether the group is a mail group.
1823 The level of the group.
1825 The score of the group.
1827 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1829 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1830 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1832 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1833 topic being inserted.
1836 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1837 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal gnus
1838 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1840 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1841 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1842 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1843 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1844 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1847 @node Group Maneuvering
1848 @section Group Maneuvering
1849 @cindex group movement
1851 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1852 expected, hopefully.
1858 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1859 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1860 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1866 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1867 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1868 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1872 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1873 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1877 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1878 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1882 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1883 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1884 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1888 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1889 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1890 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1893 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1899 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1900 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1901 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1906 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1907 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1908 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1912 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1913 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1914 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1917 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1918 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1919 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1920 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1924 @node Selecting a Group
1925 @section Selecting a Group
1926 @cindex group selection
1931 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1932 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1933 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1934 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1935 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1936 this command, gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1937 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1938 determines the number of articles gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1939 positive, gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1940 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
1944 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1945 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1946 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1947 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1948 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1952 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1953 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1954 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1955 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1956 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1957 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1958 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1959 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1960 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1961 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1964 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1965 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1966 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1967 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1968 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1971 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1972 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1973 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1974 doing any processing of its contents
1975 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1976 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1977 manner will have no permanent effects.
1981 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1982 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what gnus should consider
1983 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1984 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, gnus will query the user
1985 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
1986 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
1987 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
1988 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
1991 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
1992 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
1993 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
1994 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
1999 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
2000 full summary buffer.
2003 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
2006 Select the highest scored article in the group when entering the
2011 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function will
2012 be called to place point on a subject line, and/or select some article.
2013 Useful functions include:
2016 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-subject
2017 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article, but
2018 don't select the article.
2020 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-article
2021 Select the first unread article.
2023 @item gnus-summary-best-unread-article
2024 Select the highest-scored unread article.
2028 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2029 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
2030 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2034 @node Subscription Commands
2035 @section Subscription Commands
2036 @cindex subscription
2044 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2045 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2046 Toggle subscription to the current group
2047 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2053 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2054 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2055 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2056 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2062 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2063 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2064 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2070 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2071 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2074 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2075 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2076 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2077 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2078 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2084 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2085 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2089 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2090 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2093 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2094 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2095 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2096 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2097 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2098 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2099 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2100 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2101 @file{.newsrc} file.
2105 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2115 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2116 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2117 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2118 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2119 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2120 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2125 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2126 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2127 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2131 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2132 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2133 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2135 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2136 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2137 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2138 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2139 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2140 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2147 @section Group Levels
2151 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2152 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2153 can ask gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2154 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2155 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2157 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2163 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2164 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2165 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2166 prompted for a level.
2169 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2170 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2171 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2172 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2173 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2174 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2175 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2176 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2177 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2178 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2179 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2180 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2181 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2182 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2183 reasons of efficiency.
2185 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2186 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2188 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2189 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2190 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2192 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2193 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2194 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2195 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2196 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2197 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2198 relevant valid ranges.
2200 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2201 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2202 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2203 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2204 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2205 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2208 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2209 one with the best level.
2211 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2212 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2213 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2216 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2217 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2218 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2219 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2222 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2223 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2224 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2225 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2227 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2228 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2229 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2230 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2231 to 5. The default is 6.
2235 @section Group Score
2240 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2241 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2242 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2245 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2246 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2247 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2248 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2249 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2250 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2251 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2252 least significant part.))
2254 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2255 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2256 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2257 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2258 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2259 action after each summary exit, you can add
2260 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2261 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2262 slow things down somewhat.
2265 @node Marking Groups
2266 @section Marking Groups
2267 @cindex marking groups
2269 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2270 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2271 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2272 bidding on those groups.
2274 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2275 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2276 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2284 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2285 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2291 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2292 Remove the mark from the current group
2293 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2297 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2298 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2302 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2303 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2307 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2308 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2312 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2313 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2314 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2317 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2319 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2320 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2321 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2322 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2323 the command to be executed.
2326 @node Foreign Groups
2327 @section Foreign Groups
2328 @cindex foreign groups
2330 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2331 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2332 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2333 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2340 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2341 @cindex making groups
2342 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2343 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2344 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2348 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2349 @cindex renaming groups
2350 Rename the current group to something else
2351 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2352 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2358 @findex gnus-group-customize
2359 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2363 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2364 @cindex renaming groups
2365 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2366 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2370 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2371 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2372 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2376 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2377 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2378 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2382 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2384 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2385 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2390 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2391 Make the gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2395 @cindex (ding) archive
2396 @cindex archive group
2397 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2398 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2399 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2400 Make a gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2401 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2402 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2403 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2407 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2409 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2410 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2411 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2412 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2416 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2418 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2419 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2420 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2424 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2425 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2427 Make a group based on some file or other
2428 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2429 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2430 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
2431 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
2432 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{nsmail} and @code{forward}.
2433 If you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2434 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2438 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2439 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2440 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2441 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2445 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2450 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2451 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2452 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2453 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2454 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
2455 @xref{Web Searches}.
2457 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
2458 to a particular group by using a match string like
2459 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
2462 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2463 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2464 This function will delete the current group
2465 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2466 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2467 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2468 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2469 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2473 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2474 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2475 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2479 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2480 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2481 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2484 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2487 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2488 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2489 gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2490 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2491 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2492 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2496 @node Group Parameters
2497 @section Group Parameters
2498 @cindex group parameters
2500 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2501 Here's an example group parameter list:
2504 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2508 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2509 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2510 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2511 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2513 The following group parameters can be used:
2518 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2521 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2524 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2525 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2526 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2527 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2528 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2530 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2531 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2532 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2533 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2534 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2535 list address instead.
2539 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2542 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2545 It is totally ignored
2546 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2547 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2549 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2550 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2551 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2552 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2553 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2555 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2556 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2557 sending the message.
2561 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2562 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2563 of whether it has any unread articles.
2565 @item broken-reply-to
2566 @cindex broken-reply-to
2567 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2568 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2569 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2570 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2571 broken behavior. So there!
2575 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2576 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2580 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, gnus
2581 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2582 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2587 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2588 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2589 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2590 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2591 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2592 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2593 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2597 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2598 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2599 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2602 @cindex total-expire
2603 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2604 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2605 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2606 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2611 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2612 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2613 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2614 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2615 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2616 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2619 @cindex score file group parameter
2620 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2621 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2622 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2625 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2626 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2627 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2628 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2631 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2632 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2633 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2634 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2637 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2638 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2642 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2645 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2650 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2651 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2652 gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2656 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2657 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2658 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2660 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2661 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2662 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2663 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2664 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2665 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2666 @code{eval}ed there.
2668 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2669 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2670 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2671 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2672 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2675 You can store additional posting style information for this group only
2676 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2677 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2678 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2679 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2681 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2682 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2683 like this in the group parameters:
2688 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2693 Use the @kbd{G p} command to edit group parameters of a group. You
2694 might also be interested in reading about topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
2698 @node Listing Groups
2699 @section Listing Groups
2700 @cindex group listing
2702 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2710 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2711 List all groups that have unread articles
2712 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2713 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2714 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2715 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2722 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2723 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2724 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2725 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2726 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2727 unsubscribed groups).
2731 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2732 List all unread groups on a specific level
2733 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2734 with no unread articles.
2738 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2739 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2740 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2741 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2746 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2747 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2751 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2752 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2753 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2757 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2758 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2762 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2763 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2764 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2765 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2766 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2767 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2768 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2769 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2773 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2774 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2775 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2779 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2780 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2781 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2785 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
2786 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
2790 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
2791 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
2795 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2796 @cindex visible group parameter
2797 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2798 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2799 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2800 get the same effect.
2802 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2803 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2804 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2805 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2806 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2809 @node Sorting Groups
2810 @section Sorting Groups
2811 @cindex sorting groups
2813 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2814 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2815 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2816 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2817 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2818 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2823 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2824 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2825 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2827 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2828 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2829 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2831 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2832 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2833 Sort by group level.
2835 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2836 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2837 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
2839 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2840 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2841 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2842 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
2844 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2845 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2846 Sort by number of unread articles.
2848 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2849 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2850 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2855 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2856 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2860 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2861 some sorting criteria:
2865 @kindex G S a (Group)
2866 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2867 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2868 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2871 @kindex G S u (Group)
2872 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2873 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2874 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2877 @kindex G S l (Group)
2878 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2879 Sort the group buffer by group level
2880 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2883 @kindex G S v (Group)
2884 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2885 Sort the group buffer by group score
2886 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2889 @kindex G S r (Group)
2890 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2891 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2892 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2895 @kindex G S m (Group)
2896 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2897 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2898 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2902 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
2903 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2905 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
2906 commands will sort in reverse order.
2908 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2912 @kindex G P a (Group)
2913 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
2914 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
2915 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
2918 @kindex G P u (Group)
2919 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
2920 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
2921 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
2924 @kindex G P l (Group)
2925 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
2926 Sort the groups by group level
2927 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
2930 @kindex G P v (Group)
2931 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
2932 Sort the groups by group score
2933 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2936 @kindex G P r (Group)
2937 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
2938 Sort the groups by group rank
2939 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2942 @kindex G P m (Group)
2943 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
2944 Sort the groups alphabetically by backend name
2945 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
2951 @node Group Maintenance
2952 @section Group Maintenance
2953 @cindex bogus groups
2958 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
2959 Find bogus groups and delete them
2960 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
2964 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
2965 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
2966 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
2967 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
2968 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
2972 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
2973 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
2974 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
2975 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
2978 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
2979 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
2980 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
2981 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
2986 @node Browse Foreign Server
2987 @section Browse Foreign Server
2988 @cindex foreign servers
2989 @cindex browsing servers
2994 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
2995 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
2996 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
2997 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3000 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3001 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3002 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3003 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3005 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3010 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3011 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3015 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3016 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3019 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3020 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3021 Enter the current group and display the first article
3022 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3025 @kindex RET (Browse)
3026 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3027 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3031 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3032 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3033 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3039 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3040 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3044 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3045 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3046 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3051 @section Exiting gnus
3052 @cindex exiting gnus
3054 Yes, gnus is ex(c)iting.
3059 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3060 Suspend gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit gnus,
3061 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3062 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3066 @findex gnus-group-exit
3067 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3068 Quit gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3072 @findex gnus-group-quit
3073 Quit gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3074 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3077 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3078 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3079 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend gnus and
3080 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit gnus, while
3081 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3086 If you wish to completely unload gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3087 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3088 trying to customize meta-variables.
3093 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3094 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3095 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3101 @section Group Topics
3104 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3105 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3106 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3107 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3108 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3109 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3113 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3114 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
3125 2: alt.religion.emacs
3128 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3130 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3131 13: comp.sources.unix
3134 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3136 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3137 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3138 is a toggling command.)
3140 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3141 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
3142 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3143 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3146 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3147 the hook for the group mode:
3150 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3154 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3155 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3156 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3157 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3158 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3162 @node Topic Variables
3163 @subsection Topic Variables
3164 @cindex topic variables
3166 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
3167 really neat, I think.
3169 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3170 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3171 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3184 Number of groups in the topic.
3186 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3188 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3191 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3192 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3193 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3196 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3197 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3199 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3200 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3201 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3204 @node Topic Commands
3205 @subsection Topic Commands
3206 @cindex topic commands
3208 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3209 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3210 definitions slightly.
3216 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3217 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3218 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3222 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3223 Move the current group to some other topic
3224 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3225 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3229 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3230 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3234 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3235 Copy the current group to some other topic
3236 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3237 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3241 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3242 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3243 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3247 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3248 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3249 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3253 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3254 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3255 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3256 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3257 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3258 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3259 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3262 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3263 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3267 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3268 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3269 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3273 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3274 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3275 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3279 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3280 Toggle hiding empty topics
3281 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3285 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3286 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3287 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
3290 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3291 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3292 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3293 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
3297 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3299 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3300 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3301 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3302 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3305 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3306 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3307 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3308 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3312 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3314 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3315 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3316 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3317 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3318 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3319 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3322 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3323 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3324 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the expiry
3325 process (if any) (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}).
3329 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3330 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3331 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3335 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3336 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3337 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3342 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3343 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3346 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3347 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3348 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3352 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3353 List all groups that gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3354 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3358 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3359 @cindex group parameters
3360 @cindex topic parameters
3362 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3363 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3369 @subsection Topic Sorting
3370 @cindex topic sorting
3372 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3378 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3379 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3380 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3381 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3384 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3385 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3386 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3387 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3390 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3391 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3392 Sort the current topic by group level
3393 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3396 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3397 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3398 Sort the current topic by group score
3399 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3402 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3403 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3404 Sort the current topic by group rank
3405 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3408 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3409 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3410 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
3411 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3415 @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group sorting.
3418 @node Topic Topology
3419 @subsection Topic Topology
3420 @cindex topic topology
3423 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3429 2: alt.religion.emacs
3432 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3434 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3435 13: comp.sources.unix
3438 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3439 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3440 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3445 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3446 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3450 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3451 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3452 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3453 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3454 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3455 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3457 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3458 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3459 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3462 @node Topic Parameters
3463 @subsection Topic Parameters
3464 @cindex topic parameters
3466 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3467 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3468 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3470 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3475 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3476 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3477 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3482 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3483 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3484 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3485 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3491 2: alt.religion.emacs
3495 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3497 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3498 13: comp.sources.unix
3502 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3503 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3504 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3505 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3506 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3507 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3509 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3510 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3511 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3512 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3513 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3515 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3516 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3517 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3518 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3519 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3520 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3521 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3522 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3525 @node Misc Group Stuff
3526 @section Misc Group Stuff
3529 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3530 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and gnus.
3531 * Group Timestamp:: Making gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3532 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the gnus files.
3539 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3540 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3541 @xref{The Server Buffer}.
3545 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3546 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
3547 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
3551 @findex gnus-group-mail
3552 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
3556 Variables for the group buffer:
3560 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
3561 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
3562 is called after the group buffer has been
3565 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
3566 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3567 is called after the group buffer is
3568 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
3571 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
3572 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3573 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
3574 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
3576 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3577 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3578 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
3579 whether they are empty or not.
3581 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3582 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3583 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
3584 non-ASCII group names.
3588 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3589 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
3592 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3593 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3594 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names.
3595 It is used to show non-ASCII group names.
3599 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3600 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
3605 @node Scanning New Messages
3606 @subsection Scanning New Messages
3607 @cindex new messages
3608 @cindex scanning new news
3614 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
3615 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
3616 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
3617 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
3618 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
3619 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
3624 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
3625 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
3626 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
3627 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
3628 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
3629 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
3630 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
3632 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
3633 @cindex activating groups
3635 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
3636 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
3641 @findex gnus-group-restart
3642 Restart gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
3643 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
3644 gnus variables, and then starts gnus all over again.
3648 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
3649 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
3651 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
3652 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
3656 @node Group Information
3657 @subsection Group Information
3658 @cindex group information
3659 @cindex information on groups
3666 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
3667 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
3670 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
3671 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
3672 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
3673 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
3674 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
3675 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
3676 for fetching the file.
3678 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, gnus will attempt to go
3679 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
3683 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
3685 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
3686 @cindex describing groups
3687 @cindex group description
3688 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
3689 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
3690 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
3694 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
3695 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
3696 prefix, force gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
3703 @findex gnus-version
3704 Display current gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
3708 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
3709 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
3712 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
3715 @findex gnus-info-find-node
3716 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3720 @node Group Timestamp
3721 @subsection Group Timestamp
3723 @cindex group timestamps
3725 It can be convenient to let gnus keep track of when you last read a
3726 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3727 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3730 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3733 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3735 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3736 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3739 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3740 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3743 This will result in lines looking like:
3746 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3747 0: custom 19961002T012713
3750 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3751 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3755 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3756 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3761 @subsection File Commands
3762 @cindex file commands
3768 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3769 @vindex gnus-init-file
3770 @cindex reading init file
3771 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3772 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3776 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3777 @cindex saving .newsrc
3778 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3779 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3780 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3783 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3784 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3785 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3790 @node The Summary Buffer
3791 @chapter The Summary Buffer
3792 @cindex summary buffer
3794 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3795 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3797 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3798 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3800 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3803 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3804 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3805 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3806 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3807 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3808 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3809 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3810 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3811 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3812 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3813 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3814 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3815 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3816 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3817 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3818 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3819 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
3820 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
3821 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3822 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3823 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3824 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3825 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3826 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3827 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3828 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
3829 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3830 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3834 @node Summary Buffer Format
3835 @section Summary Buffer Format
3836 @cindex summary buffer format
3840 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
3841 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
3842 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
3848 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3849 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
3850 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3851 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3854 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3855 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3856 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3857 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3858 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3859 @code{From} header. Three pre-defined functions exist:
3860 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3861 fast, and too simplistic solution;
3862 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works nicely, but is
3863 slower; and @code{std11-extract-address-components}, which works very
3864 nicely, but is slower. The default function will return the wrong
3865 answer in 5% of the cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the
3866 other function instead:
3869 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
3870 'mail-extract-address-components)
3873 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3874 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3875 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3876 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
3879 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3880 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3882 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3883 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3884 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3885 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3886 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3888 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3890 The following format specification characters are understood:
3896 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
3897 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
3899 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
3900 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3901 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
3903 Full @code{From} header.
3905 The name (from the @code{From} header).
3907 The name, code @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header
3908 (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
3910 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
3911 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
3912 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
3913 may be more thorough.
3915 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
3918 Number of lines in the article.
3920 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported in some
3921 methods (like nnfolder).
3923 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3925 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
3926 pushes everything after it off the screen).
3928 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
3929 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3931 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
3932 for adopted articles.
3934 One space for each thread level.
3936 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
3941 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
3942 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
3946 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
3948 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
3949 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
3950 default level. If the difference between
3951 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
3952 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
3960 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
3962 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
3968 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
3969 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
3971 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
3972 article has any children.
3978 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
3979 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
3980 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
3981 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
3982 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
3983 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
3986 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
3987 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, gnus will
3988 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
3989 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
3990 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
3991 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
3993 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
3994 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
3996 This restriction may disappear in later versions of gnus.
3999 @node To From Newsgroups
4000 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4004 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4005 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4006 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4007 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4008 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4012 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4013 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4014 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4018 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4019 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4022 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4023 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4026 @findex gnus-extra-header
4027 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4028 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4029 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4032 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4036 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4037 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4038 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4039 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4040 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4041 headers are used instead.
4045 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4046 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4047 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
4048 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
4051 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4052 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4053 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4054 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4056 In summary, you'd typically do something like the following:
4059 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4061 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4062 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4063 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20f%]%) %s\n")
4064 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4068 Now, this is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4069 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4076 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4077 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4080 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4081 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4083 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4084 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4085 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4086 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4088 Here are the elements you can play with:
4094 Unprefixed group name.
4096 Current article number.
4098 Current article score.
4102 Number of unread articles in this group.
4104 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4107 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4108 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4109 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4110 and no unselected ones.
4112 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4113 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4115 Subject of the current article.
4117 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4119 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4121 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4123 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4125 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4127 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4131 @node Summary Highlighting
4132 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4136 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4137 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4138 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4139 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4140 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4142 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4143 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4144 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4145 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4147 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4148 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4149 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4150 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4152 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4153 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4154 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4155 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4156 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4157 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4160 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4161 ((> score default) . bold))
4163 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4164 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4168 @node Summary Maneuvering
4169 @section Summary Maneuvering
4170 @cindex summary movement
4172 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4173 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4175 None of these commands select articles.
4180 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4181 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4182 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4183 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4184 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4188 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4189 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4190 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4191 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4192 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4197 @kindex G j (Summary)
4198 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
4199 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
4200 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
4203 @kindex G g (Summary)
4204 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4205 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4206 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4209 If gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4210 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4211 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4212 to the group buffer.
4214 Variables related to summary movement:
4218 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4219 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4220 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4221 no more unread articles after the current one, gnus will offer to go to
4222 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4223 empty, gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4224 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, gnus will select the
4225 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
4226 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, gnus will select the
4227 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
4228 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
4229 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
4230 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
4231 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
4233 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4234 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4235 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4236 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4237 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4238 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4239 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4241 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4243 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4244 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4245 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4246 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4247 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4249 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4250 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4251 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4252 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4253 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4254 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4255 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4256 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4259 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4260 the given number of lines from the top.
4265 @node Choosing Articles
4266 @section Choosing Articles
4267 @cindex selecting articles
4270 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4271 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4275 @node Choosing Commands
4276 @subsection Choosing Commands
4278 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4279 and they all select and display an article.
4283 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4284 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4285 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4286 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4291 @kindex G n (Summary)
4292 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4293 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4294 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4299 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4300 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4301 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4306 @kindex G N (Summary)
4307 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4308 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4313 @kindex G P (Summary)
4314 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4315 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4318 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4319 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4320 Go to the next article with the same subject
4321 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4324 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4325 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4326 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4327 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4331 @kindex G f (Summary)
4333 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4334 Go to the first unread article
4335 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4339 @kindex G b (Summary)
4341 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4342 Go to the article with the highest score
4343 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
4348 @kindex G l (Summary)
4349 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4350 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4353 @kindex G o (Summary)
4354 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4356 @cindex article history
4357 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4358 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4359 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4360 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4361 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
4362 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
4366 @node Choosing Variables
4367 @subsection Choosing Variables
4369 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
4372 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4373 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4374 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
4375 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
4376 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
4377 the server and display it in the article buffer.
4379 @item gnus-select-article-hook
4380 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
4381 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
4382 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
4384 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
4385 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
4386 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
4387 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
4388 @findex gnus-unread-mark
4389 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
4390 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
4391 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
4392 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
4393 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
4394 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
4395 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
4396 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
4397 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
4402 @node Paging the Article
4403 @section Scrolling the Article
4404 @cindex article scrolling
4409 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4410 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4411 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
4412 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
4413 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4416 @kindex DEL (Summary)
4417 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
4418 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
4421 @kindex RET (Summary)
4422 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
4423 Scroll the current article one line forward
4424 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
4427 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
4428 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
4429 Scroll the current article one line backward
4430 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
4434 @kindex A g (Summary)
4436 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
4437 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4438 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
4439 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
4440 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
4441 the way it came from the server.
4443 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
4444 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
4445 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
4448 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4453 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
4458 @kindex A < (Summary)
4459 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
4460 Scroll to the beginning of the article
4461 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
4466 @kindex A > (Summary)
4467 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
4468 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
4472 @kindex A s (Summary)
4474 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
4475 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
4476 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
4480 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
4481 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
4486 @node Reply Followup and Post
4487 @section Reply, Followup and Post
4490 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
4491 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
4492 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
4493 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
4497 @node Summary Mail Commands
4498 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
4500 @cindex composing mail
4502 Commands for composing a mail message:
4508 @kindex S r (Summary)
4510 @findex gnus-summary-reply
4511 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
4512 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
4513 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
4514 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
4519 @kindex S R (Summary)
4520 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
4521 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
4522 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
4523 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
4524 command uses the process/prefix convention.
4527 @kindex S w (Summary)
4528 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
4529 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
4530 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
4531 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
4532 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
4535 @kindex S W (Summary)
4536 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
4537 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
4538 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
4539 the process/prefix convention.
4543 @kindex S o m (Summary)
4544 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
4545 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
4546 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
4547 Forward the current article to some other person
4548 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
4549 headers of the forwarded article.
4554 @kindex S m (Summary)
4555 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
4556 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
4557 Send a mail to some other person
4558 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
4561 @kindex S D b (Summary)
4562 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
4563 @cindex bouncing mail
4564 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
4565 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
4566 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
4567 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
4568 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
4569 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, gnus will try to fetch
4570 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
4571 very well fail, though.
4574 @kindex S D r (Summary)
4575 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
4576 Not to be confused with the previous command,
4577 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
4578 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
4579 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
4580 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
4581 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
4582 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
4583 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
4585 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
4586 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
4587 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
4588 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
4589 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
4591 This command understands the process/prefix convention
4592 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4595 @kindex S O m (Summary)
4596 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
4597 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
4598 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
4599 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4602 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
4603 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
4604 @cindex crossposting
4605 @cindex excessive crossposting
4606 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
4607 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
4609 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
4610 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
4611 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
4612 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
4613 command understands the process/prefix convention
4614 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
4618 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4621 @node Summary Post Commands
4622 @subsection Summary Post Commands
4624 @cindex composing news
4626 Commands for posting a news article:
4632 @kindex S p (Summary)
4633 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
4634 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
4635 Post an article to the current group
4636 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
4641 @kindex S f (Summary)
4642 @findex gnus-summary-followup
4643 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
4644 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
4648 @kindex S F (Summary)
4650 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
4651 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
4652 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
4653 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
4654 process/prefix convention.
4657 @kindex S n (Summary)
4658 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
4659 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4660 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
4663 @kindex S N (Summary)
4664 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
4665 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4666 message through mail and include the original message
4667 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
4668 the process/prefix convention.
4671 @kindex S o p (Summary)
4672 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
4673 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
4674 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
4675 headers of the forwarded article.
4678 @kindex S O p (Summary)
4679 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
4681 @cindex making digests
4682 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
4683 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
4684 process/prefix convention.
4687 @kindex S u (Summary)
4688 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
4689 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
4690 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
4691 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
4694 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4697 @node Summary Message Commands
4698 @subsection Summary Message Commands
4702 @kindex S y (Summary)
4703 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
4704 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
4705 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
4706 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
4707 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4712 @node Canceling and Superseding
4713 @subsection Canceling Articles
4714 @cindex canceling articles
4715 @cindex superseding articles
4717 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
4718 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
4720 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
4722 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
4724 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
4725 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
4726 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
4727 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
4728 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
4729 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4731 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
4732 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
4735 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
4736 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
4737 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
4739 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
4740 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
4741 your original article.
4743 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
4745 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
4746 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
4747 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
4750 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
4751 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
4752 have posted almost the same article twice.
4754 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
4755 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
4756 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
4757 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
4758 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
4759 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
4760 header by substituting one of those words for the word
4761 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
4762 you would do normally. The previous article will be
4763 canceled/superseded.
4765 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
4768 @node Marking Articles
4769 @section Marking Articles
4770 @cindex article marking
4771 @cindex article ticking
4774 There are several marks you can set on an article.
4776 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
4777 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
4778 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
4780 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
4783 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
4784 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
4785 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
4789 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
4793 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
4794 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
4795 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
4799 @node Unread Articles
4800 @subsection Unread Articles
4802 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
4807 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
4808 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
4810 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
4811 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
4812 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
4813 tick it. However, articles can be expired, so if you want to keep an
4814 article forever, you'll have to make it persistent (@pxref{Persistent
4818 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
4819 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
4821 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
4822 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
4823 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
4826 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
4827 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
4829 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
4834 @subsection Read Articles
4835 @cindex expirable mark
4837 All the following marks mark articles as read.
4842 @vindex gnus-del-mark
4843 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
4844 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
4847 @vindex gnus-read-mark
4848 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
4851 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
4852 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
4853 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
4856 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
4857 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
4860 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
4861 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
4864 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
4865 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
4868 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
4869 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
4872 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
4873 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
4876 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
4877 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
4880 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
4881 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
4885 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
4886 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
4887 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
4891 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
4892 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
4894 One more special mark, though:
4898 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
4899 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
4901 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
4902 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
4903 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
4904 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by gnus at
4910 @subsection Other Marks
4911 @cindex process mark
4914 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
4920 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
4921 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
4922 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
4923 in the article, and gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
4924 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
4927 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
4928 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
4929 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
4930 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
4933 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
4934 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
4935 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
4938 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
4939 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
4940 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
4941 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
4944 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
4945 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
4946 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
4947 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
4948 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
4951 @vindex gnus-process-mark
4952 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
4953 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
4954 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
4955 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
4956 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
4960 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
4961 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
4962 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
4964 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
4965 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
4966 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
4970 @subsection Setting Marks
4971 @cindex setting marks
4973 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
4978 @kindex M c (Summary)
4979 @kindex M-u (Summary)
4980 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
4981 @cindex mark as unread
4982 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
4983 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
4989 @kindex M t (Summary)
4990 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
4991 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
4992 @xref{Article Caching}.
4997 @kindex M ? (Summary)
4998 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
4999 Mark the current article as dormant
5000 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5004 @kindex M d (Summary)
5006 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5007 Mark the current article as read
5008 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5012 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5013 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5014 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5019 @kindex M k (Summary)
5020 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5021 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5022 and then select the next unread article
5023 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5027 @kindex M K (Summary)
5028 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5029 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5030 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5031 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5034 @kindex M C (Summary)
5035 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5036 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5037 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5040 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5041 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5042 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5043 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5046 @kindex M H (Summary)
5047 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5048 Catchup the current group to point
5049 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5052 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5053 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5054 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5055 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5058 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5059 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5060 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5061 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5065 @kindex M e (Summary)
5067 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5068 Mark the current article as expirable
5069 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5072 @kindex M b (Summary)
5073 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5074 Set a bookmark in the current article
5075 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5078 @kindex M B (Summary)
5079 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5080 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5081 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5084 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5085 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5086 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5087 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5090 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5091 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5092 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5093 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5096 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5097 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5098 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5099 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5100 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5103 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5104 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5105 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5106 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5107 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5108 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5109 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5110 The default is @code{t}.
5113 @node Generic Marking Commands
5114 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5116 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5117 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5118 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5119 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5120 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5123 Multiply these five behaviours with five different marking commands, and
5124 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5127 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5128 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5129 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5130 to list in this manual.
5132 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5133 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5134 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5135 article, you could say something like:
5138 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5139 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5140 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
5146 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5147 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
5151 @node Setting Process Marks
5152 @subsection Setting Process Marks
5153 @cindex setting process marks
5160 @kindex M P p (Summary)
5161 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
5162 Mark the current article with the process mark
5163 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
5164 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
5168 @kindex M P u (Summary)
5169 @kindex M-# (Summary)
5170 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
5171 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
5174 @kindex M P U (Summary)
5175 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
5176 Remove the process mark from all articles
5177 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
5180 @kindex M P i (Summary)
5181 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
5182 Invert the list of process marked articles
5183 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
5186 @kindex M P R (Summary)
5187 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
5188 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5189 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
5192 @kindex M P G (Summary)
5193 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
5194 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5195 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
5198 @kindex M P r (Summary)
5199 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
5200 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
5203 @kindex M P t (Summary)
5204 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5205 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5206 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5209 @kindex M P T (Summary)
5210 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5211 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5212 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5215 @kindex M P v (Summary)
5216 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
5217 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
5218 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
5221 @kindex M P s (Summary)
5222 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
5223 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5226 @kindex M P S (Summary)
5227 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
5228 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
5229 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
5232 @kindex M P a (Summary)
5233 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
5234 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5237 @kindex M P b (Summary)
5238 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
5239 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
5240 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
5243 @kindex M P k (Summary)
5244 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
5245 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
5246 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
5249 @kindex M P y (Summary)
5250 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
5251 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
5252 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
5255 @kindex M P w (Summary)
5256 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
5257 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
5258 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
5262 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
5263 set process marks based on article body contents.
5270 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
5271 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
5272 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
5275 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
5276 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
5277 additional articles.
5283 @kindex / / (Summary)
5284 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
5285 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
5286 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
5289 @kindex / a (Summary)
5290 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
5291 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
5292 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
5295 @kindex / x (Summary)
5296 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
5297 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
5298 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
5299 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}).
5303 @kindex / u (Summary)
5305 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
5306 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
5307 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
5308 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
5309 dormant articles will also be excluded.
5312 @kindex / m (Summary)
5313 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
5314 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
5315 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
5318 @kindex / t (Summary)
5319 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
5320 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
5321 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
5322 articles younger than that number of days.
5325 @kindex / n (Summary)
5326 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
5327 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
5328 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
5329 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5332 @kindex / w (Summary)
5333 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
5334 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
5335 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
5339 @kindex / v (Summary)
5340 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
5341 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
5342 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
5346 @kindex M S (Summary)
5347 @kindex / E (Summary)
5348 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
5349 Include all expunged articles in the limit
5350 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
5353 @kindex / D (Summary)
5354 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
5355 Include all dormant articles in the limit
5356 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
5359 @kindex / * (Summary)
5360 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
5361 Include all cached articles in the limit
5362 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
5365 @kindex / d (Summary)
5366 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
5367 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
5368 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
5371 @kindex / M (Summary)
5372 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
5373 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
5376 @kindex / T (Summary)
5377 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
5378 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
5381 @kindex / c (Summary)
5382 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
5383 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
5384 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
5387 @kindex / C (Summary)
5388 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
5389 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
5390 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
5391 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
5399 @cindex article threading
5401 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
5402 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
5403 hierarchical fashion.
5405 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
5406 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
5407 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
5408 or simply missing. Weird news propagation excarcerbates the problem,
5409 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
5410 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
5411 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
5413 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
5417 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
5420 A tree-like article structure.
5423 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
5426 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
5427 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
5428 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
5429 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
5430 called loose threads.
5432 @item thread gathering
5433 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
5435 @item sparse threads
5436 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
5437 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
5443 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
5444 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
5448 @node Customizing Threading
5449 @subsection Customizing Threading
5450 @cindex customizing threading
5453 * Loose Threads:: How gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
5454 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
5455 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
5456 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
5461 @subsubsection Loose Threads
5464 @cindex loose threads
5467 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
5468 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
5469 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
5470 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
5471 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
5472 read or killed the root in a previous session.
5474 When there is no real root of a thread, gnus will have to fudge
5475 something. This variable says what fudging method gnus should use.
5476 There are four possible values:
5480 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
5481 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
5482 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5483 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5484 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5489 @cindex adopting articles
5494 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
5495 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
5496 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
5497 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
5500 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
5501 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
5502 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
5503 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
5504 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
5505 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
5506 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
5509 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
5510 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
5511 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
5515 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
5516 display them after one another.
5519 Don't gather loose threads.
5522 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
5523 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
5524 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
5525 variable is @code{nil}, gnus requires an exact match between the
5526 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
5527 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
5528 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
5529 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
5530 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
5531 variable to a really low number, you'll find that gnus will gather
5532 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
5534 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
5535 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, gnus will
5536 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
5539 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
5540 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
5541 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
5542 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
5543 simplification is used.
5545 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5546 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5547 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
5548 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
5550 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
5552 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5558 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
5559 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
5560 "answer" "reference" "announce"
5561 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
5566 (mapconcat 'identity
5567 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
5569 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
5572 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
5575 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
5576 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
5577 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
5578 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
5579 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
5580 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
5582 Useful functions to put in this list include:
5585 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
5586 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
5587 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
5589 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
5590 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
5593 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
5594 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
5595 Remove excessive whitespace.
5598 You may also write your own functions, of course.
5601 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
5602 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
5603 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
5604 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
5605 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
5606 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
5607 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
5608 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
5610 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5611 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5612 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
5613 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
5614 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
5615 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
5616 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
5617 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
5618 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
5622 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5623 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5624 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
5625 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
5627 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5628 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5629 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
5632 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
5636 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5637 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
5643 @node Filling In Threads
5644 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
5647 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
5648 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
5649 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
5650 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
5651 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
5652 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
5653 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
5654 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
5655 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
5656 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
5657 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
5658 expired by the server, there's not much gnus can do about that.
5660 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
5661 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
5662 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
5664 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
5665 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
5666 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
5667 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
5668 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
5669 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
5670 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where gnus guesses that an article
5671 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
5672 lines. If you select a gap, gnus will try to fetch the article in
5673 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, gnus will display all these
5674 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
5675 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, gnus won't cut
5676 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
5677 @code{nil} by default.
5682 @node More Threading
5683 @subsubsection More Threading
5686 @item gnus-show-threads
5687 @vindex gnus-show-threads
5688 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
5689 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
5690 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
5691 slower and more awkward.
5693 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5694 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5695 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
5698 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
5699 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
5700 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
5701 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
5702 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
5703 threads are expunged.
5705 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
5706 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
5707 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
5710 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5711 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5712 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
5713 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
5714 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
5717 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
5718 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
5719 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
5722 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
5723 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
5724 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
5725 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
5726 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
5727 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
5728 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
5729 Setting this variable to an alternate value
5730 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
5731 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
5732 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
5737 @node Low-Level Threading
5738 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
5742 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
5743 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
5744 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
5745 @code{(gnus-set-summary-default-charset)}, which sets up local value of
5746 @code{default-mime-charset} in summary buffer based on variable
5747 @code{gnus-newsgroup-default-charset-alist}.
5749 @item gnus-alter-header-function
5750 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
5751 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
5752 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
5753 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
5754 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
5755 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
5756 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
5757 meaningful. Here's one example:
5760 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
5762 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
5763 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
5765 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
5767 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
5774 @node Thread Commands
5775 @subsection Thread Commands
5776 @cindex thread commands
5782 @kindex T k (Summary)
5783 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
5784 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
5785 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
5786 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
5787 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
5792 @kindex T l (Summary)
5793 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
5794 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
5795 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
5796 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
5799 @kindex T i (Summary)
5800 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
5801 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
5802 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
5805 @kindex T # (Summary)
5806 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5807 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
5808 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5811 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
5812 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5813 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
5814 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5817 @kindex T T (Summary)
5818 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
5819 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
5822 @kindex T s (Summary)
5823 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
5824 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
5825 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
5828 @kindex T h (Summary)
5829 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
5830 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
5833 @kindex T S (Summary)
5834 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
5835 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
5838 @kindex T H (Summary)
5839 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
5840 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
5843 @kindex T t (Summary)
5844 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
5845 Re-thread the current article's thread
5846 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
5847 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
5850 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
5851 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
5852 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
5853 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
5857 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
5858 understand the numeric prefix.
5863 @kindex T n (Summary)
5865 @kindex M-C-n (Summary)
5867 @kindex M-down (Summary)
5868 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
5869 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
5872 @kindex T p (Summary)
5874 @kindex M-C-p (Summary)
5876 @kindex M-up (Summary)
5877 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
5878 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
5881 @kindex T d (Summary)
5882 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
5883 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
5886 @kindex T u (Summary)
5887 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
5888 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
5891 @kindex T o (Summary)
5892 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
5893 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
5896 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
5897 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
5898 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
5899 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
5900 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
5901 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
5902 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
5903 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
5904 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
5905 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
5906 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
5907 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
5914 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
5915 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
5916 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
5917 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5918 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
5919 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5920 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
5921 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
5922 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
5923 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
5924 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
5926 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
5927 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
5928 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
5929 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
5930 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
5932 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
5933 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
5934 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
5936 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
5937 last function in the list. You should probably always include
5938 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
5939 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
5940 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
5941 ascending article order.
5943 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
5944 by number, you could do something like:
5947 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5948 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5949 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5950 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
5953 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
5954 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
5955 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
5956 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
5957 which the articles arrived.
5959 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
5963 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5965 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
5966 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
5969 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
5970 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
5971 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
5972 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
5975 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
5976 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
5977 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
5978 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
5979 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
5980 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
5981 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
5982 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
5983 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
5984 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
5985 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
5986 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
5987 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
5989 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
5993 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
5994 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
5995 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6000 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6001 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6002 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6003 @cindex article pre-fetch
6006 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6007 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6008 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6009 article appears. Why can't gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6010 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6012 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6013 article fetching, especially the way gnus does it.
6015 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6016 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6017 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6018 article 3, but since gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6019 connection is blocked.
6021 To avoid these situations, gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6022 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6023 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6024 extra connection takes some time, so gnus startup will be slower.
6026 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6027 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6028 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6029 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6032 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6035 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6036 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6037 happen automatically.
6039 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6040 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6041 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6042 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
6043 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
6044 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6045 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6047 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6048 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6049 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6050 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6051 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6052 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6053 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6054 data structure as the only parameter.
6056 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
6059 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
6060 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
6061 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
6062 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
6065 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
6068 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
6069 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down gnus too much.
6070 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
6072 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
6073 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
6074 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
6075 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
6079 Remove articles when they are read.
6082 Remove articles when exiting the group.
6085 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
6087 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
6088 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
6089 @c from the next group.
6092 @node Article Caching
6093 @section Article Caching
6094 @cindex article caching
6097 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
6098 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
6099 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
6100 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
6101 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
6103 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
6105 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6106 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
6107 @vindex gnus-use-cache
6108 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
6109 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
6110 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
6111 cache is flat or hierarchal is controlled by the
6112 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
6114 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
6115 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
6116 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
6117 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
6118 as dormant, and don't worry.
6120 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
6122 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
6123 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
6124 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
6125 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
6126 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
6127 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
6128 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
6129 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
6130 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
6131 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
6133 @findex gnus-jog-cache
6134 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
6135 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
6136 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
6137 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
6138 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
6139 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
6140 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
6141 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
6142 not then be downloaded by this command.
6144 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
6145 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
6146 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
6147 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
6148 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
6149 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
6151 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
6152 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
6153 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
6154 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
6155 variables, the group is not cached.
6157 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
6158 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
6159 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
6160 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
6161 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
6162 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, gnus
6163 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
6164 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
6165 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
6169 @node Persistent Articles
6170 @section Persistent Articles
6171 @cindex persistent articles
6173 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
6174 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
6175 useful in my opinion.
6177 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
6178 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
6179 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
6180 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
6181 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
6182 the expiry going on at the news server.
6184 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
6185 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
6186 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
6192 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
6193 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
6196 @kindex M-* (Summary)
6197 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
6198 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
6199 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
6203 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
6205 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
6206 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
6207 interested in persistent articles:
6210 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
6214 @node Article Backlog
6215 @section Article Backlog
6217 @cindex article backlog
6219 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
6220 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
6221 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where gnus will buffer
6222 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
6223 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
6224 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
6225 that, turning the backlog on will slow gnus down a little bit, and
6226 increase memory usage some.
6228 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
6229 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, gnus will store
6230 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
6231 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, gnus will store
6232 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
6233 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
6234 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
6236 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
6239 @node Saving Articles
6240 @section Saving Articles
6241 @cindex saving articles
6243 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
6244 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
6245 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
6246 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
6247 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
6249 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
6250 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, gnus will not delete
6251 unwanted headers before saving the article.
6253 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
6254 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
6255 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
6256 deleted before saving.
6262 @kindex O o (Summary)
6264 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
6265 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
6266 Save the current article using the default article saver
6267 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
6270 @kindex O m (Summary)
6271 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
6272 Save the current article in mail format
6273 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
6276 @kindex O r (Summary)
6277 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
6278 Save the current article in rmail format
6279 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
6282 @kindex O f (Summary)
6283 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
6284 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
6285 Save the current article in plain file format
6286 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
6289 @kindex O F (Summary)
6290 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
6291 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
6292 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
6295 @kindex O b (Summary)
6296 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
6297 Save the current article body in plain file format
6298 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
6301 @kindex O h (Summary)
6302 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
6303 Save the current article in mh folder format
6304 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
6307 @kindex O v (Summary)
6308 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
6309 Save the current article in a VM folder
6310 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
6313 @kindex O p (Summary)
6314 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
6315 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
6316 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
6319 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
6320 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
6321 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
6322 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
6323 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
6324 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
6325 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
6326 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
6327 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
6328 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
6329 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
6330 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
6334 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
6335 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
6336 gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
6337 functions below, or you can create your own.
6341 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6342 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6343 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
6344 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6345 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
6346 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6347 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6349 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6350 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6351 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
6352 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
6353 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6354 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6356 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
6357 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
6358 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
6359 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
6360 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
6361 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6362 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
6364 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
6365 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
6366 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
6367 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6368 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
6370 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
6371 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
6372 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
6373 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
6374 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
6377 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
6378 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
6379 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
6380 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
6381 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
6383 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
6384 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
6385 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
6386 reader to use this setting.
6389 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
6390 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
6391 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
6392 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
6395 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
6396 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
6397 available functions that generate names:
6401 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
6402 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
6403 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
6405 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
6406 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
6407 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
6409 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
6410 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
6411 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
6413 @item gnus-plain-save-name
6414 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6415 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
6418 @vindex gnus-split-methods
6419 You can have gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
6420 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
6421 save articles related to gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
6422 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
6426 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
6427 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
6428 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
6429 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
6432 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
6433 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
6434 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
6435 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
6436 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
6437 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
6438 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
6439 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
6440 called returns a string or a list of strings.
6442 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
6443 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
6444 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
6445 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
6447 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
6448 means that gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
6449 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
6452 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
6453 lots of mail groups called things like
6454 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
6455 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
6456 following will do just that:
6459 (defun my-save-name (group)
6460 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
6461 (substring group (match-end 0))))
6463 (setq gnus-split-methods
6464 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
6469 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6470 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
6471 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
6472 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
6473 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
6474 all the files in the top level directory
6475 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
6476 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
6477 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
6478 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
6480 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
6481 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
6482 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
6483 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
6484 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
6487 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
6491 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
6492 (setq gnus-default-article-saver 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
6495 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
6496 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
6497 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
6498 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
6501 @node Decoding Articles
6502 @section Decoding Articles
6503 @cindex decoding articles
6505 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
6506 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
6509 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
6510 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
6511 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
6512 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
6513 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
6514 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
6518 @cindex article series
6519 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
6520 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
6521 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
6522 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
6523 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
6525 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
6526 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
6527 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
6529 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, gnus
6530 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
6531 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
6533 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
6534 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
6535 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
6538 @node Uuencoded Articles
6539 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
6541 @cindex uuencoded articles
6546 @kindex X u (Summary)
6547 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
6548 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
6549 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
6552 @kindex X U (Summary)
6553 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
6554 Uudecodes and saves the current series
6555 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
6558 @kindex X v u (Summary)
6559 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
6560 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
6563 @kindex X v U (Summary)
6564 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
6565 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
6566 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
6570 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
6571 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
6572 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
6573 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
6574 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
6576 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
6577 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
6578 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
6579 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
6582 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
6583 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
6584 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
6585 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
6586 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
6587 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
6591 @node Shell Archives
6592 @subsection Shell Archives
6594 @cindex shell archives
6595 @cindex shared articles
6597 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
6598 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
6599 some commands to deal with these:
6604 @kindex X s (Summary)
6605 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
6606 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
6609 @kindex X S (Summary)
6610 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
6611 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
6614 @kindex X v s (Summary)
6615 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
6616 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
6619 @kindex X v S (Summary)
6620 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
6621 Unshars, views and saves the current series
6622 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
6626 @node PostScript Files
6627 @subsection PostScript Files
6633 @kindex X p (Summary)
6634 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
6635 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
6638 @kindex X P (Summary)
6639 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
6640 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
6641 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
6644 @kindex X v p (Summary)
6645 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
6646 View the current PostScript series
6647 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
6650 @kindex X v P (Summary)
6651 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
6652 View and save the current PostScript series
6653 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
6658 @subsection Other Files
6662 @kindex X o (Summary)
6663 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
6664 Save the current series
6665 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
6668 @kindex X b (Summary)
6669 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
6670 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
6671 doesn't really work yet.
6675 @node Decoding Variables
6676 @subsection Decoding Variables
6678 Adjective, not verb.
6681 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
6682 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
6683 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
6687 @node Rule Variables
6688 @subsubsection Rule Variables
6689 @cindex rule variables
6691 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
6692 variables are of the form
6695 (list '(regexp1 command2)
6702 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6703 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6705 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
6706 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
6709 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6710 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
6713 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6714 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6715 This variable is consulted if gnus couldn't make any matches from the
6716 user and default view rules.
6718 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6719 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6720 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
6725 @node Other Decode Variables
6726 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
6729 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6731 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6732 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
6733 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
6734 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
6735 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
6739 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
6740 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
6743 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
6744 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
6745 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
6748 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6749 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6750 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
6751 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
6752 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
6755 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6756 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6757 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
6759 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6760 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6761 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
6762 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
6763 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
6766 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6767 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6768 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
6770 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6771 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6772 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
6773 looking for files to display.
6775 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
6776 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
6777 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
6780 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6781 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6782 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
6785 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6786 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6787 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
6790 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6791 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6792 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
6795 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6796 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6797 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
6798 decoded articles as unread.
6800 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6801 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6802 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
6803 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
6805 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6806 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6807 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
6809 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6810 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6812 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
6813 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
6814 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
6815 @code{metamail} for viewing.
6817 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6818 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6819 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
6820 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
6821 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
6822 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
6823 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
6824 simply dropped them.
6829 @node Uuencoding and Posting
6830 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
6834 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6835 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6836 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
6837 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
6838 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
6839 for you when you post the article.
6841 @item gnus-uu-post-length
6842 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
6843 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
6844 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
6846 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
6847 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
6848 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
6849 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
6850 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
6851 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
6852 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
6854 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6855 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6856 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
6857 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
6858 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
6859 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
6860 Default is @code{t}.
6866 @subsection Viewing Files
6867 @cindex viewing files
6868 @cindex pseudo-articles
6870 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, gnus will attempt
6871 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
6872 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
6873 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, gnus will
6874 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
6875 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
6876 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
6878 Finally, gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
6879 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
6880 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
6881 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
6883 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
6884 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
6885 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
6887 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
6888 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
6889 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
6890 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
6891 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
6893 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
6894 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
6895 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
6896 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
6897 a list of parameters to that command.
6899 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
6900 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
6901 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
6903 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
6904 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
6905 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
6908 @node Article Treatment
6909 @section Article Treatment
6911 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
6912 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
6913 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
6914 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
6915 these articles easier.
6918 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
6919 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
6920 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
6921 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
6922 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
6923 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
6924 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
6925 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
6929 @node Article Highlighting
6930 @subsection Article Highlighting
6931 @cindex highlighting
6933 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
6934 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
6939 @kindex W H a (Summary)
6940 @findex gnus-article-highlight
6941 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
6942 Do much highlighting of the current article
6943 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
6944 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
6947 @kindex W H h (Summary)
6948 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
6949 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
6950 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
6951 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
6952 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
6953 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
6954 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
6955 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
6956 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
6957 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
6958 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
6961 @kindex W H c (Summary)
6962 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
6963 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
6965 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
6968 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6970 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6971 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
6972 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
6974 @item gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6975 @vindex gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6976 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
6978 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
6979 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
6980 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
6982 @item gnus-cite-face-list
6983 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
6984 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
6985 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
6986 gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
6987 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
6989 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
6990 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
6991 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
6993 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6994 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6995 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
6997 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6998 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6999 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7000 that it's a citation.
7002 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7003 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7004 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7006 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7007 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7008 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7010 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7011 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7012 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7013 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7019 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7020 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7021 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7022 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7023 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7024 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
7025 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
7026 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
7031 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
7034 @node Article Fontisizing
7035 @subsection Article Fontisizing
7037 @cindex article emphasis
7039 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
7040 @kindex W e (Summary)
7041 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
7042 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
7043 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
7044 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
7046 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
7047 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
7048 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
7049 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
7050 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
7051 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
7052 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
7053 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
7057 (setq gnus-article-emphasis
7058 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
7059 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
7068 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
7069 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
7070 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
7071 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
7072 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
7073 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
7074 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
7075 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
7076 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
7077 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
7078 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
7079 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
7080 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
7082 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
7083 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
7084 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
7088 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
7091 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
7093 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
7094 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
7095 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
7096 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
7098 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
7101 @node Article Hiding
7102 @subsection Article Hiding
7103 @cindex article hiding
7105 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
7106 too much cruft in most articles.
7111 @kindex W W a (Summary)
7112 @findex gnus-article-hide
7113 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
7114 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
7115 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
7118 @kindex W W h (Summary)
7119 @findex gnus-article-toggle-headers
7120 Toggle hiding of headers (@code{gnus-article-toggle-headers}). @xref{Hiding
7124 @kindex W W b (Summary)
7125 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7126 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
7127 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
7130 @kindex W W s (Summary)
7131 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
7132 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
7136 @kindex W W l (Summary)
7137 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
7138 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7139 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
7140 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
7141 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
7142 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
7143 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
7147 @item gnus-list-identifiers
7148 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7149 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
7150 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
7155 @kindex W W p (Summary)
7156 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
7157 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7158 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
7159 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
7160 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
7161 articles that have signatures in them do:
7163 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
7165 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
7167 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
7168 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
7170 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7173 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
7178 @kindex W W P (Summary)
7179 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
7180 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
7181 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
7184 @kindex W W B (Summary)
7185 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
7188 @cindex stripping advertisments
7189 @cindex advertisments
7190 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
7191 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
7192 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
7193 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
7194 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
7195 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
7196 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
7197 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
7198 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
7199 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
7203 @kindex W W c (Summary)
7204 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
7205 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
7206 customizing the hiding:
7210 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7211 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7212 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7213 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7214 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
7215 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
7216 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
7221 Starting point of the hidden text.
7223 Ending point of the hidden text.
7225 Number of characters in the hidden region.
7227 Number of lines of hidden text.
7230 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
7231 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
7232 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
7233 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
7234 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
7239 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
7240 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
7242 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
7243 following two variables:
7246 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7247 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7248 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
7249 50), hide the cited text.
7251 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7252 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7253 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
7258 @kindex W W C (Summary)
7259 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
7260 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
7261 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
7262 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
7263 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
7267 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
7268 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
7269 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
7271 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
7272 citation customization.
7274 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
7278 @node Article Washing
7279 @subsection Article Washing
7281 @cindex article washing
7283 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
7284 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
7286 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
7287 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
7293 @kindex W l (Summary)
7294 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
7295 Remove page breaks from the current article
7296 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
7300 @kindex W r (Summary)
7301 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
7302 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
7303 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
7304 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
7305 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
7306 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
7308 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
7309 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
7310 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
7311 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
7315 @kindex W t (Summary)
7317 @findex gnus-article-toggle-headers
7318 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
7319 (@code{gnus-article-toggle-headers}).
7322 @kindex W v (Summary)
7323 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
7324 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
7325 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
7328 @kindex W m (Summary)
7329 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
7330 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
7331 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
7334 @kindex W o (Summary)
7335 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
7336 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
7339 @kindex W d (Summary)
7340 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
7341 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
7343 @cindex M******** sm*rtq**t*s
7345 Treat M******** sm*rtq**t*s according to
7346 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
7347 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
7348 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
7352 @kindex W w (Summary)
7353 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
7354 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
7356 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
7360 @kindex W Q (Summary)
7361 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
7362 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
7365 @kindex W C (Summary)
7366 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
7367 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
7368 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
7371 @kindex W c (Summary)
7372 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
7373 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
7374 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
7375 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
7376 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
7379 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
7380 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
7381 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
7382 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
7383 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that the this is usually done
7384 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
7385 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
7389 @kindex W Z (Summary)
7390 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
7391 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
7392 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
7393 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
7396 @kindex W h (Summary)
7397 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
7398 Treat HTML (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}).
7399 Note that the this is usually done automatically by Gnus if the message
7400 in question has a @code{Content-Type} header that says that this type
7404 @kindex W f (Summary)
7406 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
7407 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
7408 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
7409 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
7415 Look for and display any X-Face headers
7416 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
7417 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
7418 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
7419 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
7420 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
7421 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
7422 The default action under Emacs is to fork off the @code{display}
7423 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For the
7424 @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
7425 like `compface' or `faces-xface' on a GNU/Linux system.}
7426 to view the face. Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image
7427 support, the default action is to display the face before the
7428 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
7429 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
7430 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
7431 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
7432 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
7433 like @code{netpbm} or @code{libgr-progs}.}) If you
7434 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
7438 @kindex W b (Summary)
7439 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
7440 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
7441 @xref{Article Buttons}.
7444 @kindex W B (Summary)
7445 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
7446 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
7447 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
7450 @kindex W W H (Summary)
7451 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body
7452 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
7453 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body}).
7456 @kindex W E l (Summary)
7457 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
7458 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
7459 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
7462 @kindex W E m (Summary)
7463 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
7464 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
7465 lines with a single empty line.
7466 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
7469 @kindex W E t (Summary)
7470 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
7471 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
7472 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
7475 @kindex W E a (Summary)
7476 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
7477 Do all the three commands above
7478 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
7481 @kindex W E A (Summary)
7482 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
7483 Remove all blank lines
7484 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
7487 @kindex W E s (Summary)
7488 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
7489 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
7490 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
7493 @kindex W E e (Summary)
7494 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
7495 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
7496 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
7500 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
7503 @node Article Buttons
7504 @subsection Article Buttons
7507 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
7508 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
7509 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
7510 button on these references.
7512 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
7513 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
7514 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
7519 @item gnus-button-alist
7520 @vindex gnus-button-alist
7521 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
7524 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
7530 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
7531 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
7532 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
7535 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
7536 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
7537 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
7540 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
7541 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
7542 avoid false matches.
7545 This function will be called when you click on this button.
7548 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
7549 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
7553 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
7556 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
7559 @item gnus-header-button-alist
7560 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
7561 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
7562 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
7563 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
7566 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
7569 @var{header} is a regular expression.
7571 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
7572 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
7573 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
7574 default values of the variables above.
7576 @item gnus-article-button-face
7577 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
7578 Face used on buttons.
7580 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
7581 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
7582 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
7586 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
7590 @subsection Article Date
7592 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
7593 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
7594 when the article was sent.
7599 @kindex W T u (Summary)
7600 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
7601 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
7602 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
7605 @kindex W T i (Summary)
7606 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
7608 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
7609 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
7612 @kindex W T l (Summary)
7613 @findex gnus-article-date-local
7614 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
7617 @kindex W T s (Summary)
7618 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
7619 @findex gnus-article-date-user
7620 @findex format-time-string
7621 Display the date using a user-defined format
7622 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
7623 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
7624 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
7625 for a list of possible format specs.
7628 @kindex W T e (Summary)
7629 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
7630 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
7631 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
7632 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
7633 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
7636 X-Sent: 9 years, 6 weeks, 4 days, 9 hours, 3 minutes, 28 seconds ago
7639 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
7640 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
7643 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
7644 into wonderful absurdities.
7646 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
7649 (gnus-start-date-timer)
7652 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
7653 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
7657 @kindex W T o (Summary)
7658 @findex gnus-article-date-original
7659 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
7660 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
7661 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
7662 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
7663 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
7667 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
7668 preferred format automatically.
7671 @node Article Signature
7672 @subsection Article Signature
7674 @cindex article signature
7676 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7677 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
7678 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
7679 that says what is to be considered a signature is
7680 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
7681 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
7682 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
7683 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
7684 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
7687 (setq gnus-signature-separator
7688 '("^-- $" ; The standard
7689 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
7690 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
7691 ; line of dashes. Shame!
7692 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
7693 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
7694 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
7697 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
7700 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
7701 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
7702 signature when displaying articles.
7706 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
7709 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
7712 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
7713 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
7715 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
7716 in question is not a signature.
7719 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
7720 listed above. Here's an example:
7723 (setq gnus-signature-limit
7724 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
7727 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
7728 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
7729 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
7730 signature after all.
7733 @node Article Miscellania
7734 @subsection Article Miscellania
7738 @kindex A t (Summary)
7739 @findex gnus-article-babel
7740 Translate the article from one language to another
7741 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
7747 @section @sc{mime} Commands
7748 @cindex MIME decoding
7750 @cindex viewing attachments
7752 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
7753 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
7759 @kindex K v (Summary)
7760 View the @sc{mime} part.
7763 @kindex K o (Summary)
7764 Save the @sc{mime} part.
7767 @kindex K c (Summary)
7768 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
7771 @kindex K e (Summary)
7772 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
7775 @kindex K i (Summary)
7776 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
7779 @kindex K | (Summary)
7780 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
7783 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
7788 @kindex K b (Summary)
7789 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
7790 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
7794 @kindex K m (Summary)
7795 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
7796 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
7797 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
7798 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
7799 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
7802 @kindex X m (Summary)
7803 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
7804 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
7805 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
7806 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7809 @kindex M-t (Summary)
7810 @findex gnus-summary-display-buttonized
7811 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
7812 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
7815 @kindex W M w (Summary)
7816 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
7817 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
7820 @kindex W M c (Summary)
7821 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
7822 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
7824 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
7825 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
7826 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
7827 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not include
7828 MIME headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic parameter to
7829 the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
7832 @kindex W M v (Summary)
7833 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
7834 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
7841 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
7842 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
7843 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
7844 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
7847 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
7850 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
7854 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
7855 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
7856 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
7857 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
7858 displayed. The default value is @code{(".*/.*")}.
7860 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
7861 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
7862 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
7863 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
7864 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
7865 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
7866 save all jpegs into some directory).
7868 Here's an example function the does the latter:
7871 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
7872 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
7874 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
7875 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
7876 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
7877 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
7878 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
7881 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
7882 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
7883 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
7892 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
7893 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
7894 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
7895 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
7896 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
7897 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
7898 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
7900 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
7901 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
7902 variable, which is an alist of regexps (to match group names) and
7903 default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
7905 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
7906 aren't. These blitely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1} even
7907 if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
7908 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
7909 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be set
7910 on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
7911 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit)}, which is
7912 something some agents insist on having in there.
7914 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
7915 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
7916 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
7917 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
7918 quoted-printable header encoding.
7920 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
7921 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
7922 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
7926 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
7929 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
7930 means encode all charsets),
7932 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
7933 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
7934 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
7941 @cindex coding system aliases
7942 @cindex preferred charset
7944 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
7946 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
7947 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
7950 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
7951 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
7954 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
7955 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
7957 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
7960 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
7963 This will almost do the right thing.
7965 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
7969 (codepage-setup 1251)
7970 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
7974 @node Article Commands
7975 @section Article Commands
7982 @kindex A P (Summary)
7983 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
7984 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
7985 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
7986 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
7987 run just before printing the buffer.
7992 @node Summary Sorting
7993 @section Summary Sorting
7994 @cindex summary sorting
7996 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
7997 can't really see why you'd want that.
8002 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
8003 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
8004 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
8007 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
8008 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
8009 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
8012 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
8013 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
8014 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
8017 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
8018 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
8019 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
8022 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
8023 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
8024 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
8027 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
8028 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
8029 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
8032 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
8033 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
8034 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
8037 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
8038 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
8039 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
8040 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
8041 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
8045 @node Finding the Parent
8046 @section Finding the Parent
8047 @cindex parent articles
8048 @cindex referring articles
8053 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
8054 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
8055 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
8056 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
8057 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
8058 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
8059 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
8060 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
8061 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
8063 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
8064 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
8065 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, gnus will fetch the parent, the
8066 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
8067 @kbd{-3 ^}, gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
8071 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
8072 @kindex A R (Summary)
8073 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
8074 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
8077 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
8078 @kindex A T (Summary)
8079 Display the full thread where the current article appears
8080 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
8081 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
8082 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
8083 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
8084 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
8085 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
8087 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
8088 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
8089 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
8090 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
8091 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
8092 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
8095 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
8096 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
8098 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
8099 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
8100 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
8101 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
8102 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
8103 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
8104 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
8107 The current select method will be used when fetching by
8108 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
8109 by giving this command a prefix.
8111 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
8112 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
8113 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
8114 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
8115 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
8116 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
8119 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
8120 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
8121 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
8124 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
8125 then ask Deja if that fails:
8128 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
8130 (nnweb "refer" (nnweb-type dejanews))))
8133 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
8134 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
8135 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
8136 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
8137 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
8138 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
8141 @node Alternative Approaches
8142 @section Alternative Approaches
8144 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
8145 gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
8148 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
8149 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
8154 @subsection Pick and Read
8155 @cindex pick and read
8157 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
8158 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
8159 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
8160 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
8162 @findex gnus-pick-mode
8163 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
8164 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
8165 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
8166 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
8167 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
8169 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
8174 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
8175 Pick the article or thread on the current line
8176 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8177 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
8178 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
8179 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
8180 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
8181 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
8184 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
8185 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
8186 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
8187 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
8191 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
8192 Unpick the thread or article
8193 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8194 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
8195 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
8196 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
8197 the thread or article at that line.
8201 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
8202 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
8203 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
8204 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
8205 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
8206 will still be visible when you are reading.
8210 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
8211 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
8212 which is mapped to the same function
8213 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
8215 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
8218 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
8221 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
8222 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
8224 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
8225 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
8226 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
8228 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
8229 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
8230 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
8231 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
8232 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
8233 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
8234 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
8238 @subsection Binary Groups
8239 @cindex binary groups
8241 @findex gnus-binary-mode
8242 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
8243 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
8244 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
8245 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
8246 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
8247 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
8250 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
8251 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
8252 command, when you have turned on this mode
8253 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
8255 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
8256 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
8260 @section Tree Display
8263 @vindex gnus-use-trees
8264 If you don't like the normal gnus summary display, you might try setting
8265 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
8266 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
8269 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
8272 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
8273 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
8274 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
8276 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
8277 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
8278 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
8279 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
8280 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
8282 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
8283 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
8284 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
8285 default is @code{modeline}.
8287 @item gnus-tree-line-format
8288 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
8289 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
8290 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
8291 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
8292 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
8293 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
8299 The name of the poster.
8301 The @code{From} header.
8303 The number of the article.
8305 The opening bracket.
8307 The closing bracket.
8312 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
8314 Variables related to the display are:
8317 @item gnus-tree-brackets
8318 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
8319 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
8320 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
8321 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
8322 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
8324 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
8325 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
8326 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
8327 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
8331 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
8332 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
8333 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will try to keep the tree
8334 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other gnus
8335 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
8336 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
8337 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
8338 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
8339 other windows displayed next to it.
8341 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
8342 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
8343 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
8344 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
8345 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
8346 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
8347 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
8351 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
8354 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
8364 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
8368 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
8369 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
8371 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
8373 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
8378 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
8379 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
8380 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
8383 (setq gnus-use-trees t
8384 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
8385 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
8386 (gnus-add-configuration
8390 (summary 0.75 point)
8395 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
8398 @node Mail Group Commands
8399 @section Mail Group Commands
8400 @cindex mail group commands
8402 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
8403 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
8405 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
8406 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8411 @kindex B e (Summary)
8412 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
8413 Expire all expirable articles in the group
8414 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
8417 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
8418 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
8419 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
8420 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
8421 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
8422 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
8425 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
8426 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
8427 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
8428 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
8429 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
8430 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
8433 @kindex B m (Summary)
8435 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
8436 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
8437 Move the article from one mail group to another
8438 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
8439 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
8442 @kindex B c (Summary)
8444 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
8445 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
8446 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
8447 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
8448 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
8451 @kindex B B (Summary)
8452 @cindex crosspost mail
8453 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
8454 Crosspost the current article to some other group
8455 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
8456 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
8457 be properly updated.
8460 @kindex B i (Summary)
8461 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
8462 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
8463 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
8464 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
8467 @kindex B r (Summary)
8468 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
8469 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
8470 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
8471 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
8472 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
8473 Marks will be preserved if @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
8474 (which is the default).
8478 @kindex B w (Summary)
8480 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
8481 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
8482 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
8483 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
8484 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
8485 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, gnus won't re-highlight the article.
8488 @kindex B q (Summary)
8489 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
8490 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
8491 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
8492 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
8495 @kindex B t (Summary)
8496 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
8497 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
8498 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
8501 @kindex B p (Summary)
8502 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
8503 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
8504 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
8505 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
8506 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
8507 article from your news server (or rather, from
8508 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
8509 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
8510 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
8511 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
8512 just not have arrived yet.
8516 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
8517 @cindex moving articles
8518 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have gnus
8519 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
8520 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
8521 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
8522 suggestions you find reasonable.
8525 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
8526 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
8527 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
8528 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
8532 @node Various Summary Stuff
8533 @section Various Summary Stuff
8536 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
8537 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
8538 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
8539 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
8543 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
8544 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
8545 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
8547 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
8548 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
8549 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
8550 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
8551 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
8552 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
8555 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
8556 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
8557 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
8558 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
8559 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
8561 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
8562 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
8563 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
8566 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
8567 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
8568 When gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
8569 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
8570 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
8571 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
8572 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), gnus will rename the
8573 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
8574 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
8575 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
8577 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
8578 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
8579 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
8580 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
8581 list of articles to be selected.
8583 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
8584 the list in one particular group:
8587 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
8588 (if (string= group "some.group")
8589 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
8596 @node Summary Group Information
8597 @subsection Summary Group Information
8602 @kindex H f (Summary)
8603 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
8604 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
8605 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
8606 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
8607 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
8608 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
8609 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
8610 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
8611 be used for fetching the file.
8614 @kindex H d (Summary)
8615 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
8616 Give a brief description of the current group
8617 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
8618 rereading the description from the server.
8621 @kindex H h (Summary)
8622 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
8623 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
8624 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
8627 @kindex H i (Summary)
8628 @findex gnus-info-find-node
8629 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
8633 @node Searching for Articles
8634 @subsection Searching for Articles
8639 @kindex M-s (Summary)
8640 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
8641 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
8642 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
8645 @kindex M-r (Summary)
8646 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
8647 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
8648 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
8652 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
8653 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
8654 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
8655 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
8656 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
8657 search backward instead.
8659 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
8660 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
8663 @kindex M-& (Summary)
8664 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
8665 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
8666 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
8669 @node Summary Generation Commands
8670 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
8675 @kindex Y g (Summary)
8676 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
8677 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
8680 @kindex Y c (Summary)
8681 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
8682 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
8683 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
8688 @node Really Various Summary Commands
8689 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
8695 @kindex C-d (Summary)
8696 @kindex A D (Summary)
8697 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
8698 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
8699 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
8700 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
8701 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
8702 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
8703 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
8704 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
8708 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
8709 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
8710 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
8711 several documents into one biiig group
8712 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
8713 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
8714 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
8715 command understands the process/prefix convention
8716 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8719 @kindex C-t (Summary)
8720 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
8721 Toggle truncation of summary lines
8722 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
8723 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
8724 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
8728 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
8729 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
8730 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
8733 @kindex M-C-e (Summary)
8734 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
8735 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
8736 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
8739 @kindex M-C-a (Summary)
8740 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
8741 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
8742 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
8747 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
8748 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
8749 @cindex summary exit
8750 @cindex exiting groups
8752 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
8753 group and return you to the group buffer.
8759 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
8761 @findex gnus-summary-exit
8762 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
8763 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
8764 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
8765 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
8766 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
8767 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
8768 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
8769 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
8770 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
8771 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
8775 @kindex Z E (Summary)
8777 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
8778 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
8779 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
8783 @kindex Z c (Summary)
8785 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
8786 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
8787 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
8788 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
8791 @kindex Z C (Summary)
8792 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
8793 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
8794 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
8797 @kindex Z n (Summary)
8798 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
8799 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
8800 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
8803 @kindex Z R (Summary)
8804 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
8805 Exit this group, and then enter it again
8806 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
8807 all articles, both read and unread.
8811 @kindex Z G (Summary)
8812 @kindex M-g (Summary)
8813 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
8814 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
8815 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
8816 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
8817 articles, both read and unread.
8820 @kindex Z N (Summary)
8821 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
8822 Exit the group and go to the next group
8823 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
8826 @kindex Z P (Summary)
8827 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
8828 Exit the group and go to the previous group
8829 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
8832 @kindex Z s (Summary)
8833 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
8834 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
8835 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
8836 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
8837 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
8840 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
8841 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
8842 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
8843 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
8845 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
8846 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
8847 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
8848 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
8849 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
8850 If you do that, gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
8851 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
8852 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
8853 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
8854 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
8855 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
8856 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
8858 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
8860 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
8861 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
8862 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
8863 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
8864 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
8865 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
8866 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
8867 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
8868 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
8871 @node Crosspost Handling
8872 @section Crosspost Handling
8876 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
8877 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
8878 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
8879 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
8880 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
8881 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
8884 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
8885 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
8886 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
8887 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
8888 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
8890 @cindex cross-posting
8893 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
8894 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
8895 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
8896 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
8897 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
8898 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
8899 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
8900 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
8901 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
8902 the cross reference mechanism.
8904 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
8905 @cindex overview.fmt
8906 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
8907 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
8908 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
8909 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
8910 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
8911 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
8914 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
8915 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
8916 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
8921 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
8924 @node Duplicate Suppression
8925 @section Duplicate Suppression
8927 By default, gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
8928 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
8929 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
8930 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
8935 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
8936 is evil and not very common.
8939 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
8940 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
8943 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
8944 different @sc{nntp} servers.
8947 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
8950 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
8951 well, but these four are the most common situations.
8953 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
8954 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
8955 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
8956 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
8957 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
8958 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
8959 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
8962 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
8963 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
8964 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
8965 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
8966 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
8970 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
8971 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
8972 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
8974 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
8975 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
8976 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
8977 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
8978 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single gnus
8979 session are suppressed.
8981 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
8982 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
8983 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
8984 suppression list. The default is 10000.
8986 @item gnus-duplicate-file
8987 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
8988 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
8989 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
8992 If you have a tendency to stop and start gnus often, setting
8993 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
8994 you leave gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
8995 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
8996 so that means that if you stop and start gnus often, you should set
8997 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
8998 to you to figure out, I think.
9001 @node The Article Buffer
9002 @chapter The Article Buffer
9003 @cindex article buffer
9005 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
9006 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
9007 tell gnus otherwise.
9010 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
9011 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
9012 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
9013 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
9014 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
9018 @node Hiding Headers
9019 @section Hiding Headers
9020 @cindex hiding headers
9021 @cindex deleting headers
9023 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
9024 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
9026 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
9027 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
9028 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
9029 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
9030 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
9031 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
9032 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
9033 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
9034 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
9036 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
9040 @item gnus-visible-headers
9041 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
9042 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
9043 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
9044 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
9046 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
9047 the article and the subject, you'd say:
9050 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
9053 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
9056 @item gnus-ignored-headers
9057 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
9058 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
9059 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
9060 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
9061 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
9063 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} field
9064 and the @code{Xref} field, you might say:
9067 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
9070 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
9073 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
9074 variable will have no effect.
9078 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
9079 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
9080 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
9081 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
9082 the headers are to be displayed.
9084 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
9085 and then the subject, you might say something like:
9088 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
9091 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
9092 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
9094 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
9095 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
9096 You can hide further boring headers by setting
9097 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
9098 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
9099 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
9100 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
9103 These conditions are:
9106 Remove all empty headers.
9108 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
9109 @code{Newsgroups} header.
9111 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
9114 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
9117 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
9120 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
9122 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
9125 To include the four three elements, you could say something like;
9128 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
9129 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
9132 This is also the default value for this variable.
9136 @section Using @sc{mime}
9139 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
9140 while people stand around yawning.
9142 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
9143 while all newsreaders die of fear.
9145 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
9146 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
9147 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
9149 @vindex gnus-show-mime
9150 @vindex gnus-article-display-method-for-mime
9151 @vindex gnus-strict-mime
9152 @findex gnus-article-display-mime-message
9153 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
9154 @code{gnus-article-display-method-for-mime}, which is
9155 @code{gnus-article-display-mime-message} by default. This function
9156 calls the SEMI MIME-View program to actually do the work. For more
9157 information on SEMI MIME-View, see its manual page (however it is not
9158 existed yet, sorry).
9160 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
9161 @sc{mime} all the time. However, if @code{gnus-strict-mime} is
9162 non-@code{nil}, the @sc{mime} method will only be used if there are
9163 @sc{mime} headers in the article. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime}
9164 set, then you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article
9165 buffer. These can't be avoided.
9167 In GNUS or Gnus, it might be best to just use the toggling functions
9168 from the summary buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance,
9169 you enter the group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it,
9170 @sc{mime} has decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible
9171 sing-a-long song comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find
9172 the volume button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to
9173 look at you, and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you
9174 can't find the program to control the volume, and everybody else in the
9175 room suddenly decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel
9178 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
9180 To avoid such kind of situation, gnus stops to use
9181 @code{metamail-buffer}. So now, you can set @code{gnus-show-mime} to
9182 non-@code{nil} every-time, then you can push button in the article
9183 buffer when there are nobody else.
9185 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
9188 @node Customizing Articles
9189 @section Customizing Articles
9190 @cindex article customization
9192 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
9193 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
9194 called automatically when you select the articles.
9196 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
9197 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
9198 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
9199 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
9201 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
9202 for sensible values.
9206 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
9209 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
9212 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
9215 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
9218 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
9222 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
9223 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
9224 regexps in the list.
9227 A list where the first element is not a string:
9229 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
9230 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
9231 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
9235 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
9239 @code{mime}: Do this treatment if the value of @code{gnus-show-mime}' is
9244 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
9245 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
9246 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
9247 considered to contain just a single part.
9249 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
9250 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
9251 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
9252 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
9253 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
9254 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
9255 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
9257 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
9258 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
9259 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
9260 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
9263 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last)
9264 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
9265 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
9266 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
9267 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
9268 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
9269 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
9270 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
9271 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
9272 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
9273 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)
9274 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
9275 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
9276 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
9277 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
9278 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
9279 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
9280 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
9281 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
9282 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
9283 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
9284 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
9285 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
9286 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
9287 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
9288 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
9289 @item gnus-treat-display-picons (head)
9290 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
9291 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
9292 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
9293 @item gnus-treat-translate
9294 @item gnus-treat-decode-article-as-default-mime-charset
9297 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
9298 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
9299 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
9300 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
9301 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
9305 @node Article Keymap
9306 @section Article Keymap
9308 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
9309 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
9310 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
9311 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
9314 A few additional keystrokes are available:
9319 @kindex SPACE (Article)
9320 @findex gnus-article-next-page
9321 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
9324 @kindex DEL (Article)
9325 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
9326 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
9329 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
9330 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
9331 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
9332 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
9333 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
9336 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
9337 @findex gnus-article-mail
9338 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
9339 given a prefix, include the mail.
9343 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
9344 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
9345 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
9349 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
9350 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
9351 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
9354 @kindex TAB (Article)
9355 @findex gnus-article-next-button
9356 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
9357 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
9360 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
9361 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
9362 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
9368 @section Misc Article
9372 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
9373 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
9374 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
9375 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
9378 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
9379 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
9381 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
9382 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
9384 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
9385 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
9386 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
9387 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
9388 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
9389 the contents of the article buffer.
9391 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
9392 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
9393 Hook called in article mode buffers.
9395 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
9396 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
9397 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
9398 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
9400 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
9401 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
9402 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
9403 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
9404 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
9409 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
9410 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
9413 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
9416 @vindex gnus-break-pages
9418 @item gnus-break-pages
9419 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
9420 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
9421 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
9422 paging will not be done.
9424 @item gnus-page-delimiter
9425 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
9426 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
9431 @node Composing Messages
9432 @chapter Composing Messages
9433 @cindex composing messages
9436 @cindex sending mail
9441 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
9442 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
9443 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
9444 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The
9445 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
9446 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
9449 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
9450 * Post:: Posting and following up.
9451 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
9452 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
9453 * Archived Messages:: Where gnus stores the messages you've sent.
9454 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
9455 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
9456 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
9459 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
9460 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
9466 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
9469 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
9470 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
9471 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
9472 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
9474 @item gnus-add-to-list
9475 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
9476 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
9477 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
9479 @item message-send-mail-partially-limit
9480 @vindex message-send-mail-partially-limit
9481 The limitation of messages sent as message/partial.
9482 The lower bound of message size in characters, beyond which the message
9483 should be sent in several parts. If it is nil, the size is unlimited.
9491 Variables for composing news articles:
9494 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-file
9495 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-file
9496 Gnus will keep a @code{Message-ID} history file of all the mails it has
9497 sent. If it discovers that it has already sent a mail, it will ask the
9498 user whether to re-send the mail. (This is primarily useful when
9499 dealing with @sc{soup} packets and the like where one is apt to send the
9500 same packet multiple times.) This variable says what the name of this
9501 history file is. It is @file{~/News/Sent-Message-IDs} by default. Set
9502 this variable to @code{nil} if you don't want gnus to keep a history
9505 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-length
9506 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-length
9507 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the history
9508 file. It is 1000 by default.
9513 @node Posting Server
9514 @section Posting Server
9516 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
9517 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
9519 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
9521 @vindex gnus-post-method
9523 It can be quite complicated. Normally, gnus will use the same native
9524 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
9525 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
9526 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
9527 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
9530 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
9533 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
9534 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
9535 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
9536 the ``current'' server for posting.
9538 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
9539 gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
9541 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
9542 If that's the case, gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
9545 Finally, if you want to always post using the same select method as
9546 you're reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
9547 groups from different private servers), you can set this variable to
9552 @section Mail and Post
9554 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
9558 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
9559 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
9560 @cindex mailing lists
9562 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
9563 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
9564 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
9565 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
9566 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
9567 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
9568 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
9569 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
9570 still a pain, though.
9574 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
9575 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
9576 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
9579 @findex ispell-message
9581 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
9584 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
9585 you're in, you could say something like the following:
9588 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
9591 ((string-match "^de\\." gnus-newsgroup-name)
9592 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
9594 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
9597 Modify to suit your needs.
9600 @node Archived Messages
9601 @section Archived Messages
9602 @cindex archived messages
9603 @cindex sent messages
9605 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
9606 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
9607 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
9608 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
9611 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
9612 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server gnus is to
9613 use to store sent messages. The default is:
9617 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
9618 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
9619 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
9620 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
9623 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
9624 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likeable select method
9625 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
9626 directory chosen, you could say something like:
9629 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
9630 '(nnfolder "archive"
9631 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
9632 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
9633 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
9636 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
9638 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
9639 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
9640 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
9642 This variable can be used to do the following:
9646 Messages will be saved in that group.
9647 @item a list of strings
9648 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
9649 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
9650 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
9652 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
9657 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
9659 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
9662 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
9664 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
9667 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
9669 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9670 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
9671 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
9672 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
9677 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9678 '((if (message-news-p)
9683 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
9684 messages in one file per month:
9687 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9688 '((if (message-news-p)
9690 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
9693 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
9694 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
9696 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
9697 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
9698 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
9699 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
9700 gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
9701 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
9702 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
9703 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
9704 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
9705 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
9707 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
9708 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
9709 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
9710 this will disable archiving.
9713 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
9714 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
9715 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
9716 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
9717 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
9720 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
9721 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
9722 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
9725 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
9726 but the latter is the preferred method.
9730 @node Posting Styles
9731 @section Posting Styles
9732 @cindex posting styles
9735 All them variables, they make my head swim.
9737 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
9738 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
9739 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
9742 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
9743 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
9744 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
9745 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
9746 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
9751 (signature "Peace and happiness")
9752 (organization "What me?"))
9754 (signature "Death to everybody"))
9755 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
9756 (organization "Emacs is it")))
9759 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
9760 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
9761 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
9762 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
9763 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
9764 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
9765 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
9766 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
9768 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
9769 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
9770 If it is the symbol @code{header}, then Gnus will look for header that
9771 match the next element in the match, and compare that to the last header
9772 in the match. If it's a function symbol, that function will be called
9773 with no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
9774 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
9775 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
9778 Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
9779 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} . @var{value})} pair. The
9780 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
9781 @code{organization}, @code{address}, @code{name} or @code{body}. The
9782 attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
9783 a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
9784 article; if the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed.
9785 If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the
9786 result is thrown away.
9788 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
9789 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
9790 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
9791 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
9792 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
9793 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable.
9795 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
9796 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
9797 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
9799 @findex message-mail-p
9800 @findex message-news-p
9802 So here's a new example:
9805 (setq gnus-posting-styles
9807 (signature-file "~/.signature")
9809 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
9810 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
9812 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
9813 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
9814 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
9816 (signature my-news-signature))
9817 (header "From\\|To" "larsi.*org"
9818 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
9819 ((posting-from-work-p)
9820 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
9821 (address "user@@bar.foo")
9822 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
9823 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
9825 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
9833 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
9834 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
9835 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
9836 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
9837 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
9839 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
9840 some sort using the gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
9841 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
9842 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
9843 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
9847 @vindex nndraft-directory
9848 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
9849 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
9850 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
9851 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
9852 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
9853 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
9855 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
9856 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
9859 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
9860 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
9861 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
9862 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
9863 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
9864 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
9865 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
9866 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
9867 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
9868 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
9869 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
9870 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
9871 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
9872 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
9874 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
9875 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
9876 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
9878 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
9880 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
9881 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
9882 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
9884 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
9887 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
9888 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
9889 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
9890 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
9891 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
9892 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
9893 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
9896 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
9897 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
9898 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
9901 @node Rejected Articles
9902 @section Rejected Articles
9903 @cindex rejected articles
9905 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
9906 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
9907 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
9908 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
9910 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of gnus.
9911 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
9912 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
9913 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So gnus saves these
9914 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
9916 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
9917 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
9918 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
9921 @node Select Methods
9922 @chapter Select Methods
9923 @cindex foreign groups
9924 @cindex select methods
9926 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
9927 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
9928 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
9929 personal mail group.
9931 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
9932 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
9933 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
9934 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
9935 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
9936 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
9938 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
9939 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
9941 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
9944 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
9945 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
9946 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
9947 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
9948 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
9950 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
9953 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
9954 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
9955 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
9956 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
9957 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
9958 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
9959 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
9963 @node The Server Buffer
9964 @section The Server Buffer
9966 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
9967 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
9968 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
9969 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
9970 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
9971 backend represents a virtual server.
9973 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
9974 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
9975 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
9976 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
9978 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
9979 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
9980 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
9981 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
9982 Anyways, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
9983 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
9984 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
9986 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
9987 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
9990 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
9991 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
9992 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
9993 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
9994 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
9995 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
9996 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
9999 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
10000 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
10003 @node Server Buffer Format
10004 @subsection Server Buffer Format
10005 @cindex server buffer format
10007 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
10008 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
10009 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
10010 variable, with some simple extensions:
10015 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
10018 The name of this server.
10021 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
10024 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
10027 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
10028 The mode line can also be customized by using the
10029 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
10030 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
10040 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
10043 @node Server Commands
10044 @subsection Server Commands
10045 @cindex server commands
10051 @findex gnus-server-add-server
10052 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
10056 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
10057 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
10060 @kindex SPACE (Server)
10061 @findex gnus-server-read-server
10062 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
10066 @findex gnus-server-exit
10067 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
10071 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
10072 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
10076 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
10077 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
10081 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
10082 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
10086 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
10087 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
10091 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
10092 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
10093 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
10098 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
10099 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
10100 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
10101 a mail backend that has gotten out of synch.
10106 @node Example Methods
10107 @subsection Example Methods
10109 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
10112 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
10115 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
10121 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
10122 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
10125 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
10126 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
10128 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
10129 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
10133 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
10136 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
10137 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
10139 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
10140 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
10141 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
10145 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
10148 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
10151 Here's the method for a public spool:
10155 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
10156 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
10162 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
10163 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
10164 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
10165 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
10166 should probably look something like this:
10170 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
10171 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
10172 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
10173 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
10174 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
10177 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
10178 compressed connection over the modem line, you could create a virtual
10179 server that would look something like this:
10183 (nntp-address "copper.uio.no")
10184 (nntp-rlogin-program "ssh")
10185 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
10186 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
10187 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
10188 ("telnet" "news.uio.no" "nntp")))
10191 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
10192 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
10193 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
10194 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
10197 @node Creating a Virtual Server
10198 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
10200 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
10201 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
10203 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
10204 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
10205 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
10207 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
10209 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
10210 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
10211 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
10212 will contain the following:
10222 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
10223 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
10224 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
10227 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
10228 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
10229 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
10232 @node Server Variables
10233 @subsection Server Variables
10235 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
10236 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
10237 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
10238 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
10239 won't change the "derived" variables.
10241 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
10242 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
10243 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
10244 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
10245 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
10246 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
10247 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
10248 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
10249 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
10253 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
10254 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
10255 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
10259 @node Servers and Methods
10260 @subsection Servers and Methods
10262 Wherever you would normally use a select method
10263 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
10264 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
10265 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
10269 @node Unavailable Servers
10270 @subsection Unavailable Servers
10272 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
10273 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
10274 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
10275 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
10276 actually the case or not.
10278 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
10279 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
10280 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
10281 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
10282 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
10283 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
10284 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
10285 it will regard that server as ``down''.
10287 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
10288 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
10290 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
10291 with the following commands:
10297 @findex gnus-server-open-server
10298 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
10299 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
10303 @findex gnus-server-close-server
10304 Close the connection (if any) to the server
10305 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
10309 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
10310 Mark the current server as unreachable
10311 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
10314 @kindex M-o (Server)
10315 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
10316 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
10317 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
10320 @kindex M-c (Server)
10321 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
10322 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
10323 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
10327 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
10328 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
10329 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
10335 @section Getting News
10336 @cindex reading news
10337 @cindex news backends
10339 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
10340 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
10341 or it can read from a local spool.
10344 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
10345 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
10350 @subsection @sc{nntp}
10353 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
10354 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
10355 server as the, uhm, address.
10357 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
10358 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
10359 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
10360 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
10362 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
10363 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
10364 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
10366 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
10371 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
10372 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
10373 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
10375 @cindex authentification
10376 @cindex nntp authentification
10377 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
10378 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
10379 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
10380 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
10381 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
10382 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
10383 present in this hook.
10385 @item nntp-authinfo-function
10386 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
10387 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
10388 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
10389 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
10390 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
10391 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
10392 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
10393 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
10394 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
10395 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
10396 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
10400 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
10403 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs. The
10404 valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
10405 @samp{default}, @samp{port} and @samp{force}. (The latter is not a
10406 valid @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} token, which is almost the only way the
10407 @file{.authinfo} file format deviates from the @file{.netrc} file
10412 Here's an example file:
10415 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
10416 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
10419 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
10420 have to be first, for instance.
10422 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
10423 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
10424 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
10425 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
10426 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
10427 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
10428 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
10430 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
10431 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
10437 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
10438 previously mentioned.
10440 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
10442 @item nntp-server-action-alist
10443 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
10444 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
10445 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
10446 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
10449 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
10450 '(("innd" (ding))))
10453 You probably don't want to do that, though.
10455 The default value is
10458 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
10459 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
10462 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
10463 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
10465 @item nntp-maximum-request
10466 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
10467 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
10468 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
10469 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
10470 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
10471 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
10472 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
10474 @item nntp-connection-timeout
10475 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
10476 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
10477 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
10478 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
10479 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
10480 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
10481 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
10482 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
10483 no timeouts are done.
10485 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
10486 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
10487 @c @cindex PPP connections
10488 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
10489 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
10490 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
10491 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
10492 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
10493 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
10494 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
10495 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
10496 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
10497 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
10499 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
10500 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
10501 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
10502 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
10503 @c described above.
10505 @item nntp-server-hook
10506 @vindex nntp-server-hook
10507 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
10510 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
10511 @findex nntp-open-telnet
10512 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
10513 @item nntp-open-connection-function
10514 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
10515 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Four pre-made
10516 functions are supplied:
10519 @item nntp-open-network-stream
10520 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
10523 @item nntp-open-rlogin
10524 Does an @samp{rlogin} on the
10525 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
10528 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
10532 @item nntp-rlogin-program
10533 @vindex nntp-rlogin-program
10534 Program used to log in on remote machines. The default is @samp{rsh},
10535 but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
10537 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
10538 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
10539 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
10541 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
10542 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
10543 User name on the remote system.
10547 @item nntp-open-telnet
10548 Does a @samp{telnet} to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet}
10549 to get to the @sc{nntp} server.
10551 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
10554 @item nntp-telnet-command
10555 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
10556 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
10558 @item nntp-telnet-switches
10559 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
10560 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
10562 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
10563 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
10564 User name for log in on the remote system.
10566 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
10567 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
10568 Password to use when logging in.
10570 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
10571 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
10572 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
10575 @item nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
10576 @vindex nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
10577 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the remote machine. The default is
10578 @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
10580 @item nntp-open-telnet-envuser
10581 @vindex nntp-open-telnet-envuser
10582 If non-@code{nil}, the @code{telnet} session (client and server both)
10583 will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for login name.
10584 This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
10588 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
10589 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
10590 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
10591 you must have SSLay installed
10592 (@file{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also need
10593 @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distributeion, for instance). You then
10594 define a server as follows:
10597 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
10599 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
10601 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
10602 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
10603 (nntp-port-number "snews")
10604 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
10609 @item nntp-end-of-line
10610 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
10611 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
10612 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
10613 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
10615 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
10616 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
10617 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
10621 @vindex nntp-address
10622 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
10624 @item nntp-port-number
10625 @vindex nntp-port-number
10626 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
10629 @item nntp-list-options
10630 @vindex nntp-list-options
10631 List of newsgroup name used for a option of the LIST command to restrict
10632 the listing output to only the specified newsgroups. Each newsgroup name
10633 can be a shell-style wildcard, for instance, @dfn{fj.*}, @dfn{japan.*},
10634 etc. Fortunately, if the server can accept such a option, it will
10635 probably make gnus run faster. You may use it as a server variable as
10639 (setq gnus-select-method
10640 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
10641 (nntp-list-options ("fj.*" "japan.*"))))
10644 @item nntp-options-subscribe
10645 @vindex nntp-options-subscribe
10646 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will be subscribed
10647 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
10648 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
10649 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
10650 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
10653 (setq gnus-select-method
10654 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
10655 (nntp-options-subscribe "^fj\\.\\|^japan\\.")))
10658 @item nntp-options-not-subscribe
10659 @vindex nntp-options-not-subscribe
10660 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will not be subscribed
10661 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
10662 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
10663 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
10664 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
10667 (setq gnus-select-method
10668 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
10669 (nntp-options-not-subscribe "\\.binaries\\.")))
10672 @item nntp-buggy-select
10673 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
10674 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
10676 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
10677 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
10678 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
10679 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
10682 @item nntp-xover-commands
10683 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
10686 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
10687 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
10691 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
10692 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
10693 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
10694 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
10695 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
10696 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
10697 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
10698 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
10699 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
10700 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
10701 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
10703 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
10704 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
10705 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
10707 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
10708 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
10709 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
10710 server closes connection.
10712 @item nntp-record-commands
10713 @vindex nntp-record-commands
10714 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
10715 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestep) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
10716 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
10717 that doesn't seem to work.
10723 @subsection News Spool
10727 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
10728 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
10729 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
10732 Anyways, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
10733 anything else) as the address.
10735 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
10736 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
10737 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
10738 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
10742 @item nnspool-inews-program
10743 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
10744 Program used to post an article.
10746 @item nnspool-inews-switches
10747 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
10748 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
10750 @item nnspool-spool-directory
10751 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
10752 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
10753 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
10755 @item nnspool-nov-directory
10756 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
10757 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
10758 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
10760 @item nnspool-lib-dir
10761 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
10762 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
10764 @item nnspool-active-file
10765 @vindex nnspool-active-file
10766 The path to the active file.
10768 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
10769 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
10770 The path to the group descriptions file.
10772 @item nnspool-history-file
10773 @vindex nnspool-history-file
10774 The path to the news history file.
10776 @item nnspool-active-times-file
10777 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
10778 The path to the active date file.
10780 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
10781 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
10782 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
10785 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
10786 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
10788 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
10789 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
10790 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
10796 @section Getting Mail
10797 @cindex reading mail
10800 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
10804 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
10805 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
10806 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
10807 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
10808 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
10809 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
10810 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
10811 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
10812 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
10813 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
10814 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
10815 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
10816 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
10820 @node Mail in a Newsreader
10821 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
10823 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
10824 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
10825 of a culture shock.
10827 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
10828 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
10830 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
10831 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
10832 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
10833 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
10835 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
10837 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
10838 deleted? How awful!
10840 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
10841 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
10842 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
10843 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
10846 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
10847 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
10848 they want to treat a message.
10850 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
10851 via SMTP, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
10852 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
10853 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
10854 archived somewhere else.
10856 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
10857 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
10858 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
10859 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
10860 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
10862 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
10863 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
10864 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
10866 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
10867 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
10870 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
10871 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
10872 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
10873 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
10874 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
10876 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
10877 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
10878 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
10879 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
10880 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
10881 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
10885 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
10886 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
10888 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
10889 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
10890 and things will happen automatically.
10892 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
10893 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
10896 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
10897 '((nnml "private")))
10900 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
10901 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
10902 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
10903 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
10904 like any other group.
10906 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
10909 (setq nnmail-split-methods
10910 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
10911 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
10915 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
10916 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
10917 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
10920 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
10921 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
10922 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
10925 @node Splitting Mail
10926 @subsection Splitting Mail
10927 @cindex splitting mail
10928 @cindex mail splitting
10930 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
10931 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
10932 to be split into groups.
10935 (setq nnmail-split-methods
10936 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
10937 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
10938 ("mail.other" "")))
10941 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
10942 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
10943 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
10944 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
10945 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
10946 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
10947 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
10950 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
10953 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
10954 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
10955 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
10956 mail belongs in that group.
10958 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
10959 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
10960 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
10961 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
10962 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
10963 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
10965 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
10966 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
10967 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
10968 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
10969 thinks should carry this mail message.
10971 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
10972 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
10973 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
10974 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
10976 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
10977 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
10978 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
10979 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
10980 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
10982 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
10985 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
10986 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
10987 links. If that's the case for you, set
10988 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
10989 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
10991 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
10992 @kindex nnmail-split-history
10993 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
10994 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
10995 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
10996 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
10999 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
11000 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
11001 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
11002 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
11003 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
11004 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
11005 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
11006 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
11007 month's rent money.
11011 @subsection Mail Sources
11013 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
11014 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
11018 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
11019 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
11020 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
11024 @node Mail Source Specifiers
11025 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
11027 @cindex mail server
11030 @cindex mail source
11032 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
11033 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
11038 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
11041 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
11042 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
11043 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
11046 The following mail source types are available:
11050 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
11056 The path of the file. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
11057 environment variable or @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}.
11060 An example file mail source:
11063 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
11066 Or using the default path:
11072 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
11073 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
11074 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
11077 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
11081 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
11084 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
11088 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
11091 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
11093 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
11096 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
11100 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
11101 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. Setting
11102 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil force Gnus to
11103 scan the mail source only once.
11109 The path of the directory where the files are. There is no default
11113 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
11117 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
11118 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
11119 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
11120 predicate are considered.
11124 Script run before/after fetching mail.
11128 An example directory mail source:
11131 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
11136 Get mail from a POP server.
11142 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
11143 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
11146 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
11147 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
11148 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
11149 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}.
11152 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
11156 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
11160 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This is should be
11161 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
11164 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
11167 The valid format specifier characters are:
11171 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
11172 included in this string.
11175 The name of the server.
11178 The port number of the server.
11181 The user name to use.
11184 The password to use.
11187 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
11188 corresponding keywords.
11191 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
11192 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
11195 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
11196 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
11199 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
11200 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
11203 @item :authentication
11204 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
11205 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
11210 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
11211 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
11213 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
11214 default user name, and default fetcher:
11220 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
11223 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
11224 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
11227 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
11230 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
11234 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
11235 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
11236 contains exactly one mail.
11242 The path of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
11243 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
11246 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
11247 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
11249 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
11250 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
11251 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
11254 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
11255 from locking problems).
11259 Two example maildir mail sources:
11262 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/" :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
11266 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/" :subdirs ("new"))
11270 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap} as
11271 intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for some
11272 reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server and
11273 fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox.
11279 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
11280 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
11283 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
11284 @samp{993} for SSL connections.
11287 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
11291 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
11295 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
11296 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
11297 @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{ssl} or the default @samp{network}.
11299 @item :authentication
11300 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is one
11301 of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now, this
11302 means @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default
11306 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
11307 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
11310 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
11311 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
11312 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
11313 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{nil}.
11314 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
11315 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 §6.4.4.
11318 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
11319 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
11320 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
11321 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 §2.3.2.
11324 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
11325 after finishing the fetch.
11329 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
11332 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com" :stream kerberos4 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
11336 Get mail from a webmail server, such as www.hotmail.com,
11337 webmail.netscape.com, www.netaddress.com, www.my-deja.com.
11339 NOTE: Now mail.yahoo.com provides POP3 service, so @sc{pop} mail source
11342 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
11343 required for url "4.0pre.46".
11345 WARNING: Mails may lost. NO WARRANTY.
11351 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
11352 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
11355 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
11359 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
11363 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
11364 folder after finishing the fetch.
11368 An example webmail source:
11371 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail :user "user-name" :password "secret")
11376 @item Common Keywords
11377 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
11383 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
11384 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
11388 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
11393 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
11394 useful when you use local mail and news.
11399 @subsubheading Function Interface
11401 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
11402 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
11403 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
11404 consider the following mail-source setting:
11407 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
11408 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
11411 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
11412 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
11413 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
11414 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
11415 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
11417 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
11420 @node Mail Source Customization
11421 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
11423 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
11424 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
11428 @item mail-source-crash-box
11429 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
11430 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
11431 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
11433 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
11434 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
11435 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
11437 @item mail-source-directory
11438 @vindex mail-source-directory
11439 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
11440 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
11441 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
11444 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
11445 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
11446 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
11447 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
11448 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
11449 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
11451 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
11452 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
11453 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
11458 @node Fetching Mail
11459 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
11461 @vindex mail-sources
11462 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
11463 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
11464 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
11465 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
11467 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
11468 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
11471 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
11472 mail server, you'd say something like:
11477 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11478 :password "secret")))
11481 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
11485 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
11486 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11489 :password "secret")))
11493 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
11494 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
11495 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
11496 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
11497 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
11498 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
11502 @node Mail Backend Variables
11503 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
11505 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
11509 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
11510 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
11511 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
11512 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
11514 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
11515 @item nnmail-split-hook
11516 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
11517 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
11518 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
11519 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
11520 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
11521 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
11522 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
11523 in the buffer will show up in any files.
11524 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
11527 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11528 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
11529 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11530 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
11531 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
11532 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
11533 starting to handle the new mail) and
11534 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
11535 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
11536 default file modes the new mail files get:
11539 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11540 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
11542 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
11543 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
11546 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
11547 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
11548 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
11549 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
11550 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
11551 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
11552 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
11554 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
11555 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
11556 @findex delete-file
11557 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
11559 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11560 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11561 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
11562 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
11563 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
11568 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
11569 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
11570 @cindex mail splitting
11571 @cindex fancy mail splitting
11573 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
11574 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
11575 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
11576 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
11577 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
11578 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
11580 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
11583 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
11584 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
11585 ;; from real errors.
11586 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
11588 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
11589 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
11590 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
11591 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
11592 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
11593 ;; Other mailing lists...
11594 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
11595 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
11596 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
11597 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
11598 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
11599 ;; message was really cross-posted.
11600 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
11601 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
11603 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
11604 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
11608 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
11609 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
11610 the five possible split syntaxes:
11615 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
11616 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
11620 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
11621 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
11622 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
11623 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
11624 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
11625 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
11626 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
11627 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
11630 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11631 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
11632 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
11633 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
11636 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11637 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
11640 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
11641 this message. Use with extreme caution.
11644 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
11645 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
11646 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
11647 function should return a @var{split}.
11649 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
11650 body of the messages:
11653 (defun split-on-body ()
11655 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
11656 (goto-char (point-min))
11657 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
11662 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11663 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
11664 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
11668 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
11672 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
11673 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
11674 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
11675 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
11676 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
11678 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
11679 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
11680 are expanded as specified by the variable
11681 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
11682 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
11685 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
11686 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
11687 when all this splitting is performed.
11689 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
11690 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
11691 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
11694 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
11697 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
11698 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
11700 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
11701 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
11702 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
11703 groupings 1 through 9.
11706 @node Group Mail Splitting
11707 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
11708 @cindex mail splitting
11709 @cindex group mail splitting
11711 @findex gnus-group-split
11712 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
11713 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
11714 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
11715 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
11716 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
11717 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
11718 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
11719 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
11721 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
11722 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
11723 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
11724 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
11726 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
11727 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
11728 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
11729 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
11730 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
11731 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
11732 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
11734 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
11735 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
11736 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
11737 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
11738 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
11739 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
11740 @code{gnus-group-split}.
11742 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
11743 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
11744 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
11745 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
11746 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
11747 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
11748 that group is used as the catch-all group. Note that, in this case,
11749 there's no cross-posting, as a @code{|} fancy split encloses the
11750 @code{&} split and the catch-all group.
11752 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
11757 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
11758 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
11760 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
11761 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
11762 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
11763 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
11765 ((split-spec . catch-all))
11768 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
11769 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
11770 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
11773 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
11774 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
11775 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
11779 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
11780 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
11781 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
11785 (: gnus-mlsplt-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
11788 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
11789 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
11790 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
11791 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} may be the name
11792 of a group to be used as the default catch-all group. If
11793 @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
11794 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
11795 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
11796 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
11798 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
11799 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
11800 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
11801 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
11802 used to select @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
11803 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
11804 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
11805 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
11806 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
11808 @findex gnus-group-split-update
11809 However, if you change group parameters, you have to update
11810 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
11811 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
11812 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
11813 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus}:
11816 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
11819 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
11820 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
11821 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
11822 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional),
11823 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
11826 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
11827 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
11828 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
11829 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
11831 @node Incorporating Old Mail
11832 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
11834 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
11835 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
11836 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
11839 Doing so can be quite easy.
11841 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
11842 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
11843 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
11844 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
11845 your @code{nnml} groups.
11851 Go to the group buffer.
11854 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
11855 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
11858 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
11861 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
11862 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
11865 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
11866 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
11869 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
11870 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
11871 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
11872 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
11873 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
11875 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
11876 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
11877 using the new mail backend.
11880 @node Expiring Mail
11881 @subsection Expiring Mail
11882 @cindex article expiry
11884 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
11885 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
11886 different approach to mail reading.
11888 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
11889 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
11890 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
11891 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
11892 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
11893 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
11896 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
11897 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
11898 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
11899 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
11900 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
11901 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
11902 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
11903 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
11905 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
11906 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
11907 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
11908 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
11909 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
11910 column in the summary buffer.
11912 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
11913 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
11914 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
11915 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
11918 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
11920 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
11921 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
11922 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
11925 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
11926 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
11927 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
11928 groups expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
11929 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
11931 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
11932 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
11935 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
11936 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
11939 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
11940 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
11942 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
11943 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
11944 don't really mix very well.
11946 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
11947 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
11948 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
11949 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
11952 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
11953 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
11954 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
11955 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
11958 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
11960 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
11962 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
11964 ((string= group "mail.junk")
11966 ((string= group "important")
11972 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
11973 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
11975 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
11976 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
11977 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
11980 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
11981 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
11983 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
11984 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
11985 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them to
11986 other groups instead of deleting them. The variable @code{nnmail-expiry-target}
11987 (and the @code{expiry-target} group parameter) controls this. The
11988 variable supplies a default value for all groups, which can be
11989 overridden for specific groups by the group parameter.
11990 default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a string (which
11991 should be the name of the group the message should be moved to), or a
11992 function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to the message in
11993 question, and with the name of the group being moved from as its
11994 parameter) which should return a target -- either a group name or
11997 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
11999 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
12003 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
12004 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
12005 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
12006 easier for procmail users.
12008 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
12009 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
12010 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
12011 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
12012 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
12013 caution. Even more dangerous is the
12014 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
12015 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
12016 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
12017 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
12018 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
12019 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
12020 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
12023 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
12025 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
12026 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
12027 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
12028 auto-expire turned on.
12032 @subsection Washing Mail
12033 @cindex mail washing
12034 @cindex list server brain damage
12035 @cindex incoming mail treatment
12037 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
12038 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
12039 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
12040 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
12041 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
12042 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
12044 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
12045 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
12046 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
12049 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
12050 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
12051 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
12052 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
12055 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
12056 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
12057 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
12058 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
12059 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
12062 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
12063 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
12064 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
12065 Emacs running on MS machines.
12069 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
12070 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
12071 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
12072 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
12075 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
12076 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
12077 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
12078 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
12080 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
12081 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
12082 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
12083 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
12084 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
12085 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
12086 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
12089 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
12090 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
12093 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
12094 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
12097 This can also be done non-destructively with
12098 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
12100 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
12101 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
12102 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
12104 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
12105 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
12107 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
12108 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
12109 @code{References} headers.
12113 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
12114 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
12115 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
12119 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
12120 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
12121 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
12128 @subsection Duplicates
12130 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
12131 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
12132 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
12133 @cindex duplicate mails
12134 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
12135 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
12136 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
12137 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
12138 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
12139 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
12140 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
12141 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
12142 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
12143 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
12144 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
12145 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
12146 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
12148 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
12149 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
12150 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
12151 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
12153 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
12156 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
12157 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
12161 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
12162 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
12163 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
12164 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
12165 (any mail "mail.misc")
12172 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12173 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
12178 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
12179 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
12180 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
12181 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
12182 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
12185 @node Not Reading Mail
12186 @subsection Not Reading Mail
12188 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
12189 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
12190 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
12192 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
12193 @code{nil}, none of the backends will ever attempt to read incoming
12194 mail, which should help.
12196 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12197 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
12198 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
12199 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
12200 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
12201 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
12202 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
12203 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
12204 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
12205 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
12206 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
12208 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
12209 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
12213 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
12214 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
12216 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
12217 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
12218 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
12220 There are five different mail backends in the standard Gnus, and more
12221 backends are available separately. The mail backend most people use
12222 (because it is the fastest and most flexible) is @code{nnml}
12223 (@pxref{Mail Spool}).
12226 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
12227 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
12228 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
12229 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
12230 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
12231 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
12235 @node Unix Mail Box
12236 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
12238 @cindex unix mail box
12240 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
12241 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
12242 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
12243 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
12244 which group it belongs in.
12246 Virtual server settings:
12249 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
12250 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
12251 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
12253 @item nnmbox-active-file
12254 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
12255 The name of the active file for the mail box.
12257 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
12258 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
12259 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
12265 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
12269 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
12270 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
12271 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
12272 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
12273 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
12275 Virtual server settings:
12278 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
12279 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
12280 The name of the rmail mbox file.
12282 @item nnbabyl-active-file
12283 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
12284 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
12286 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12287 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12288 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
12293 @subsubsection Mail Spool
12295 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
12297 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
12298 format. It should be used with some caution.
12300 @vindex nnml-directory
12301 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
12302 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
12303 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
12304 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
12306 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
12309 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
12310 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
12311 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
12312 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
12313 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
12314 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
12315 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
12316 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
12318 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
12319 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
12320 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
12321 backend when it comes to reading mail.
12323 Virtual server settings:
12326 @item nnml-directory
12327 @vindex nnml-directory
12328 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
12330 @item nnml-active-file
12331 @vindex nnml-active-file
12332 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
12334 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
12335 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
12336 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
12339 @item nnml-get-new-mail
12340 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
12341 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
12343 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
12344 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
12345 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
12347 @item nnml-nov-file-name
12348 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
12349 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
12351 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
12352 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
12353 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
12357 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
12358 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
12359 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
12360 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
12361 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
12362 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
12363 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
12368 @subsubsection MH Spool
12370 @cindex mh-e mail spool
12372 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
12373 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
12374 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
12375 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
12377 Virtual server settings:
12380 @item nnmh-directory
12381 @vindex nnmh-directory
12382 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
12384 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
12385 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
12386 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
12389 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
12390 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
12391 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
12392 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
12393 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
12394 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
12395 to set this variable to @code{t}.
12400 @subsubsection Mail Folders
12402 @cindex mbox folders
12403 @cindex mail folders
12405 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
12406 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
12407 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
12410 Virtual server settings:
12413 @item nnfolder-directory
12414 @vindex nnfolder-directory
12415 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
12417 @item nnfolder-active-file
12418 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
12419 The name of the active file.
12421 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
12422 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
12423 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
12425 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
12426 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
12427 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
12429 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
12430 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
12431 @cindex backup files
12432 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
12433 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
12434 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
12435 your @file{.emacs} file:
12438 (defun turn-off-backup ()
12439 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
12441 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
12444 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
12445 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
12446 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
12447 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
12448 extract some information from it before removing it.
12453 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
12454 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
12455 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
12456 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
12457 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
12458 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
12461 @node Comparing Mail Backends
12462 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Backends
12464 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{backend} is the common word for a
12465 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
12466 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
12467 and so selection of a suitable backend is required in order to get that
12468 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
12470 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
12471 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
12472 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
12473 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
12474 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
12475 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
12476 @code{nnspool} backends, to select between these methods, if one happens
12477 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
12480 The goal in selecting a mail backend is to pick one which
12481 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
12482 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
12483 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
12488 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
12489 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
12490 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
12491 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
12492 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
12493 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
12494 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
12495 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
12496 this backend, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
12497 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
12498 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
12499 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
12500 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
12505 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
12506 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
12507 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
12508 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
12509 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
12510 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
12511 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
12512 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
12513 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
12514 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
12515 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
12516 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
12517 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
12518 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
12520 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
12521 filesystem, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
12526 @code{nnml} is the backend which smells the most as though you were
12527 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
12528 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
12529 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
12530 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
12531 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
12532 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
12533 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
12534 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
12535 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
12536 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
12537 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
12538 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
12539 provided by the active file and overviews.
12541 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
12542 resource which defines available places in the filesystem to put new
12543 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
12544 tight, shared filesystems. But if you live on a personal machine where
12545 the filesystem is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
12548 It is also problematic using this backend if you are living in a
12549 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
12554 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
12555 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
12556 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
12557 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
12558 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
12559 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
12560 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
12564 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
12565 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
12566 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
12567 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
12568 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
12569 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
12570 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
12571 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
12572 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
12574 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
12575 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
12576 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
12577 friendly mail backend all over.
12582 @node Browsing the Web
12583 @section Browsing the Web
12585 @cindex browsing the web
12589 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
12590 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
12591 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
12592 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
12593 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
12594 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
12595 even know what a news group is.
12597 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
12598 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
12599 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
12600 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
12601 you mad in the end.
12603 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
12606 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of backends for providing
12607 interfaces to these sources.
12610 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
12611 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
12612 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
12613 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
12614 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
12617 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
12619 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
12620 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
12621 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus backend
12622 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these backends,
12623 though, you should be ok.
12625 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
12626 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
12627 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
12628 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
12629 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
12633 @subsection Web Searches
12637 @cindex InReference
12638 @cindex Usenet searches
12639 @cindex searching the Usenet
12641 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
12642 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
12643 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
12644 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
12645 searches without having to use a browser.
12647 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
12648 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
12649 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
12650 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
12651 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
12653 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
12654 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
12655 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
12656 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
12657 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
12658 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
12659 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
12660 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
12661 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
12662 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
12665 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
12666 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
12667 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
12668 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
12669 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
12670 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
12672 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
12673 to use @code{nnweb}.
12675 Virtual server variables:
12680 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
12681 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
12685 @vindex nnweb-search
12686 The search string to feed to the search engine.
12688 @item nnweb-max-hits
12689 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
12690 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
12693 @item nnweb-type-definition
12694 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
12695 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
12696 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
12701 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
12705 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
12708 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
12711 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
12715 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
12722 @subsection Slashdot
12726 Slashdot (@file{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
12727 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
12728 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
12730 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
12731 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
12734 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
12735 '((nnslashdot "")))
12738 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} backend for new comments
12739 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
12740 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
12741 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
12742 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
12745 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
12746 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12748 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
12749 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
12750 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
12751 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
12752 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
12753 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
12756 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
12759 @item nnslashdot-threaded
12760 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
12761 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
12762 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
12763 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
12764 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
12765 but much, much slower than untreaded.
12767 @item nnslashdot-login-name
12768 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
12769 The login name to use when posting.
12771 @item nnslashdot-password
12772 @vindex nnslashdot-password
12773 The password to use when posting.
12775 @item nnslashdot-directory
12776 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
12777 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default value is
12778 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
12780 @item nnslashdot-active-url
12781 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
12782 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
12783 news articles and comments. The default is
12784 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
12786 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
12787 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
12788 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
12790 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
12792 @item nnslashdot-article-url
12793 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
12794 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
12796 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
12798 @item nnslashdot-threshold
12799 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
12800 The score threshold. The default is -1.
12802 @item nnslashdot-group-number
12803 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
12804 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
12805 updated. The default is 0.
12812 @subsection Ultimate
12814 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
12816 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@file{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
12817 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
12818 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
12819 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
12821 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
12822 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
12823 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
12824 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
12825 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
12826 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
12827 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
12829 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
12832 @item nnultimate-directory
12833 @vindex nnultimate-directory
12834 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
12835 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
12840 @subsection Web Archive
12842 @cindex Web Archive
12844 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
12845 @file{http://www.egroups.com/} and
12846 @file{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
12847 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
12850 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
12851 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
12852 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
12853 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
12854 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
12855 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
12856 backend by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
12858 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
12861 @item nnwarchive-directory
12862 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
12863 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
12864 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
12866 @item nnwarchive-login
12867 @vindex nnwarchive-login
12868 The account name on the web server.
12870 @item nnwarchive-passwd
12871 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
12872 The password for your account on the web server.
12876 @node Customizing w3
12877 @subsection Customizing w3
12883 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
12884 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
12885 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
12887 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
12888 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
12889 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
12892 (eval-after-load "w3"
12894 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
12895 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
12896 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
12897 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
12899 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
12902 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
12903 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
12907 @node Other Sources
12908 @section Other Sources
12910 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
12911 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
12915 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
12916 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
12917 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
12918 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
12919 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
12920 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
12924 @node Directory Groups
12925 @subsection Directory Groups
12927 @cindex directory groups
12929 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
12930 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
12933 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
12934 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
12935 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
12936 backend to read directories. Big deal.
12938 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
12939 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
12940 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
12941 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
12942 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
12944 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
12946 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
12947 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
12948 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
12949 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
12952 @node Anything Groups
12953 @subsection Anything Groups
12956 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
12957 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
12958 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
12961 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
12962 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
12963 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
12964 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
12965 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
12966 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
12967 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
12968 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
12969 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
12970 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
12973 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
12974 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
12975 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
12976 in the article buffer, just as usual.
12978 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
12979 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
12980 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
12981 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
12983 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
12984 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
12985 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
12986 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
12987 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
12988 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
12989 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
12990 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
12995 @item nneething-map-file-directory
12996 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
12997 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
12998 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
13000 @item nneething-exclude-files
13001 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
13002 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
13003 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
13005 @item nneething-include-files
13006 @vindex nneething-include-files
13007 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
13008 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
13010 @item nneething-map-file
13011 @vindex nneething-map-file
13012 Name of the map files.
13016 @node Document Groups
13017 @subsection Document Groups
13019 @cindex documentation group
13022 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
13023 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
13030 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
13035 The standard Unix mbox file.
13037 @cindex MMDF mail box
13039 The MMDF mail box format.
13042 Several news articles appended into a file.
13045 @cindex rnews batch files
13046 The rnews batch transport format.
13047 @cindex forwarded messages
13050 Forwarded articles.
13053 Netscape mail boxes.
13056 MIME multipart messages.
13058 @item standard-digest
13059 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
13062 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
13065 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
13066 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
13067 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
13070 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
13071 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
13072 group. And that's it.
13074 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
13075 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
13076 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
13077 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
13078 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
13079 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
13080 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
13081 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
13082 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
13083 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
13085 Virtual server variables:
13088 @item nndoc-article-type
13089 @vindex nndoc-article-type
13090 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
13091 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
13092 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
13093 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail} or @code{guess}.
13095 @item nndoc-post-type
13096 @vindex nndoc-post-type
13097 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
13098 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
13103 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
13107 @node Document Server Internals
13108 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
13110 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
13111 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
13112 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
13113 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
13115 First, here's an example document type definition:
13119 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
13120 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
13123 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
13124 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
13125 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
13126 types can be defined with very few settings:
13129 @item first-article
13130 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
13131 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
13134 @item article-begin
13135 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
13136 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
13138 @item head-begin-function
13139 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
13142 @item nndoc-head-begin
13143 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
13146 @item nndoc-head-end
13147 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
13148 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
13150 @item body-begin-function
13151 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
13155 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
13158 @item body-end-function
13159 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
13163 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
13166 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
13167 regexp will be totally ignored.
13171 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
13172 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
13173 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
13174 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
13175 something that's palatable for Gnus:
13178 @item prepare-body-function
13179 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
13180 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
13181 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
13183 @item article-transform-function
13184 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
13185 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
13186 body of the article.
13188 @item generate-head-function
13189 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
13190 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
13191 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
13192 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
13196 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
13201 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
13202 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
13203 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
13204 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
13205 (head-end . "^ ?$")
13206 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
13207 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
13208 (subtype digest guess))
13211 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
13212 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
13213 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
13214 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
13215 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
13217 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
13218 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
13219 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
13220 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
13221 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
13222 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
13223 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
13224 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
13225 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
13226 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
13234 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
13235 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
13236 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
13238 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
13239 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
13240 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
13243 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
13244 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
13245 that interested in doing things properly.
13247 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
13248 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
13251 First some terminology:
13256 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
13257 get news and/or mail from.
13260 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
13261 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
13264 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
13268 @item message packets
13269 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
13270 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
13271 default, where @var{x} is a number.
13273 @item response packets
13274 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
13275 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
13276 default, where @var{x} is a number.
13286 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
13287 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
13288 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
13289 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
13292 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
13295 You put the packet in your home directory.
13298 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
13299 the native or secondary server.
13302 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
13303 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
13306 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
13310 You transfer this packet to the server.
13313 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
13316 You then repeat until you die.
13320 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
13321 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
13324 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
13325 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
13326 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
13330 @node SOUP Commands
13331 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
13333 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
13337 @kindex G s b (Group)
13338 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
13339 Pack all unread articles in the current group
13340 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
13341 process/prefix convention.
13344 @kindex G s w (Group)
13345 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
13346 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
13349 @kindex G s s (Group)
13350 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
13351 Send all replies from the replies packet
13352 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
13355 @kindex G s p (Group)
13356 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
13357 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
13360 @kindex G s r (Group)
13361 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
13362 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
13365 @kindex O s (Summary)
13366 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
13367 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
13368 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
13369 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
13374 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
13379 @item gnus-soup-directory
13380 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
13381 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
13382 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
13384 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
13385 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
13386 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
13387 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
13389 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
13390 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
13391 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
13392 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
13394 @item gnus-soup-packer
13395 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
13396 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
13397 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
13399 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
13400 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
13401 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
13402 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
13404 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
13405 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
13406 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
13408 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
13409 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
13410 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
13411 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
13417 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
13420 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
13421 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
13422 you can read them at leisure.
13424 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
13428 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
13429 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
13430 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
13431 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
13433 @item nnsoup-directory
13434 @vindex nnsoup-directory
13435 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
13436 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
13438 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
13439 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
13440 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
13441 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
13443 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
13444 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
13445 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
13446 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
13447 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
13449 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
13450 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
13451 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
13452 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
13454 @item nnsoup-active-file
13455 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
13456 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
13457 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
13458 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
13459 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
13461 @item nnsoup-packer
13462 @vindex nnsoup-packer
13463 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
13464 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
13466 @item nnsoup-unpacker
13467 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
13468 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
13469 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
13471 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
13472 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
13473 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
13476 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
13477 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
13478 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
13481 @item nnsoup-always-save
13482 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
13483 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
13489 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
13491 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
13492 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
13493 more for that to happen.
13495 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
13496 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
13497 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
13500 In specific, this is what it does:
13503 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
13504 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
13507 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
13508 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
13509 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
13512 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
13513 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
13514 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
13517 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
13518 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
13519 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
13521 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
13527 @item nngateway-address
13528 @vindex nngateway-address
13529 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
13531 @item nngateway-header-transformation
13532 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
13533 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
13534 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
13535 transformation should be called, and defaults to
13536 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
13537 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
13540 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
13541 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
13542 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
13545 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
13548 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
13551 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
13554 The following pre-defined functions exist:
13556 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
13559 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
13560 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
13561 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
13563 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
13565 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
13566 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
13567 @code{nngateway-address}.
13572 (setq gnus-post-method
13573 '(nngateway "mail2news@@replay.com"
13574 (nngateway-header-transformation
13575 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
13583 So, to use this, simply say something like:
13586 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
13592 @subsection @sc{imap}
13596 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
13597 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap} server
13598 is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just specify the
13599 network address of the server.
13601 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
13606 @item nnimap-address
13607 @vindex nnimap-address
13609 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
13610 server name if not specified.
13612 @item nnimap-server-port
13613 @vindex nnimap-server-port
13614 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
13616 Note that this should be a integer, example server specification:
13619 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
13620 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
13623 @item nnimap-list-pattern
13624 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
13625 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
13626 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
13627 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
13628 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
13629 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
13631 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
13632 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
13633 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
13636 Example server specification:
13639 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
13640 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
13641 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
13644 @item nnimap-stream
13645 @vindex nnimap-stream
13646 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
13647 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
13648 of SSL. (SSL is being replaced by STARTTLS, which can be automatically
13649 detected, but it's not widely deployed yet).
13651 Example server specification:
13654 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
13655 (nnimap-stream ssl))
13658 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
13662 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5). Require the
13663 @samp{imtest} program.
13665 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with kerberos 4. Require the @samp{imtest} program.
13667 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
13668 SSL). Require the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
13671 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Require OpenSSL (the
13672 program @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
13674 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start IMAP connection.
13676 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
13679 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
13680 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD, nnimap support
13681 both @samp{imtest} version 1.5.x and version 1.6.x. The variable
13682 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
13685 @vindex imap-ssl-program
13686 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
13687 @file{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
13688 and nnimap support it too - although the most recent versions of
13689 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
13690 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
13691 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
13694 @vindex imap-shell-program
13695 @vindex imap-shell-host
13696 For IMAP connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
13697 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
13699 @item nnimap-authenticator
13700 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
13702 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
13703 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
13705 Example server specification:
13708 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
13709 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
13712 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
13716 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Require
13717 external program @code{imtest}.
13719 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos authentication. Require external program
13722 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Require
13723 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
13725 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
13727 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
13729 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your emailadress as password.
13732 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
13734 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
13735 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
13736 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
13737 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
13738 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
13739 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{G DEL} or
13742 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
13743 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
13744 running in circles yet?
13746 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
13747 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
13750 The possible options are:
13755 The default behaviour, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
13758 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
13759 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
13760 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
13761 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
13763 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
13768 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
13769 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
13771 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format
13772 is (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See
13773 `nntp-authinfo-file' for exact syntax.
13775 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
13776 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
13777 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
13783 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
13784 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
13785 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
13790 @node Splitting in IMAP
13791 @subsubsection Splitting in @sc{imap}
13792 @cindex splitting imap mail
13794 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
13795 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
13796 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
13797 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
13798 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
13802 Here are the variables of interest:
13806 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
13807 @cindex splitting, crosspost
13809 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
13811 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
13812 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
13814 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
13816 @item nnimap-split-inbox
13817 @cindex splitting, inbox
13819 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
13821 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
13822 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
13826 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
13827 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
13830 No nnmail equivalent.
13832 @item nnimap-split-rule
13833 @cindex Splitting, rules
13834 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
13836 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
13839 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
13840 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
13841 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
13842 Neither did I, we need examples.
13845 (setq nnimap-split-rule
13846 '(("INBOX.nnimap" "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
13847 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
13848 ("INBOX.private" "")))
13851 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
13852 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
13853 into INBOX.spam and everything else in INBOX.private.
13855 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
13856 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
13860 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
13863 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
13864 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
13865 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
13866 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
13868 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
13869 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
13870 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
13871 of your inbox. (This might might affect performance if you keep lots of
13872 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
13873 them every time you fetch new mail.)
13875 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
13876 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
13877 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
13879 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
13880 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
13881 thinks the article should be splitted to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
13883 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it need too.
13885 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
13886 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
13887 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
13890 (setq nnimap-split-rule
13891 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
13892 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
13893 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
13894 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
13895 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
13898 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
13899 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
13900 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
13901 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
13902 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
13903 group/function elements.
13905 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
13907 @item nnimap-split-predicate
13909 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
13911 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
13912 splitted, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
13914 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
13915 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
13916 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
13919 @item nnimap-split-fancy
13920 @cindex splitting, fancy
13921 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
13922 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
13924 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
13925 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
13926 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
13928 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
13929 nnimap backends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
13930 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
13931 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
13936 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
13937 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
13940 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
13944 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
13945 @subsubsection Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
13946 @cindex editing imap acls
13947 @cindex Access Control Lists
13948 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
13950 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
13952 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
13953 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
13954 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
13957 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
13958 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
13959 editing window with detailed instructions.
13961 Some possible uses:
13965 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
13966 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
13967 follow the list without subscribing to it.
13969 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
13970 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
13971 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
13975 @node Expunging mailboxes
13976 @subsubsection Expunging mailboxes
13980 @cindex Manual expunging
13982 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
13984 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-close},
13985 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
13986 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
13988 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
13993 @node Combined Groups
13994 @section Combined Groups
13996 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
14000 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
14001 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
14005 @node Virtual Groups
14006 @subsection Virtual Groups
14008 @cindex virtual groups
14009 @cindex merging groups
14011 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
14014 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
14015 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
14016 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
14018 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
14019 regexp to match component groups.
14021 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
14022 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
14023 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
14024 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
14025 the virtual group.)
14027 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
14028 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
14031 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
14034 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
14035 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
14037 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
14038 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
14039 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
14040 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
14043 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
14046 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
14047 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
14048 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
14050 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
14051 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
14052 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
14053 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
14054 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
14056 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
14057 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
14058 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
14060 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
14061 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
14062 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
14063 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
14064 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
14065 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
14066 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
14067 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
14068 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
14069 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
14070 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
14072 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
14073 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
14074 has to ask the backend of the component group the article comes from
14075 whether it is a news or mail backend. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
14076 there is typically no sure way for the component backend to know this,
14077 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
14078 not-news backend. (Just to be on the safe side.)
14080 @kbd{C-c C-t} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
14081 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
14085 @node Kibozed Groups
14086 @subsection Kibozed Groups
14090 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
14091 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
14092 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
14093 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
14095 @kindex G k (Group)
14096 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
14099 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
14100 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
14101 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
14102 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
14104 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
14105 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
14106 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
14108 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
14109 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
14110 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
14111 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
14112 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
14113 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
14114 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
14115 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
14117 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
14118 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
14119 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
14120 Stranger things have happened.
14122 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
14123 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
14125 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
14126 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
14127 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
14128 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
14129 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
14130 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
14132 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
14133 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
14136 @node Gnus Unplugged
14137 @section Gnus Unplugged
14142 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
14144 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
14145 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
14146 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
14147 read news. Believe it or not.
14149 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
14150 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
14151 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
14152 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
14153 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
14155 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
14156 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
14157 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
14158 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
14159 reading news on a machine.
14161 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
14165 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
14166 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
14170 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
14171 @file{.gnus.el} file:
14178 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
14180 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
14183 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
14184 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
14185 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
14186 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
14187 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
14188 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
14189 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
14190 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
14191 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
14192 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
14197 @subsection Agent Basics
14199 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
14201 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
14202 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
14203 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
14204 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
14206 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
14207 connected to the net continuously.
14209 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
14210 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
14212 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
14217 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
14218 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
14219 already fetched while in this mode.
14222 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
14223 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
14224 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
14225 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
14226 Source Specifiers}).
14229 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
14230 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
14231 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
14232 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
14233 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
14236 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
14237 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
14238 then you read the news offline.
14241 And then you go to step 2.
14244 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
14250 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
14251 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
14252 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
14253 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
14254 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
14255 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
14258 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
14265 @node Agent Categories
14266 @subsection Agent Categories
14268 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
14269 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
14270 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
14271 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
14272 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
14273 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
14274 you're interested in the articles anyway.
14276 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
14277 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
14278 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
14279 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
14280 managing categories.
14283 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
14284 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
14285 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
14289 @node Category Syntax
14290 @subsubsection Category Syntax
14292 A category consists of two things.
14296 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
14297 are eligible for downloading; and
14300 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
14301 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
14302 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
14305 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
14306 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
14307 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
14308 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
14310 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
14311 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
14312 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as descibed below.
14314 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
14315 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
14316 operators sprinkled in between.
14318 Perhaps some examples are in order.
14320 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
14321 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
14327 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
14328 short (for some value of ``short'').
14330 Here's a more complex predicate:
14339 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
14340 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
14343 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
14344 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
14345 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
14347 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
14348 you want to do, you can write your own.
14352 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
14353 lines; default 100.
14356 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
14357 lines; default 200.
14360 True iff the article has a download score less than
14361 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
14364 True iff the article has a download score greater than
14365 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
14368 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
14369 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
14370 checksum and sees whether articles match.
14379 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
14380 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
14381 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
14384 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
14385 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
14386 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
14387 something along the lines of the following:
14390 (defun my-article-old-p ()
14391 "Say whether an article is old."
14392 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
14393 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
14396 with the predicate then defined as:
14399 (not my-article-old-p)
14402 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
14403 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
14404 wherever. (Note: this would have to be at a point *after*
14405 @code{gnus-agent} has been loaded via @code{(gnus-agentize)})
14408 (defvar gnus-category-predicate-alist
14409 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
14410 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
14413 and simply specify your predicate as:
14419 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
14420 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
14421 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
14422 just don't give a damm.
14424 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
14425 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
14426 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
14427 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
14428 parameters like so:
14431 (agent-predicate . short)
14434 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
14435 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
14436 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
14438 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
14441 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
14444 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
14445 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
14446 predicate is assumed to be a list.
14449 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
14450 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
14451 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
14452 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
14453 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
14454 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
14456 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
14457 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
14458 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
14459 if it's to be specific to that group.
14461 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
14468 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
14469 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
14475 Category specification
14479 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
14485 Group Parameter specification
14488 (agent-score ("from"
14489 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
14494 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
14500 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
14507 Category specification
14510 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
14516 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
14520 Group Parameter specification
14523 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
14526 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
14531 Use @code{normal} score files
14533 If you dont want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
14534 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
14535 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
14536 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
14538 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
14539 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
14540 files for a group, *filtering out* those those sections that do not
14541 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
14545 Category Specification
14552 Group Parameter specification
14555 (agent-score . file)
14560 @node The Category Buffer
14561 @subsubsection The Category Buffer
14563 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
14564 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
14565 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
14567 The following commands are available in this buffer:
14571 @kindex q (Category)
14572 @findex gnus-category-exit
14573 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
14576 @kindex k (Category)
14577 @findex gnus-category-kill
14578 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
14581 @kindex c (Category)
14582 @findex gnus-category-copy
14583 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
14586 @kindex a (Category)
14587 @findex gnus-category-add
14588 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
14591 @kindex p (Category)
14592 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
14593 Edit the predicate of the current category
14594 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
14597 @kindex g (Category)
14598 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
14599 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
14600 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
14603 @kindex s (Category)
14604 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
14605 Edit the download score rule of the current category
14606 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
14609 @kindex l (Category)
14610 @findex gnus-category-list
14611 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
14615 @node Category Variables
14616 @subsubsection Category Variables
14619 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
14620 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
14621 Hook run in category buffers.
14623 @item gnus-category-line-format
14624 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
14625 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
14626 Variables}). Valid elements are:
14630 The name of the category.
14633 The number of groups in the category.
14636 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
14637 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
14638 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
14640 @item gnus-agent-short-article
14641 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
14642 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
14644 @item gnus-agent-long-article
14645 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
14646 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
14648 @item gnus-agent-low-score
14649 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
14650 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
14653 @item gnus-agent-high-score
14654 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
14655 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
14661 @node Agent Commands
14662 @subsection Agent Commands
14664 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
14665 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
14666 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
14670 * Group Agent Commands::
14671 * Summary Agent Commands::
14672 * Server Agent Commands::
14675 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
14676 following incantation:
14678 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
14680 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
14685 @node Group Agent Commands
14686 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
14690 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
14691 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
14692 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
14693 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
14696 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
14697 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
14698 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
14701 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
14702 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
14703 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
14704 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
14707 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
14708 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
14709 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
14710 (@code{gnus-group-send-drafts}). @xref{Drafts}.
14713 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
14714 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
14715 Add the current group to an Agent category
14716 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
14717 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
14720 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
14721 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
14722 Remove the current group from its category, if any
14723 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
14724 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
14727 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
14728 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
14729 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
14735 @node Summary Agent Commands
14736 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
14740 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
14741 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
14742 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
14745 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
14746 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
14747 Remove the downloading mark from the article
14748 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
14751 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
14752 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
14753 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
14756 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
14757 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
14758 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
14763 @node Server Agent Commands
14764 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
14768 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
14769 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
14770 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
14771 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
14774 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
14775 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
14776 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
14777 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
14783 @subsection Agent Expiry
14785 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
14786 @findex gnus-agent-expire
14787 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
14788 @cindex Agent expiry
14789 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
14792 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
14793 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
14794 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
14795 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
14796 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
14797 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
14799 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
14800 if @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
14801 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
14802 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
14803 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
14806 @node Agent and IMAP
14807 @subsection Agent and IMAP
14809 The Agent work with any Gnus backend, including nnimap. However, since
14810 there are some conceptual differences between NNTP and IMAP, this
14811 section (should) provide you with some information to make Gnus Agent
14812 work smoother as a IMAP Disconnected Mode client.
14814 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
14815 are kept on the IMAP server, rather than in @code{.newsrc} as is the
14816 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
14817 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
14819 Gnus keep track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
14820 Agent by default. When you plug back in, by default Gnus will check if
14821 you have any changed any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize theese
14822 with the server. This behaviour is customizable with
14823 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
14825 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
14826 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
14827 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, the
14828 default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so ask if
14829 you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has any other
14830 value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
14832 If you do not wish to automatically synchronize flags when you
14833 re-connect, this can be done manually with the
14834 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
14835 in the group buffer by default.
14837 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
14838 expect from a disconnected IMAP client, including:
14843 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
14846 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
14850 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
14851 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
14852 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
14853 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
14854 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
14855 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
14856 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
14857 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
14860 @node Outgoing Messages
14861 @subsection Outgoing Messages
14863 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
14864 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
14865 after posting, and edit them at will.
14867 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
14868 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
14869 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
14870 messages in the draft group.
14874 @node Agent Variables
14875 @subsection Agent Variables
14878 @item gnus-agent-directory
14879 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
14880 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
14881 @file{~/News/agent/}.
14883 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
14884 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
14885 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
14886 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
14887 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
14890 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
14891 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
14892 Hook run when connecting to the network.
14894 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
14895 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
14896 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
14901 @node Example Setup
14902 @subsection Example Setup
14904 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
14905 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
14906 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
14909 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
14910 ;;; from your ISP's server.
14911 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
14913 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
14914 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
14915 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
14917 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
14918 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
14920 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
14924 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
14925 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
14928 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
14929 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
14930 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
14931 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
14932 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
14935 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
14936 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
14937 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
14938 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
14939 back all the killed groups.)
14941 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
14942 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
14943 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
14946 @node Batching Agents
14947 @subsection Batching Agents
14949 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
14950 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
14951 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
14955 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
14959 @node Agent Caveats
14960 @subsection Agent Caveats
14962 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
14963 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
14967 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the
14972 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists
14973 in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
14979 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
14980 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP.
14987 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
14988 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
14989 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
14992 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
14993 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
14994 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
14995 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
14996 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
14998 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
14999 before generating the summary buffer.
15001 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
15002 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
15003 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
15005 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
15006 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
15007 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
15008 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
15011 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
15012 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
15013 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
15014 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
15015 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
15016 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
15017 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
15018 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
15019 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
15020 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
15021 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
15022 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
15023 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
15024 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
15025 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
15026 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
15030 @node Summary Score Commands
15031 @section Summary Score Commands
15032 @cindex score commands
15034 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
15035 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
15036 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
15037 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
15038 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
15040 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
15041 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
15042 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
15043 score file the current one.
15045 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
15050 @kindex V s (Summary)
15051 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
15052 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
15055 @kindex V S (Summary)
15056 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
15057 Display the score of the current article
15058 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
15061 @kindex V t (Summary)
15062 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
15063 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
15064 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
15067 @kindex V R (Summary)
15068 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
15069 Run the current summary through the scoring process
15070 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
15071 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
15072 effect you're having.
15075 @kindex V c (Summary)
15076 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
15077 Make a different score file the current
15078 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
15081 @kindex V e (Summary)
15082 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
15083 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
15084 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
15088 @kindex V f (Summary)
15089 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
15090 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
15091 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
15094 @kindex V F (Summary)
15095 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
15096 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
15097 after editing score files.
15100 @kindex V C (Summary)
15101 @findex gnus-score-customize
15102 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
15103 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
15107 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
15112 @kindex V m (Summary)
15113 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
15114 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
15115 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
15118 @kindex V x (Summary)
15119 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
15120 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
15121 expunge all articles below this score
15122 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
15125 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
15126 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
15129 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
15130 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
15134 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
15135 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
15137 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
15138 keys are available:
15142 Score on the author name.
15145 Score on the subject line.
15148 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
15151 Score on the @code{References} line.
15157 Score on the number of lines.
15160 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
15163 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
15164 the followups to this author.
15178 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
15179 what headers you are scoring on.
15191 Substring matching.
15194 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
15223 Greater than number.
15228 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
15229 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
15230 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
15234 Temporary score entry.
15237 Permanent score entry.
15240 Immediately scoring.
15245 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
15246 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
15247 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
15248 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
15250 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
15251 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
15252 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
15253 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
15254 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
15256 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
15257 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
15258 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
15259 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
15260 current score file.
15262 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
15263 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
15264 pretend they are keymaps or not.
15267 @node Group Score Commands
15268 @section Group Score Commands
15269 @cindex group score commands
15271 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
15276 @kindex W f (Group)
15277 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
15278 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
15279 all the time. This command will flush the cache
15280 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
15284 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
15286 @findex gnus-batch-score
15287 @cindex batch scoring
15289 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
15293 @node Score Variables
15294 @section Score Variables
15295 @cindex score variables
15299 @item gnus-use-scoring
15300 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
15301 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
15302 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
15304 @item gnus-kill-killed
15305 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
15306 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
15307 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
15308 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
15309 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
15310 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
15311 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
15313 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
15314 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
15315 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
15316 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
15317 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
15319 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
15320 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
15321 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
15322 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
15324 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
15325 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
15326 @cindex score cache
15327 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
15328 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
15329 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
15330 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
15331 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
15332 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
15335 @item gnus-save-score
15336 @vindex gnus-save-score
15337 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
15338 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
15339 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
15341 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
15342 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
15343 across group visits.
15345 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
15346 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
15347 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
15348 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
15349 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
15350 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
15351 manually entered data.
15353 @item gnus-summary-default-score
15354 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
15355 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
15357 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
15358 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
15359 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
15360 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
15361 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
15362 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
15364 @item gnus-score-over-mark
15365 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
15366 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
15367 default. Default is @samp{+}.
15369 @item gnus-score-below-mark
15370 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
15371 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
15372 default. Default is @samp{-}.
15374 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
15375 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
15376 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
15377 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
15379 Predefined functions available are:
15382 @item gnus-score-find-single
15383 @findex gnus-score-find-single
15384 Only apply the group's own score file.
15386 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
15387 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
15388 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
15389 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
15390 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
15391 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
15392 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
15393 then a regexp match is done.
15395 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
15396 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
15398 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
15399 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
15400 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
15401 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
15403 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
15404 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
15405 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
15406 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
15407 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
15411 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
15412 functions will be called with the group name as argument, and all the
15413 returned lists of score files will be applied. These functions can also
15414 return lists of score alists directly. In that case, the functions that
15415 return these non-file score alists should probably be placed before the
15416 ``real'' score file functions, to ensure that the last score file
15417 returned is the local score file. Phu.
15419 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
15420 overall score file, you could use the value
15422 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE")) 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
15425 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
15426 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
15427 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
15428 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
15429 are expired. It's 7 by default.
15431 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
15432 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
15433 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
15434 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
15435 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
15436 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
15437 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
15440 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
15441 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
15442 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
15444 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
15445 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
15446 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
15447 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
15448 threading---according to the current value of
15449 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
15450 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
15451 simplified in this manner.
15456 @node Score File Format
15457 @section Score File Format
15458 @cindex score file format
15460 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
15461 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
15462 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
15464 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
15468 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
15470 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
15472 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
15474 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
15479 (mark-and-expunge -10)
15483 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
15484 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
15485 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
15486 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
15490 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
15491 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
15493 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
15494 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
15495 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
15497 Six keys are supported by this alist:
15502 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
15503 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
15504 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
15505 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
15506 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
15507 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
15508 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
15509 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
15510 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
15511 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
15512 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
15513 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
15514 to articles that matches these score entries.
15516 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
15517 score entry has one to four elements.
15521 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
15522 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
15526 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
15527 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
15528 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
15529 is successful. If this element is not present, the
15530 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
15531 instead. This is 1000 by default.
15534 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
15535 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
15536 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
15537 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
15538 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
15541 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
15542 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
15543 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
15544 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
15547 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
15548 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
15549 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
15550 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
15551 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
15552 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
15553 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
15554 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
15555 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
15556 instead, if you feel like.
15559 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
15560 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
15562 These predicates are true if
15565 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
15568 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
15569 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
15576 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
15577 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
15578 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
15579 it's not. I think.)
15581 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some backends (like
15582 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
15583 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
15584 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
15587 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
15588 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
15589 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
15590 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
15591 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
15592 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
15593 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
15597 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
15598 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
15599 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
15600 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
15601 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
15602 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
15603 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
15604 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
15607 @item Head, Body, All
15608 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
15612 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
15613 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
15614 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
15615 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
15616 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
15617 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
15618 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
15622 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
15623 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
15624 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
15625 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
15626 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
15627 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
15628 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
15629 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
15630 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
15631 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
15632 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
15636 @cindex Score File Atoms
15638 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
15639 lower than this number will be marked as read.
15642 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
15643 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
15645 @item mark-and-expunge
15646 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
15647 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
15650 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
15651 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
15652 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
15653 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
15654 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
15657 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
15658 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
15661 @item exclude-files
15662 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
15663 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
15667 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
15668 ignored when handling global score files.
15671 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
15672 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
15673 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
15674 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
15677 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
15678 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
15679 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
15680 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
15682 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
15686 (mark-and-expunge -100)
15689 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
15690 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
15691 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
15692 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
15693 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
15695 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where there
15696 exist a few interesting threads which can't be found automatically by
15697 ordinary scoring rules.
15700 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
15701 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
15702 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
15703 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
15704 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
15705 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
15706 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
15707 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
15708 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
15709 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
15710 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
15714 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
15715 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
15716 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
15717 file for a number of groups.
15720 @cindex local variables
15721 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
15722 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
15723 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
15724 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
15725 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
15729 @node Score File Editing
15730 @section Score File Editing
15732 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
15733 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
15734 with a mode for that.
15736 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
15737 additional commands:
15742 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
15743 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
15744 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
15745 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
15748 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
15749 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
15750 Insert the current date in numerical format
15751 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
15752 you were wondering.
15755 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
15756 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
15757 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
15758 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
15759 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
15764 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
15766 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
15767 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
15769 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
15770 e} to begin editing score files.
15773 @node Adaptive Scoring
15774 @section Adaptive Scoring
15775 @cindex adaptive scoring
15777 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
15778 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
15779 stupidity, to be precise.
15781 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
15782 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
15783 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
15784 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
15785 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
15786 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
15787 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
15788 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
15789 variable to @code{(word line)}.
15791 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
15792 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
15793 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
15794 might look something like this:
15797 (defvar gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
15798 '((gnus-unread-mark)
15799 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
15800 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
15801 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
15802 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
15803 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
15804 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
15805 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
15806 (gnus-ancient-mark)
15807 (gnus-low-score-mark)
15808 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
15811 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
15812 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
15813 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
15814 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
15815 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
15816 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
15819 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
15820 will be applied to each article.
15822 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
15823 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
15824 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
15825 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
15827 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
15828 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
15829 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
15830 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
15832 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
15833 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
15834 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
15835 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
15837 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
15838 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
15839 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
15840 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
15841 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
15842 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
15844 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
15845 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
15846 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
15847 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
15848 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
15849 aspirins afterwards.)
15851 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
15852 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
15853 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
15855 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
15856 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
15857 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
15859 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
15860 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
15861 let you use different rules in different groups.
15863 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
15864 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
15865 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
15868 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
15869 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
15870 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
15871 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
15872 the length of the match is less than
15873 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
15874 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
15877 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
15878 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
15879 headers. If you adapt on words, the
15880 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
15881 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
15884 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
15885 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
15886 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
15887 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
15888 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
15891 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
15892 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
15893 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
15894 score with 30 points.
15896 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
15897 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
15898 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
15899 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
15900 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
15902 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
15903 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
15904 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
15905 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
15907 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
15908 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
15909 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
15910 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
15912 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
15913 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
15914 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
15915 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
15916 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
15918 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
15919 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
15920 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
15922 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
15923 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
15924 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
15925 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
15928 @node Home Score File
15929 @section Home Score File
15931 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
15932 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
15933 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
15934 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
15936 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
15937 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
15938 could perhaps use the same home score file.
15940 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
15941 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
15946 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
15950 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
15951 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
15955 A list. The elements in this list can be:
15959 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
15960 group name, the @var{file-name} will will be used as the home score file.
15963 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
15964 the home score file.
15967 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
15970 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
15975 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
15978 (setq gnus-home-score-file
15979 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
15982 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
15983 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
15985 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
15987 (setq gnus-home-score-file
15988 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
15991 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
15992 Other functions include
15995 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
15996 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
15997 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
15998 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
16002 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
16003 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
16004 their own home score files:
16007 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16008 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
16009 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
16010 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
16011 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
16014 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
16015 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
16016 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
16017 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
16018 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
16020 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
16021 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
16022 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
16023 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
16024 precedence over this variable.
16027 @node Followups To Yourself
16028 @section Followups To Yourself
16030 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
16031 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
16032 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
16033 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
16034 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
16035 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
16039 @item gnus-score-followup-article
16040 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
16041 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
16044 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
16045 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
16046 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
16050 @vindex message-sent-hook
16051 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
16052 @code{message-sent-hook}.
16054 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
16055 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
16059 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
16060 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
16063 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
16064 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
16069 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore.no>"
16073 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
16074 is system-dependent.
16078 @section Scoring Tips
16079 @cindex scoring tips
16085 @cindex scoring crossposts
16086 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
16087 the @code{Xref} header.
16089 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
16092 @item Multiple crossposts
16093 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
16094 more than, say, 3 groups:
16096 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
16099 @item Matching on the body
16100 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
16101 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
16102 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
16103 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
16104 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
16105 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
16106 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
16109 @item Marking as read
16110 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
16111 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
16112 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
16116 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
16118 @item Negated character classes
16119 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
16120 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
16121 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
16125 @node Reverse Scoring
16126 @section Reverse Scoring
16127 @cindex reverse scoring
16129 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
16130 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
16131 like this in your score file:
16135 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
16140 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
16141 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
16144 @node Global Score Files
16145 @section Global Score Files
16146 @cindex global score files
16148 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
16149 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
16150 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
16152 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
16153 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
16154 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
16156 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
16157 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
16158 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
16159 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
16160 files are applicable to which group.
16162 Say you want to use the score file
16163 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
16164 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
16167 (setq gnus-global-score-files
16168 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
16169 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
16172 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
16173 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
16174 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
16175 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
16176 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
16178 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
16179 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
16181 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
16182 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
16183 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
16184 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
16185 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
16186 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
16188 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
16194 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
16196 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
16198 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
16200 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
16201 lowered out of existence.
16203 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
16204 articles completely.
16207 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
16208 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
16209 old articles for a long time.
16212 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
16213 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
16214 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
16215 holding our breath yet?
16219 @section Kill Files
16222 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
16223 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
16224 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
16226 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
16227 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
16228 files into score files.
16230 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
16231 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
16232 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
16233 that isn't a very good idea.
16235 Normal kill files look like this:
16238 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16239 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
16243 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
16244 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
16246 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
16247 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
16250 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
16255 @kindex M-k (Summary)
16256 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
16257 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
16260 @kindex M-K (Summary)
16261 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
16262 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
16265 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
16270 @kindex M-k (Group)
16271 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
16272 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
16275 @kindex M-K (Group)
16276 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
16277 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
16280 Kill file variables:
16283 @item gnus-kill-file-name
16284 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
16285 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
16286 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
16287 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
16288 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
16289 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
16291 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
16292 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
16293 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
16294 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
16297 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
16298 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
16299 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
16300 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
16301 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
16302 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
16303 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
16304 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
16305 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
16307 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
16308 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
16309 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
16314 @node Converting Kill Files
16315 @section Converting Kill Files
16317 @cindex converting kill files
16319 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
16320 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
16321 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
16324 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
16325 You can fetch it from
16326 @file{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
16328 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
16329 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
16330 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
16338 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
16339 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
16340 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
16342 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
16343 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
16344 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
16345 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
16346 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
16347 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
16348 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
16349 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
16353 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
16354 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
16355 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
16356 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
16360 @node Using GroupLens
16361 @subsection Using GroupLens
16363 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
16365 @samp{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
16366 better bit in town at the moment.
16368 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
16372 @item gnus-use-grouplens
16373 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
16374 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
16375 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
16377 @item grouplens-pseudonym
16378 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
16379 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
16380 with the Better Bit Bureau.
16382 @item grouplens-newsgroups
16383 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
16384 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
16388 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
16389 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
16390 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
16391 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
16392 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
16393 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
16396 @node Rating Articles
16397 @subsection Rating Articles
16399 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
16400 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
16401 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
16402 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
16405 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
16410 @kindex r (GroupLens)
16411 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
16412 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
16415 @kindex k (GroupLens)
16416 @findex grouplens-score-thread
16417 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
16418 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
16419 threads in rec.humor.
16423 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
16424 the score of the article you're reading.
16429 @kindex n (GroupLens)
16430 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
16431 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
16434 @kindex , (GroupLens)
16435 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
16436 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
16440 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
16441 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
16444 @node Displaying Predictions
16445 @subsection Displaying Predictions
16447 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
16448 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
16449 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
16450 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
16451 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
16453 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
16454 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
16455 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
16456 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
16457 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
16458 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
16459 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
16460 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
16461 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
16462 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
16463 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
16464 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
16465 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
16467 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
16468 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
16469 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
16470 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
16472 The following are valid values for that variable.
16475 @item prediction-spot
16476 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
16479 @item confidence-interval
16480 A numeric confidence interval.
16482 @item prediction-bar
16483 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
16485 @item confidence-bar
16486 Numerical confidence.
16488 @item confidence-spot
16489 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
16491 @item prediction-num
16492 Plain-old numeric value.
16494 @item confidence-plus-minus
16495 Prediction +/- confidence.
16500 @node GroupLens Variables
16501 @subsection GroupLens Variables
16505 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
16506 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
16507 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
16508 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
16511 @item grouplens-bbb-host
16512 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
16515 @item grouplens-bbb-port
16516 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
16518 @item grouplens-score-offset
16519 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
16520 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
16523 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
16524 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
16525 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
16530 @node Advanced Scoring
16531 @section Advanced Scoring
16533 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
16534 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
16535 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
16536 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
16537 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
16539 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
16543 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
16544 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
16545 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
16549 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
16550 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
16552 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
16553 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
16554 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
16555 non-@code{nil} value.
16557 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
16558 operator, and various match operators.
16565 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
16566 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
16567 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
16572 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
16573 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
16574 then this operator will return @code{false}.
16579 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
16580 logical negation of the value of its argument.
16584 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
16585 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
16586 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
16587 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
16588 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
16589 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
16590 the ancestry you want to go.
16592 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
16593 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
16594 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
16595 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
16596 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
16599 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
16600 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
16602 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
16603 when he's talking about Gnus:
16607 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16608 ("subject" "Gnus"))
16614 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
16618 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16625 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
16626 really don't want to read what he's written:
16630 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16631 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
16635 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
16636 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
16637 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
16644 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
16645 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
16646 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
16647 ("body" "white.*socks"))
16651 The possibilities are endless.
16654 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
16655 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
16657 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
16658 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
16659 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
16660 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
16661 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
16662 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
16663 @samp{subject}) first.
16665 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
16666 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
16677 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
16678 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
16684 ("subject" "Gnus")))
16691 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
16692 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
16697 @section Score Decays
16698 @cindex score decays
16701 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
16702 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
16703 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
16704 use them in any sensible way.
16706 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
16707 @findex gnus-decay-score
16708 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
16709 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
16710 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
16711 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
16712 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
16713 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
16714 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
16715 definition of that function:
16718 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
16720 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
16721 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
16724 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
16726 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
16728 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
16731 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
16732 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
16733 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
16734 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
16738 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
16741 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
16744 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
16748 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
16749 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
16750 the new score, which should be an integer.
16752 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
16753 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
16760 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
16761 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
16762 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
16763 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
16764 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
16765 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
16766 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
16767 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
16768 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
16769 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
16770 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
16771 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
16772 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
16773 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
16774 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
16775 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
16776 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
16777 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
16781 @node Process/Prefix
16782 @section Process/Prefix
16783 @cindex process/prefix convention
16785 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
16786 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
16788 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
16789 command to be performed on.
16793 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
16794 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
16795 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
16796 with the current one.
16798 @vindex transient-mark-mode
16799 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
16800 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
16802 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
16803 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
16806 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
16807 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
16809 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
16812 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
16813 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
16814 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
16815 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
16817 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
16818 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
16819 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
16820 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
16821 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
16822 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
16823 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
16824 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
16826 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
16827 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
16828 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
16829 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
16830 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
16834 @section Interactive
16835 @cindex interaction
16839 @item gnus-novice-user
16840 @vindex gnus-novice-user
16841 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
16842 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
16843 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
16844 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
16847 @item gnus-expert-user
16848 @vindex gnus-expert-user
16849 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
16850 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
16851 matter how strange.
16853 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
16854 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
16855 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
16856 is @code{t} by default.
16858 @item gnus-interactive-exit
16859 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
16860 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
16865 @node Symbolic Prefixes
16866 @section Symbolic Prefixes
16867 @cindex symbolic prefixes
16869 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
16870 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
16871 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
16872 rule of 900 to the current article.
16874 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
16875 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
16876 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
16877 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
16878 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
16879 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
16880 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
16882 @kindex M-i (Summary)
16883 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
16884 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
16885 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
16886 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
16887 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a M-C-u} means ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u}
16888 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b M-C-u} means
16889 ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
16890 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
16892 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
16893 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
16894 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
16896 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
16900 @node Formatting Variables
16901 @section Formatting Variables
16902 @cindex formatting variables
16904 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
16905 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
16906 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
16907 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
16908 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
16911 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
16912 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
16913 lots of percentages everywhere.
16916 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
16917 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
16918 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
16919 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
16920 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
16923 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
16924 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
16925 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
16926 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
16927 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
16928 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
16929 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
16930 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
16932 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
16933 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
16935 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
16936 @findex gnus-update-format
16937 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
16938 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
16939 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
16940 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
16944 @node Formatting Basics
16945 @subsection Formatting Basics
16947 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
16948 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
16949 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
16951 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
16952 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
16953 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
16954 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
16955 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
16958 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
16959 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
16960 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
16961 less than 4 characters wide.
16964 @node Mode Line Formatting
16965 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
16967 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
16968 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
16969 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
16970 with the following two differences:
16975 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
16978 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
16979 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
16980 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
16981 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
16982 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
16983 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
16984 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
16989 @node Advanced Formatting
16990 @subsection Advanced Formatting
16992 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
16993 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
16994 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
16995 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
16997 These are the valid modifiers:
17002 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
17006 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
17011 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
17014 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
17019 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
17022 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
17025 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
17028 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
17032 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
17033 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
17034 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
17035 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
17036 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
17037 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
17038 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
17040 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
17041 last operation, padding.
17043 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
17044 If @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} is set to @code{nil} (@code{t} by
17045 default) with your strong personality, and use a lots of these advanced
17046 thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets quite slow. This can be helped
17047 enormously by running @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with
17048 the look of your lines.
17049 @xref{Compilation}.
17052 @node User-Defined Specs
17053 @subsection User-Defined Specs
17055 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
17056 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
17057 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
17058 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
17059 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
17060 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
17061 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
17062 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
17063 should protect against that.
17065 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
17066 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
17067 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
17068 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
17072 @node Formatting Fonts
17073 @subsection Formatting Fonts
17075 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
17076 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
17077 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
17078 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
17081 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
17082 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
17083 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
17084 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
17085 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
17086 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
17088 Text inside the @samp{%<} and @samp{%>} specifiers will get the special
17089 @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you
17090 say @samp{%1<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The
17091 @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or symbols
17092 naming functions that return a string. Under @code{balloon-help-mode},
17093 when the mouse passes over text with this property set, a balloon window
17094 will appear and display the string. Please refer to the doc string of
17095 @code{balloon-help-mode} for more information on this.
17097 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
17100 ;; Create three face types.
17101 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
17102 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
17104 ;; We want the article count to be in
17105 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
17106 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
17107 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
17109 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
17110 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
17112 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
17113 (setq gnus-group-line-format
17114 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
17117 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
17118 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
17120 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
17121 mode-line variables.
17124 @node Windows Configuration
17125 @section Windows Configuration
17126 @cindex windows configuration
17128 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
17130 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
17131 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
17132 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
17133 @code{t} by default.
17135 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
17136 glitches. Use at your own peril.
17138 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
17139 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
17140 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
17143 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
17144 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
17145 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
17149 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
17150 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
17151 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
17152 possible names is listed below.
17154 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
17155 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
17158 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
17162 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
17163 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
17164 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
17165 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
17166 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
17167 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
17168 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
17169 size spec per split.
17171 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
17172 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
17173 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
17174 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
17175 present) gets focus.
17177 Here's a more complicated example:
17180 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
17181 (summary 0.25 point)
17182 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
17186 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
17187 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
17188 occupy, not a percentage.
17190 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
17191 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
17192 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
17193 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
17194 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
17197 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
17200 (article (horizontal 1.0
17205 (summary 0.25 point)
17210 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
17211 @code{horizontal} thingie?
17213 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
17214 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
17215 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
17216 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
17217 the screen is to be given to this strip.
17219 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
17220 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
17221 lines from the splits.
17223 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
17227 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
17228 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
17229 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
17230 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
17231 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
17232 size = number | frame-params
17233 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
17236 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
17237 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
17238 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
17239 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
17241 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
17242 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
17243 @cindex window height
17244 @cindex window width
17245 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
17246 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
17247 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
17248 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
17249 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
17250 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
17252 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
17253 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
17254 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
17255 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
17257 @findex gnus-configure-frame
17258 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
17259 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
17260 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
17261 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
17262 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
17263 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
17264 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
17265 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
17266 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
17267 configuration list.
17270 (gnus-configure-frame
17274 (article 0.3 point))
17282 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
17283 @code{frame} split:
17286 (gnus-configure-frame
17289 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
17291 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
17292 (user-position . t)
17293 (left . -1) (top . 1))
17298 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
17299 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
17300 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
17301 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
17302 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
17303 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
17304 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
17305 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
17307 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
17308 be found in its default value.
17310 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
17311 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
17312 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
17316 (message (horizontal 1.0
17317 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
17319 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
17324 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
17325 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
17326 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
17329 (message (frame 1.0
17330 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
17331 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
17332 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
17333 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
17334 (name . "Message"))
17335 (message 1.0 point))))
17338 @findex gnus-add-configuration
17339 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
17340 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
17341 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
17342 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
17345 (gnus-add-configuration
17346 '(article (vertical 1.0
17348 (summary .25 point)
17352 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
17353 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
17354 Gnus has been loaded.
17356 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
17357 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
17358 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
17359 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
17360 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
17362 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
17363 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
17364 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
17367 @subsection Example Window Configurations
17371 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
17372 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
17387 (gnus-add-configuration
17390 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
17392 (summary 0.16 point)
17395 (gnus-add-configuration
17398 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
17399 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
17405 @node Faces and Fonts
17406 @section Faces and Fonts
17411 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
17412 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
17413 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
17418 @section Compilation
17419 @cindex compilation
17420 @cindex byte-compilation
17422 @findex gnus-compile
17424 Remember all those line format specification variables?
17425 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
17426 on. By default, T-gnus will use the byte-compiled codes of these
17427 variables and we can keep a slow-down to a minimum. However, if you set
17428 @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} to @code{nil} (@code{t} by default),
17429 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
17430 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
17431 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
17434 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
17435 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
17436 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
17437 you'll get top speed again. Note that T-gnus will not save these
17438 compiled specs in the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
17441 @item gnus-compile-user-specs
17442 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
17443 If it is non-nil, the user-defined format specs will be byte-compiled
17444 automatically. The default value of this variable is @code{t}. It has
17445 an effect on the values of @code{gnus-*-line-format-spec}.
17450 @section Mode Lines
17453 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
17454 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
17455 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
17456 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
17457 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
17458 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
17459 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
17462 @cindex display-time
17464 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
17465 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
17466 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
17467 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
17468 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
17469 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
17470 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
17471 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
17474 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
17476 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
17477 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
17479 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
17480 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
17481 (length display-time-string)))))
17484 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
17485 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
17486 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
17487 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
17488 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
17491 @node Highlighting and Menus
17492 @section Highlighting and Menus
17494 @cindex highlighting
17497 @vindex gnus-visual
17498 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
17499 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
17500 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
17503 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
17504 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
17507 @item group-highlight
17508 Do highlights in the group buffer.
17509 @item summary-highlight
17510 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
17511 @item article-highlight
17512 Do highlights in the article buffer.
17514 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
17516 Create menus in the group buffer.
17518 Create menus in the summary buffers.
17520 Create menus in the article buffer.
17522 Create menus in the browse buffer.
17524 Create menus in the server buffer.
17526 Create menus in the score buffers.
17528 Create menus in all buffers.
17531 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
17532 buffers, you could say something like:
17535 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
17538 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
17541 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
17544 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
17545 in all Gnus buffers.
17547 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
17550 @item gnus-mouse-face
17551 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
17552 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
17553 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
17557 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
17561 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
17562 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
17563 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
17565 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
17566 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
17567 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
17569 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
17570 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
17571 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
17573 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
17574 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
17575 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
17577 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
17578 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
17579 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
17581 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
17582 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
17583 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
17594 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
17595 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
17596 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
17597 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
17598 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
17602 @vindex gnus-carpal
17603 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
17604 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
17605 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
17610 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
17611 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
17612 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
17614 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
17615 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
17616 Face used on buttons.
17618 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
17619 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
17620 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
17622 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
17623 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
17624 Buttons in the group buffer.
17626 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
17627 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
17628 Buttons in the summary buffer.
17630 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
17631 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
17632 Buttons in the server buffer.
17634 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
17635 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
17636 Buttons in the browse buffer.
17639 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
17640 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
17641 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
17649 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
17650 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
17651 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
17652 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
17653 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
17655 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
17656 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
17657 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
17659 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
17660 been idle for thirty minutes:
17663 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
17666 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
17670 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
17673 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
17674 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
17675 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
17677 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
17678 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
17679 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
17680 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
17682 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
17683 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
17684 @var{idle} minutes.
17686 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
17687 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
17690 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
17691 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
17692 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
17694 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
17695 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
17696 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
17697 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
17699 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
17700 your @file{.gnus} file:
17702 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
17704 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
17707 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
17708 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
17709 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
17710 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
17711 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
17712 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
17713 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
17714 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
17715 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
17716 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
17717 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
17719 @findex gnus-demon-init
17720 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
17721 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
17722 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
17723 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
17724 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
17726 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
17727 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
17728 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
17737 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
17738 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
17740 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
17741 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
17742 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
17743 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
17746 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
17747 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
17748 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
17749 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
17751 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
17752 this will make spam disappear.
17754 There are some variables to customize, of course:
17757 @item gnus-use-nocem
17758 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
17759 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
17762 @item gnus-nocem-groups
17763 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
17764 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
17765 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
17766 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
17768 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
17769 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
17770 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
17771 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
17772 "rbraver@@ohww.norman.ok.us" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
17773 "jem@@xpat.com" "snowhare@@xmission.com" "red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us
17774 (Richard E. Depew)")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
17776 Known despammers that you can put in this list include:
17779 @item clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;
17780 @cindex Chris Lewis
17781 Chris Lewis---Major Canadian despammer who has probably canceled more
17782 usenet abuse than anybody else.
17785 @cindex CancelMoose[tm]
17786 The CancelMoose[tm] on autopilot. The CancelMoose[tm] is reputed to be
17787 Norwegian, and was the person(s) who invented NoCeM.
17789 @item jem@@xpat.com;
17791 John Milburn---despammer located in Korea who is getting very busy these
17794 @item red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)
17795 Richard E. Depew---lone American despammer. He mostly cancels binary
17796 postings to non-binary groups and removes spews (regurgitated articles).
17799 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
17800 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
17801 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
17802 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
17803 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
17804 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
17805 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
17806 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
17807 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
17808 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
17810 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
17811 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
17814 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
17817 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
17818 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
17821 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
17824 The specs are applied left-to-right.
17827 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
17828 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
17830 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
17831 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
17832 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
17833 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
17835 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
17836 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
17839 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
17841 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
17849 This might be dangerous, though.
17851 @item gnus-nocem-directory
17852 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
17853 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
17854 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
17856 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
17857 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
17858 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
17859 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
17860 might then see old spam.
17864 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
17865 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
17866 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
17867 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
17874 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
17875 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
17876 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
17878 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
17879 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
17880 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
17881 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
17882 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
17883 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
17884 @code{undo} function.
17886 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
17887 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
17888 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
17889 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
17890 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
17891 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
17892 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
17893 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
17894 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
17895 never be totally undoable.
17897 @findex gnus-undo-mode
17898 @vindex gnus-use-undo
17900 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
17901 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
17902 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo} command
17903 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
17908 @section Moderation
17911 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
17912 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
17913 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
17916 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
17920 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
17923 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
17925 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
17930 You split your incoming mail by matching on
17931 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
17932 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
17935 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
17936 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
17939 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
17940 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
17944 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
17947 (setq gnus-moderated-list
17948 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
17952 @node XEmacs Enhancements
17953 @section XEmacs Enhancements
17956 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
17960 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
17961 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
17962 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
17963 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
17976 So... You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
17977 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
17978 over your shoulder as you read news.
17981 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
17982 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
17983 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
17984 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
17985 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
17990 @subsubsection Picon Basics
17992 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
18001 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
18002 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
18003 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
18004 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
18005 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
18006 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
18007 @code{GIF} formats.
18010 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18011 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
18012 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
18013 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
18014 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
18016 @vindex gnus-picons-database
18017 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
18018 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
18019 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
18020 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
18021 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
18024 @node Picon Requirements
18025 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
18027 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
18028 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
18031 Additionally, you must have @code{x} support compiled into XEmacs. To
18032 display color picons which are much nicer than the black & white one,
18033 you also need one of @code{xpm} or @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
18035 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18036 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
18037 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
18038 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
18039 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
18043 @subsubsection Easy Picons
18045 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
18046 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
18049 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
18050 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
18053 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
18054 containing the Picons databases.
18056 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
18059 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18060 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
18065 @subsubsection Hard Picons
18073 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
18074 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
18075 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
18076 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
18077 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
18082 @item gnus-picons-database
18083 @vindex gnus-picons-database
18084 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
18085 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
18086 subdirectories. This is only useful if
18087 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
18088 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
18090 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18091 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18092 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
18093 engine is @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
18094 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
18095 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
18096 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
18098 @item gnus-picons-display-where
18099 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
18100 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
18101 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
18102 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
18103 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
18104 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
18105 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
18107 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
18108 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
18109 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
18114 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
18115 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
18117 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
18118 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
18121 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
18123 @item gnus-article-display-picons
18124 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
18125 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
18126 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
18128 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
18129 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
18130 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
18136 @node Picon Useless Configuration
18137 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
18145 The following variables offer further control over how things are
18146 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
18147 don't need to worry about.
18151 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
18152 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
18153 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
18154 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
18156 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
18157 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
18158 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
18159 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
18161 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
18162 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
18163 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
18164 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
18165 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
18167 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18168 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18169 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
18170 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
18171 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
18172 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
18173 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
18175 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
18176 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
18177 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
18178 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
18180 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
18181 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
18182 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
18183 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
18184 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
18185 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
18186 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
18188 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
18189 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
18190 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
18191 Defaults to @code{nil}.
18193 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
18194 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
18195 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
18196 Defaults to @code{t}.
18198 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
18199 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
18200 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
18201 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
18203 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
18204 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
18205 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
18207 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
18208 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
18209 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
18210 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
18212 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
18213 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the defailt.
18215 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
18216 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
18217 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
18218 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
18219 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
18220 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
18221 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
18222 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
18233 @subsection Smileys
18238 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/BigFace.ps,height=20cm}}
18243 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
18244 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
18246 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
18247 @file{.gnus.el} file:
18250 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
18253 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
18254 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
18255 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
18256 text and maps that to file names.
18258 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
18259 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
18260 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
18261 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
18262 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
18263 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
18265 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
18266 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
18268 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
18269 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
18270 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
18272 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
18273 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
18277 @item smiley-data-directory
18278 @vindex smiley-data-directory
18279 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
18281 @item smiley-flesh-color
18282 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
18283 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
18285 @item smiley-features-color
18286 @vindex smiley-features-color
18287 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
18289 @item smiley-tongue-color
18290 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
18291 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
18293 @item smiley-circle-color
18294 @vindex smiley-circle-color
18295 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
18297 @item smiley-mouse-face
18298 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
18299 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
18305 @subsection Toolbar
18315 @item gnus-use-toolbar
18316 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
18317 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
18318 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
18319 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
18321 @item gnus-group-toolbar
18322 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
18323 The toolbar in the group buffer.
18325 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
18326 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
18327 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
18329 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
18330 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
18331 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
18337 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
18340 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
18341 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
18342 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
18343 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
18344 unusual directory structure.
18346 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
18347 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
18348 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
18349 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
18351 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
18352 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
18353 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
18354 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
18355 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
18356 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
18358 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
18359 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
18360 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
18374 @node Fuzzy Matching
18375 @section Fuzzy Matching
18376 @cindex fuzzy matching
18378 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
18379 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
18381 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
18382 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
18383 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
18385 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
18386 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
18387 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
18388 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
18389 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
18392 @node Thwarting Email Spam
18393 @section Thwarting Email Spam
18397 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
18399 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
18400 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
18401 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
18402 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
18403 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
18404 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
18405 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
18406 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
18409 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
18410 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
18411 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
18412 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
18413 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
18414 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
18418 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
18419 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
18421 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
18422 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
18423 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
18424 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
18425 sysadm whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
18426 part of the mail address.)
18429 (setq message-default-news-headers
18430 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
18433 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
18434 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
18439 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
18440 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
18441 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
18447 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
18448 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
18449 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
18450 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
18452 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
18453 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
18454 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
18455 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
18456 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
18457 your fancy split rule in this way:
18462 (to "larsi" "misc")
18466 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
18467 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
18468 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
18469 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
18470 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
18472 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
18473 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
18474 at @* @file{<URL:http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html>}.
18475 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
18476 cosmic balance somewhat.
18478 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
18479 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
18480 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
18481 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
18484 @node Various Various
18485 @section Various Various
18491 @item gnus-home-directory
18492 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
18493 defaults to @file{~/}.
18495 @item gnus-directory
18496 @vindex gnus-directory
18497 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
18498 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
18499 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
18501 Note that gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
18502 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
18503 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
18504 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
18506 @item gnus-default-directory
18507 @vindex gnus-default-directory
18508 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
18509 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
18510 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
18511 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
18512 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
18513 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
18516 @vindex gnus-verbose
18517 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
18518 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
18519 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
18520 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
18521 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
18523 @item gnus-verbose-backends
18524 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
18525 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
18526 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
18528 @item nnheader-max-head-length
18529 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
18530 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
18531 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
18532 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
18533 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
18534 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
18535 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
18536 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
18537 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
18539 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
18540 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
18541 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
18542 read when doing the operation described above.
18544 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18545 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18547 @cindex invalid characters in file names
18548 @cindex characters in file names
18549 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
18550 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
18551 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
18554 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18558 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
18559 Windows (phooey) systems.
18561 @item gnus-hidden-properties
18562 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
18563 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
18564 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
18565 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
18567 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
18568 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
18569 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
18570 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
18571 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
18573 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
18574 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
18575 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
18577 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
18578 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
18580 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
18581 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
18582 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
18583 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
18586 IMAP users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
18595 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
18596 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
18598 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
18600 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
18606 Not because of victories @*
18609 but for the common sunshine,@*
18611 the largess of the spring.
18615 but for the day's work done@*
18616 as well as I was able;@*
18617 not for a seat upon the dais@*
18618 but at the common table.@*
18623 @chapter Appendices
18626 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
18627 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
18628 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
18629 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
18630 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
18631 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
18632 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
18633 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
18641 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
18642 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
18644 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
18645 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
18646 @file{http://quimby.gnus.org/~larsi/}. This is also the primary
18647 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
18648 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
18650 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
18651 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
18652 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
18653 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
18654 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
18655 appropriate name, don't you think?)
18657 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
18658 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
18659 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
18660 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
18663 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
18664 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
18665 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
18666 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
18667 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
18668 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
18669 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
18670 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
18671 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
18672 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
18676 @node Gnus Versions
18677 @subsection Gnus Versions
18678 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
18680 @cindex September Gnus
18681 @cindex Quassia Gnus
18683 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
18684 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
18685 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
18687 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
18688 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
18690 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
18691 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
18693 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
18694 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
18696 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
18697 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
18700 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
18701 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'' --
18702 don't panic. Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away.
18703 Slowly. Whatever you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're
18704 out of its reach. Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up
18708 @node Other Gnus Versions
18709 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
18712 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
18713 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
18714 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
18715 @sc{mime} capabilities.
18717 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
18718 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
18719 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
18720 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
18727 What's the point of Gnus?
18729 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
18730 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
18731 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
18732 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
18733 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
18734 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
18735 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
18736 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
18737 keep track of millions of people who post?
18739 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
18740 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
18741 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
18742 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
18743 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
18744 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
18745 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
18746 every one of you to explore and invent.
18748 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
18749 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
18752 @node Compatibility
18753 @subsection Compatibility
18755 @cindex compatibility
18756 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
18757 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
18758 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
18763 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
18767 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
18770 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
18773 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
18774 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
18775 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
18776 important variables have their values copied into their global
18777 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
18778 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
18780 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
18781 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
18782 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
18783 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
18784 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
18788 @cindex highlighting
18789 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
18790 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
18791 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
18792 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
18793 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
18794 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
18797 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
18798 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
18799 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
18800 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
18802 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
18803 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
18804 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
18805 to stop doing it the old way.
18807 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
18809 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
18811 @cindex reporting bugs
18813 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
18814 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
18815 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
18817 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
18818 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
18819 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
18820 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
18825 @subsection Conformity
18827 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
18828 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
18835 There are no known breaches of this standard.
18839 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
18841 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
18842 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
18843 We do have some breaches to this one.
18849 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
18850 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
18851 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
18852 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
18853 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
18858 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
18859 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
18860 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
18861 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
18865 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
18866 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
18871 @subsection Emacsen
18877 Gnus should work on :
18885 XEmacs 21.1.1 and up.
18889 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
18890 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
18891 Emacs versions. However, T-gnus does support ``Mule 2.3 based on Emacs
18892 19.34'' and possibly the versions of XEmacs prior to 21.1.1, e.g. 20.4.
18893 See the file ``README'' in the T-gnus distribution for more details.
18895 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
18896 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
18897 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
18901 @node Gnus Development
18902 @subsection Gnus Development
18904 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
18905 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
18906 propose changes and new features, post patches and new backends. This
18907 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
18908 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
18909 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
18910 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
18911 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
18913 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
18914 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
18915 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
18916 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
18917 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
18920 @vindex nnmail-delete-incoming
18921 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
18922 In particular, @code{nnmail-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
18923 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
18924 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
18926 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
18927 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
18928 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
18929 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
18930 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
18931 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
18932 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
18933 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
18934 usually keep up with these rapid changes, whille people on the newsgroup
18935 can't be assumed to do so.
18940 @subsection Contributors
18941 @cindex contributors
18943 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
18944 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
18945 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
18946 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
18947 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
18948 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
18949 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
18950 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
18951 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
18952 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
18954 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
18960 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
18963 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
18964 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
18965 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
18966 functionality and stuff.
18969 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
18970 well as numerous other things).
18973 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
18976 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
18979 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
18982 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
18983 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
18986 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
18989 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
18990 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
18993 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
18996 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
18999 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
19002 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
19005 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
19006 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
19009 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
19012 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
19015 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
19018 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
19022 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
19025 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
19028 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
19031 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
19032 well as autoconf support.
19036 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
19037 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
19039 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
19048 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
19052 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
19062 Alexei V. Barantsev,
19077 Massimo Campostrini,
19082 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
19083 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
19087 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
19090 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
19096 Michael Welsh Duggan,
19101 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
19105 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
19113 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
19115 Michelangelo Grigni,
19119 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
19121 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
19123 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
19130 François Felix Ingrand,
19131 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
19132 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
19134 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
19145 Peter Skov Knudsen,
19146 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
19148 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
19149 Thor Kristoffersen,
19152 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
19170 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
19171 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
19178 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
19183 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
19187 John McClary Prevost,
19193 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
19198 Christian von Roques,
19201 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
19208 Philippe Schnoebelen,
19210 Randal L. Schwartz,
19224 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
19229 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
19245 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
19250 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
19251 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
19252 (550kB and counting).
19254 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
19257 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
19258 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
19262 @subsection New Features
19263 @cindex new features
19266 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
19267 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.3/5.3.
19268 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
19269 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
19272 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
19273 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
19274 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
19278 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
19280 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
19285 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
19286 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
19289 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
19290 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
19293 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
19296 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
19297 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
19298 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
19301 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
19302 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
19303 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
19304 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
19307 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
19308 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19311 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
19312 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
19313 (@pxref{The Active File}).
19316 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
19317 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
19320 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
19321 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
19322 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
19325 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
19326 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
19327 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
19330 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
19331 the @file{.emacs} file.
19334 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
19335 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
19338 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
19339 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
19342 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
19343 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19346 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
19347 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
19350 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
19351 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
19354 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
19357 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
19358 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
19361 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
19362 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
19365 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
19366 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
19369 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
19372 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
19373 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
19376 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
19380 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
19384 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
19385 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
19388 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
19394 @node September Gnus
19395 @subsubsection September Gnus
19399 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/september.ps,height=20cm}}
19403 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
19408 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
19409 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
19413 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
19414 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
19418 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
19422 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
19423 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
19426 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
19430 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
19433 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
19436 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
19439 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
19443 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
19444 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
19447 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
19451 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
19455 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
19459 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
19463 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
19466 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
19467 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
19470 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
19474 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
19475 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
19478 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
19481 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
19482 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
19483 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
19486 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
19490 The Gnus cache is much faster.
19493 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
19497 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
19498 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
19501 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
19502 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
19505 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
19506 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
19509 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
19510 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
19511 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
19514 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
19515 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
19518 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
19521 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
19524 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
19527 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
19530 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
19531 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
19534 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
19538 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
19541 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}}
19546 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
19549 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
19553 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19556 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
19560 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
19563 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
19566 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
19567 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
19570 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
19571 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
19575 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
19576 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
19579 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
19583 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
19584 buffer to allow easier treatment.
19587 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
19590 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
19594 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
19598 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
19599 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
19602 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
19606 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
19607 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
19610 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
19611 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
19614 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
19618 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
19621 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
19624 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
19630 @subsubsection Red Gnus
19632 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
19636 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/red.ps,height=20cm}}
19643 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
19646 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
19647 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
19650 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
19651 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
19655 Article washing status can be displayed in the
19656 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
19659 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
19662 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
19663 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
19666 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
19670 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
19671 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
19675 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
19676 Server Internals}).
19679 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
19683 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
19686 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
19687 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
19690 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
19691 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
19692 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
19695 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
19696 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
19699 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
19700 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
19703 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
19707 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
19708 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
19711 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
19712 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
19715 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
19719 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
19722 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
19726 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
19727 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
19730 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
19731 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
19734 A new command for reading collections of documents
19735 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
19736 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
19739 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
19743 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
19744 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
19747 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
19748 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
19749 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
19752 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
19753 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
19757 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
19761 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
19765 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}}
19770 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
19774 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
19778 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
19779 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
19782 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
19788 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
19790 New features in Gnus 5.6:
19795 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
19796 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
19797 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
19800 The @code{nndraft} backend has returned, but works differently than
19801 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
19802 group, which is created automatically.
19805 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
19809 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
19812 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
19813 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
19816 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
19820 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
19823 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
19824 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
19827 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
19830 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
19831 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
19834 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
19835 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
19838 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
19839 control over simplification.
19842 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
19845 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
19849 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
19852 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
19855 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
19856 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
19857 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
19860 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
19861 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
19864 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
19868 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
19869 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
19872 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
19873 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
19876 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
19880 A history of where mails have been split is available.
19883 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
19886 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
19887 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
19890 A new function for citing in Message has been
19891 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
19894 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
19897 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
19901 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
19902 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
19905 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
19906 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
19909 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} backend.
19912 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
19917 @node Newest Features
19918 @subsection Newest Features
19921 Also known as the @dfn{todo list}. Sure to be implemented before the
19924 Be afraid. Be very afraid.
19926 (That a feature appears in this list doesn't necessarily mean that I've
19927 decided to actually implement it. It just means that I think it sounds
19930 (Yes, this is the actual, up-to-the-second todo list.)
19935 I would like the zombie-page to contain an URL to the source of the
19936 latest version of gnus or some explanation on where to find it.
19939 A way to continue editing the latest Message composition.
19942 http://www.sonicnet.com/feature/ari3/
19945 facep is not declared.
19948 Include a section in the manual on why the number of articles
19949 isn't the same in the group buffer and on the SPC prompt.
19952 Interacting with rmail fcc isn't easy.
19957 <URL:http://www.falch.no/people/pepper/DSSSL-Lite/archives/>
19958 <URL:http://www.eit.com/software/hypermail/hypermail.html>
19959 <URL:http://homer.ncm.com/>
19960 <URL:http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/HTML_Converters/>
19961 http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/9610/index.html
19962 <URL:http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HyperNews/get/www/html/converters.html>
19963 http://www.miranova.com/gnus-list/
19968 @samp{^-- } is made into - in LaTeX.
19971 gnus-kill is much slower than it was in GNUS 4.1.3.
19974 when expunging articles on low score, the sparse nodes keep hanging on?
19976 starting the first time seems to hang Gnus on some systems. Does
19977 NEWGROUPS answer too fast?
19979 nndir doesn't read gzipped files.
19981 FAQ doesn't have an up node?
19983 when moving mail from a procmail spool to the crash-box,
19984 the crash-box is only appropriate to one specific group.
19986 `t' `t' makes X-Faces disappear.
19988 nnmh-be-safe means that crossposted articles will
19989 be marked as unread.
19991 Orphan score entries don't show on "V t" score trace
19993 when clearing out data, the cache data should also be reset.
19995 rewrite gnus-summary-limit-children to be non-recursive
19996 to avoid exceeding lisp nesting on huge groups.
19998 expunged articles are counted when computing scores.
20000 implement gnus-batch-brew-soup
20002 ticked articles aren't easy to read in pick mode -- `n' and
20003 stuff just skips past them. Read articles are the same.
20005 topics that contain just groups with ticked
20006 articles aren't displayed.
20008 nndoc should always allocate unique Message-IDs.
20010 If there are mail groups the first time you use Gnus, Gnus'll
20011 make the mail groups killed.
20013 no "no news is good news" when using topics.
20015 when doing crosspost marking, the cache has to be consulted
20016 and articles have to be removed.
20018 nnweb should fetch complete articles when they are split into several
20021 scoring on head immediate doesn't work.
20023 finding short score file names takes forever.
20025 canceling articles in foreign groups.
20027 nntp-open-rlogin no longer works.
20029 C-u C-x C-s (Summary) switches to the group buffer.
20031 move nnmail-split-history out to the backends.
20033 nnweb doesn't work properly.
20035 using a virtual server name as `gnus-select-method' doesn't work?
20037 when killing/yanking a group from one topic to another in a slave, the
20038 master will yank it first to one topic and then add it to another.
20042 warn user about `=' redirection of a group in the active file?
20044 take over the XEmacs menubar and offer a toggle between the XEmacs
20045 bar and the Gnus bar.
20048 push active file and NOV file parsing down into C code.
20049 `(canonize-message-id id)'
20050 `(mail-parent-message-id references n)'
20051 `(parse-news-nov-line &optional dependency-hashtb)'
20052 `(parse-news-nov-region beg end &optional dependency-hashtb fullp)'
20053 `(parse-news-active-region beg end hashtb)'
20058 nnml .overview directory with splits.
20062 postponed commands.
20064 the selected article show have its Subject displayed in its summary line.
20066 when entering groups, get the real number of unread articles from
20069 sort after gathering threads -- make false roots have the
20070 headers of the oldest orphan with a 0 article number?
20072 nndoc groups should inherit the score files of their parents? Also
20073 inherit copy prompts and save files.
20075 command to start up Gnus (if not running) and enter a mail mode buffer.
20077 allow editing the group description from the group buffer
20078 for backends that support that.
20080 gnus-hide,show-all-topics
20082 groups and sub-topics should be allowed to mingle inside each topic,
20083 and not just list all subtopics at the end.
20085 a command to remove all read articles that are not needed to connect
20086 threads -- `gnus-summary-limit-to-sparse-unread'?
20088 a variable to turn off limiting/cutting of threads in the tree buffer.
20090 a variable to limit how many files are uudecoded.
20092 add zombie groups to a special "New Groups" topic.
20094 server mode command: close/open all connections
20096 put a file date in gnus-score-alist and check whether the file
20097 has been changed before using it.
20099 on exit from a digest group, go to the next article in the parent group.
20101 hide (sub)threads with low score.
20103 when expiring, remove all marks from expired articles.
20105 gnus-summary-limit-to-body
20107 a regexp alist that says what level groups are to be subscribed
20108 on. Eg. -- `(("nnml:" . 1))'.
20110 easier interface to nnkiboze to create ephemeral groups that
20111 contain groups that match a regexp.
20113 allow newlines in <URL:> urls, but remove them before using
20116 If there is no From line, the mail backends should fudge one from the
20119 fuzzy simplifying should strip all non-alpha-numerical info
20120 from subject lines.
20122 gnus-soup-brew-soup-with-high-scores.
20124 nntp-ping-before-connect
20126 command to check whether NOV is evil. "list overview.fmt".
20128 when entering a group, Gnus should look through the score
20129 files very early for `local' atoms and set those local variables.
20131 message annotations.
20133 topics are always yanked before groups, and that's not good.
20135 (set-extent-property extent 'help-echo "String to display in minibuf")
20136 to display help in the minibuffer on buttons under XEmacs.
20138 allow group line format spec to say how many articles there
20143 `run-with-idle-timer' in gnus-demon.
20145 stop using invisible text properties and start using overlays instead
20147 C-c C-f C-e to add an Expires header.
20149 go from one group to the next; everything is expunged; go to the
20150 next group instead of going to the group buffer.
20152 gnus-renumber-cache -- to renumber the cache using "low" numbers.
20154 record topic changes in the dribble buffer.
20156 `nnfolder-generate-active-file' should look at the folders it
20157 finds and generate proper active ranges.
20159 nneething-look-in-files-for-article-heads variable to control
20160 whether nneething should sniff all files in the directories.
20162 gnus-fetch-article -- start Gnus, enter group, display article
20164 gnus-dont-move-articles-to-same-group variable when respooling.
20166 when messages are crossposted between several auto-expirable groups,
20167 articles aren't properly marked as expirable.
20169 nneething should allow deletion/moving.
20171 TAB on the last button should go to the first button.
20173 if the car of an element in `mail-split-methods' is a function,
20174 and the function returns non-nil, use that as the name of the group(s) to
20177 command for listing all score files that have been applied.
20179 a command in the article buffer to return to `summary' config.
20181 `gnus-always-post-using-current-server' -- variable to override
20182 `C-c C-c' when posting.
20184 nnmail-group-spool-alist -- says where each group should use
20187 when an article is crossposted to an auto-expirable group, the article
20188 should be marker as expirable.
20190 article mode command/menu for "send region as URL to browser".
20192 on errors, jump to info nodes that explain the error. For instance,
20193 on invalid From headers, or on error messages from the nntp server.
20195 when gathering threads, make the article that has no "Re: " the parent.
20196 Also consult Date headers.
20198 a token in splits to call shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer
20200 `1 0 A M' to do matches on the active hashtb.
20202 duplicates -- command to remove Gnus-Warning header, use the read
20203 Message-ID, delete the "original".
20205 when replying to several messages at once, put the "other" message-ids
20206 into a See-Also header.
20208 support setext: URL:http://www.bsdi.com/setext/
20210 support ProleText: <URL:http://proletext.clari.net/prole/proletext.html>
20212 when browsing a foreign server, the groups that are already subscribed
20213 should be listed as such and not as "K".
20215 generate font names dynamically.
20217 score file mode auto-alist.
20219 allow nndoc to change/add/delete things from documents. Implement
20220 methods for each format for adding an article to the document.
20222 `gnus-fetch-old-headers' `all' value to incorporate
20223 absolutely all headers there is.
20225 function like `|', but concatenate all marked articles
20226 and pipe them to the process.
20228 cache the list of killed (or active) groups in a separate file. Update
20229 the file whenever we read the active file or the list
20230 of killed groups in the .eld file reaches a certain length.
20232 function for starting to edit a file to put into
20233 the current mail group.
20235 score-find-trace should display the total score of the article.
20237 "ghettozie" -- score on Xref header and nix it out after using it
20238 to avoid marking as read in other groups it has been crossposted to.
20240 look at procmail splitting. The backends should create
20241 the groups automatically if a spool file exists for that group.
20243 function for backends to register themselves with Gnus.
20245 when replying to several process-marked articles,
20246 have all the From end up in Cc headers? Variable to toggle.
20248 command to delete a crossposted mail article from all
20249 groups it has been mailed to.
20251 `B c' and `B m' should be crosspost aware.
20253 hide-pgp should also hide PGP public key blocks.
20255 Command in the group buffer to respool process-marked groups.
20257 `gnus-summary-find-matching' should accept
20258 pseudo-"headers" like "body", "head" and "all"
20260 When buttifying <URL: > things, all white space (including
20261 newlines) should be ignored.
20263 Process-marking all groups in a topic should process-mark
20264 groups in subtopics as well.
20266 Add non-native groups to the list of killed groups when killing them.
20268 nntp-suggest-kewl-config to probe the nntp server and suggest
20271 add edit and forward secondary marks.
20273 nnml shouldn't visit its .overview files.
20275 allow customizing sorting within gathered threads.
20277 `B q' shouldn't select the current article.
20279 nnmbox should support a newsgroups file for descriptions.
20281 allow fetching mail from several pop servers.
20283 Be able to specify whether the saving commands save the original
20284 or the formatted article.
20286 a command to reparent with the child process-marked (cf. `T ^'.).
20288 I think the possibility to send a password with nntp-open-rlogin
20289 should be a feature in Red Gnus.
20291 The `Z n' command should be possible to execute from a mouse click.
20293 more limiting functions -- date, etc.
20295 be able to limit on a random header; on body; using reverse matches.
20297 a group parameter (`absofucking-total-expiry') that will make Gnus expire
20298 even unread articles.
20300 a command to print the article buffer as postscript.
20302 variable to disable password fetching when opening by nntp-open-telnet.
20304 manual: more example servers -- nntp with rlogin, telnet
20306 checking for bogus groups should clean topic alists as well.
20308 canceling articles in foreign groups.
20310 article number in folded topics isn't properly updated by
20313 Movement in the group buffer to the next unread group should go to the
20314 next closed topic with unread messages if no group can be found.
20316 Extensive info pages generated on the fly with help everywhere --
20317 in the "*Gnus edit*" buffers, for instance.
20319 Topic movement commands -- like thread movement. Up, down, forward, next.
20321 a way to tick/mark as read Gcc'd articles.
20323 a way to say that all groups within a specific topic comes
20324 from a particular server? Hm.
20326 `gnus-article-fill-if-long-lines' -- a function to fill
20327 the article buffer if there are any looong lines there.
20329 `T h' should jump to the parent topic and fold it.
20331 a command to create an ephemeral nndoc group out of a file,
20332 and then splitting it/moving it to some other group/backend.
20334 a group parameter for nnkiboze groups that says that
20335 all kibozed articles should be entered into the cache.
20337 It should also probably be possible to delimit what
20338 `gnus-jog-cache' does -- for instance, work on just some groups, or on
20339 some levels, and entering just articles that have a score higher than
20342 nnfolder should append to the folder instead of re-writing
20343 the entire folder to disk when accepting new messages.
20345 allow all backends to do the proper thing with .gz files.
20347 a backend for reading collections of babyl files nnbabylfolder?
20349 a command for making the native groups into foreign groups.
20351 server mode command for clearing read marks from all groups
20354 when following up multiple articles, include all To, Cc, etc headers
20357 a command for deciding what the total score of the current
20358 thread is. Also a way to highlight based on this.
20360 command to show and edit group scores
20362 a gnus-tree-minimize-horizontal to minimize tree buffers
20365 command to generate nnml overview file for one group.
20367 `C-u C-u a' -- prompt for many crossposted groups.
20369 keep track of which mail groups have received new articles (in this session).
20370 Be able to generate a report and perhaps do some marking in the group
20373 gnus-build-sparse-threads to a number -- build only sparse threads
20374 that are of that length.
20376 have nnmh respect mh's unseen sequence in .mh_profile.
20378 cache the newsgroups descriptions locally.
20380 asynchronous posting under nntp.
20382 be able to control word adaptive scoring from the score files.
20384 a variable to make `C-c C-c' post using the "current" select method.
20386 `limit-exclude-low-scored-articles'.
20388 if `gnus-summary-show-thread' is a number, hide threads that have
20389 a score lower than this number.
20391 split newsgroup subscription variable up into "order" and "method".
20393 buttonize ange-ftp file names.
20395 a command to make a duplicate copy of the current article
20396 so that each copy can be edited separately.
20398 nnweb should allow fetching from the local nntp server.
20400 record the sorting done in the summary buffer so that
20401 it can be repeated when limiting/regenerating the buffer.
20403 nnml-generate-nov-databses should generate for
20406 when the user does commands in the group buffer, check
20407 the modification time of the .newsrc.eld file and use
20408 ask-user-about-supersession-threat. Also warn when trying
20409 to save .newsrc.eld and it has changed.
20411 M-g on a topic will display all groups with 0 articles in
20414 command to remove all topic stuff.
20416 allow exploding incoming digests when reading incoming mail
20417 and splitting the resulting digests.
20419 nnsoup shouldn't set the `message-' variables.
20421 command to nix out all nnoo state information.
20423 nnmail-process-alist that calls functions if group names
20424 matches an alist -- before saving.
20426 use buffer-invisibility-spec everywhere for hiding text.
20428 variable to activate each group before entering them
20429 to get the (new) number of articles. `gnus-activate-before-entering'.
20431 command to fetch a Message-ID from any buffer, even
20432 starting Gnus first if necessary.
20434 when posting and checking whether a group exists or not, just
20435 ask the nntp server instead of relying on the active hashtb.
20437 buttonize the output of `C-c C-a' in an apropos-like way.
20439 `G p' should understand process/prefix, and allow editing
20440 of several groups at once.
20442 command to create an ephemeral nnvirtual group that
20443 matches some regexp(s).
20445 nndoc should understand "Content-Type: message/rfc822" forwarded messages.
20447 it should be possible to score "thread" on the From header.
20449 hitting RET on a "gnus-uu-archive" pseudo article should unpack it.
20451 `B i' should display the article at once in the summary buffer.
20453 remove the "*" mark at once when unticking an article.
20455 `M-s' should highlight the matching text.
20457 when checking for duplicated mails, use Resent-Message-ID if present.
20459 killing and yanking groups in topics should be better. If killing one copy
20460 of a group that exists in multiple topics, only that copy should
20461 be removed. Yanking should insert the copy, and yanking topics
20462 should be possible to be interspersed with the other yankings.
20464 command for enter a group just to read the cached articles. A way to say
20465 "ignore the nntp connection; just read from the cache."
20467 `X u' should decode base64 articles.
20469 a way to hide all "inner" cited text, leaving just the most
20470 recently cited text.
20472 nnvirtual should be asynchronous.
20474 after editing an article, gnus-original-article-buffer should
20477 there should probably be a way to make Gnus not connect to the
20478 server and just read the articles in the server
20480 allow a `set-default' (or something) to change the default
20481 value of nnoo variables.
20483 a command to import group infos from a .newsrc.eld file.
20485 groups from secondary servers have the entire select method
20486 listed in each group info.
20488 a command for just switching from the summary buffer to the group
20491 a way to specify that some incoming mail washing functions
20492 should only be applied to some groups.
20494 Message `C-f C-t' should ask the user whether to heed
20495 mail-copies-to: never.
20497 new group parameter -- `post-to-server' that says to post
20498 using the current server. Also a variable to do the same.
20500 the slave dribble files should auto-save to the slave file names.
20502 a group parameter that says what articles to display on group entry, based
20505 a way to visually distinguish slave Gnusae from masters. (Whip instead
20508 Use DJ Bernstein "From " quoting/dequoting, where applicable.
20510 Why is hide-citation-maybe and hide-citation different? Also
20513 group user-defined meta-parameters.
20517 From: John Griffith <griffith@@sfs.nphil.uni-tuebingen.de>
20519 I like the option for trying to retrieve the FAQ for a group and I was
20520 thinking it would be great if for those newsgroups that had archives
20521 you could also try to read the archive for that group. Part of the
20522 problem is that archives are spread all over the net, unlike FAQs.
20523 What would be best I suppose is to find the one closest to your site.
20525 In any case, there is a list of general news group archives at @*
20526 ftp://ftp.neosoft.com/pub/users/claird/news.lists/newsgroup_archives.html
20533 From: Jason L Tibbitts III <tibbs@@hpc.uh.edu>
20534 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
20536 (gnus-group-add-parameter group
20537 (cons 'gnus-group-date-last-entered (list (current-time-string))))))
20539 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
20540 "Return the date the group was last read."
20541 (cond ((car (gnus-group-get-parameter gnus-tmp-group 'gnus-group-date-last-entered)))
20546 tanken var at når du bruker `gnus-startup-file' som prefix (FOO) til å lete
20547 opp en fil FOO-SERVER, FOO-SERVER.el, FOO-SERVER.eld, kan du la den være en
20548 liste hvor du bruker hvert element i listen som FOO, istedet. da kunne man
20549 hatt forskjellige serveres startup-filer forskjellige steder.
20553 LMI> Well, nnbabyl could alter the group info to heed labels like
20554 LMI> answered and read, I guess.
20556 It could also keep them updated (the same for the Status: header of
20559 They could be used like this:
20563 `M l <name> RET' add label <name> to current message.
20564 `M u <name> RET' remove label <name> from current message.
20565 `/ l <expr> RET' limit summary buffer according to <expr>.
20567 <expr> would be a boolean expression on the labels, e.g.
20569 `/ l bug & !fixed RET'
20572 would show all the messages which are labeled `bug' but not labeled
20575 One could also imagine the labels being used for highlighting, or
20576 affect the summary line format.
20580 Sender: abraham@@dina.kvl.dk
20582 I'd like a gnus-find-file which work like find file, except that it
20583 would recognize things that looks like messages or folders:
20585 - If it is a directory containing numbered files, create an nndir
20588 - For other directories, create a nneething summary buffer.
20590 - For files matching "\\`From ", create a nndoc/mbox summary.
20592 - For files matching "\\`BABYL OPTIONS:", create a nndoc/baby summary.
20594 - For files matching "\\`[^ \t\n]+:", create an *Article* buffer.
20596 - For other files, just find them normally.
20598 I'd like `nneething' to use this function, so it would work on a
20599 directory potentially containing mboxes or babyl files.
20602 Please send a mail to bwarsaw@@cnri.reston.va.us (Barry A. Warsaw) and
20603 tell him what you are doing.
20606 Currently, I get prompted:
20610 decend into sci.something ?
20614 The problem above is that since there is really only one subsection of
20615 science, shouldn't it prompt you for only descending sci.something? If
20616 there was a sci.somethingelse group or section, then it should prompt
20617 for sci? first the sci.something? then sci.somethingelse?...
20620 Ja, det burde være en måte å si slikt. Kanskje en ny variabel?
20621 `gnus-use-few-score-files'? SÃ¥ kunne score-regler legges til den
20622 "mest" lokale score-fila. F. eks. ville no-gruppene betjenes av
20623 "no.all.SCORE", osv.
20626 What i want is for Gnus to treat any sequence or combination of the following
20627 as a single spoiler warning and hide it all, replacing it with a "Next Page"
20633 more than n blank lines
20635 more than m identical lines
20636 (which should be replaced with button to show them)
20638 any whitespace surrounding any of the above
20642 Well, we could allow a new value to `gnus-thread-ignore-subject' --
20643 `spaces', or something. (We could even default to that.) And then
20644 subjects that differ in white space only could be considered the
20645 "same" subject for threading purposes.
20648 Modes to preprocess the contents (e.g. jka-compr) use the second form
20649 "(REGEXP FUNCTION NON-NIL)" while ordinary modes (e.g. tex) use the first
20650 form "(REGEXP . FUNCTION)", so you could use it to distinguish between
20651 those two types of modes. (auto-modes-alist, insert-file-contents-literally.)
20654 Under XEmacs -- do funny article marks:
20657 soup - bowl of soup
20658 score below - dim light bulb
20659 score over - bright light bulb
20662 Yes. I think the algorithm is as follows:
20667 show-list-of-articles-in-group
20668 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
20669 if (no-more-articles-in-group-to-select)
20670 if (articles-selected)
20671 start-reading-selected-articles;
20672 junk-unread-articles;
20677 else if (key-pressed = '.')
20678 if (consolidated-menus) # same as hide-thread in Gnus
20679 select-thread-under-cursor;
20681 select-article-under-cursor;
20685 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
20686 if (more-pages-in-article)
20688 else if (more-selected-articles-to-read)
20695 My precise need here would have been to limit files to Incoming*.
20696 One could think of some `nneething-only-files' variable, but I guess
20697 it would have been unacceptable if one was using many unrelated such
20700 A more useful approach would be to, in response to the `G D' prompt, be
20701 allowed to say something like: `~/.mail/Incoming*', somewhat limiting
20702 the top-level directory only (in case directories would be matched by
20703 the wildcard expression).
20706 It would be nice if it also handled
20708 <URL:news://sunsite.auc.dk/>
20710 which should correspond to `B nntp RET sunsite.auc.dk' in *Group*.
20715 Take a look at w3-menu.el in the Emacs-W3 distribution - this works out
20716 really well. Each menu is 'named' by a symbol that would be on a
20717 gnus-*-menus (where * would be whatever, but at least group, summary, and
20718 article versions) variable.
20720 So for gnus-summary-menus, I would set to '(sort mark dispose ...)
20722 A value of '1' would just put _all_ the menus in a single 'GNUS' menu in
20723 the main menubar. This approach works really well for Emacs-W3 and VM.
20727 nndoc should take care to create unique Message-IDs for all its
20730 gnus-score-followup-article only works when you have a summary buffer
20731 active. Make it work when posting from the group buffer as well.
20732 (message-sent-hook).
20734 rewrite gnus-demon to use run-with-idle-timers.
20737 * Enhancements to Gnus:
20741 * gnus-servers (gnus-start-server-buffer?)--enters Gnus and goes
20742 straight to the server buffer, without opening any connections to
20745 * gnus-server-read-server-newsrc--produces a buffer very similar to
20746 the group buffer, but with only groups from that server listed;
20747 quitting this buffer returns to the server buffer.
20750 add a command to check the integrity of an nnfolder folder --
20751 go through the article numbers and see that there are no duplicates,
20755 `unsmileyfy-buffer' to undo smileification.
20758 a command to give all relevant info on an article, including all
20762 when doing `-request-accept-article', the backends should do
20763 the nnmail duplicate checking.
20766 allow `message-signature-file' to be a function to return the
20767 value of the signature file.
20770 In addition, I would love it if I could configure message-tab so that it
20771 could call `bbdb-complete-name' in other headers. So, some sort of
20774 (setq message-tab-alist
20775 '((message-header-regexp message-expand-group)
20776 ("^\\(To\\|[cC]c\\|[bB]cc\\)" bbdb-complete-name)))
20778 then you could run the relevant function to complete the information in
20782 cache the newsgroups file locally to avoid reloading it all the time.
20785 a command to import a buffer into a group.
20788 nnweb should allow fetching by Message-ID from servers.
20791 point in the article buffer doesn't always go to the
20792 beginning of the buffer when selecting new articles.
20795 a command to process mark all unread articles.
20798 `gnus-gather-threads-by-references-and-subject' -- first
20799 do gathering by references, and then go through the dummy roots and
20800 do more gathering by subject.
20803 gnus-uu-mark-in-numerical-order -- process mark articles in
20804 article numerical order.
20807 (gnus-thread-total-score
20808 (gnus-id-to-thread (mail-header-id (gnus-summary-article-header))))
20812 sorting by score is wrong when using sparse threads.
20815 a command to fetch an arbitrary article -- without having to be
20816 in the summary buffer.
20819 a new nncvs backend. Each group would show an article, using
20820 version branches as threading, checkin date as the date, etc.
20823 http://www.dejanews.com/forms/dnsetfilter_exp.html ?
20824 This filter allows one to construct advance queries on the Dejanews
20825 database such as specifying start and end dates, subject, author,
20826 and/or newsgroup name.
20829 new Date header scoring type -- older, newer
20832 use the summary toolbar in the article buffer.
20835 a command to fetch all articles that are less than X days old.
20838 in pick mode, `q' should save the list of selected articles in the
20839 group info. The next time the group is selected, these articles
20840 will automatically get the process mark.
20843 Isn't it possible to (also?) allow M-^ to automatically try the
20844 default server if it fails on the current server? (controlled by a
20845 user variable, (nil, t, 'ask)).
20848 make it possible to cancel articles using the select method for the
20852 `gnus-summary-select-article-on-entry' or something. It'll default
20853 to t and will select whatever article decided by `gnus-auto-select-first'.
20856 a new variable to control which selection commands should be unselecting.
20857 `first', `best', `next', `prev', `next-unread', `prev-unread' are
20861 be able to select groups that have no articles in them
20862 to be able to post in them (using the current select method).
20865 be able to post via DejaNews.
20868 `x' should retain any sortings that have been performed.
20871 allow the user to specify the precedence of the secondary marks. Also
20872 allow them to be displayed separately.
20875 gnus-summary-save-in-pipe should concatenate the results from
20876 the processes when doing a process marked pipe.
20879 a new match type, like Followup, but which adds Thread matches on all
20880 articles that match a certain From header.
20883 a function that can be read from kill-emacs-query-functions to offer
20884 saving living summary buffers.
20887 a function for selecting a particular group which will contain
20888 the articles listed in a list of article numbers/id's.
20891 a battery of character translation functions to translate common
20892 Mac, MS (etc) characters into ISO 8859-1.
20895 (defun article-fix-m$word ()
20896 "Fix M$Word smartquotes in an article."
20899 (let ((buffer-read-only nil))
20900 (goto-char (point-min))
20901 (while (search-forward "\221" nil t)
20902 (replace-match "`" t t))
20903 (goto-char (point-min))
20904 (while (search-forward "\222" nil t)
20905 (replace-match "'" t t))
20906 (goto-char (point-min))
20907 (while (search-forward "\223" nil t)
20908 (replace-match "\"" t t))
20909 (goto-char (point-min))
20910 (while (search-forward "\224" nil t)
20911 (replace-match "\"" t t)))))
20916 (add-hook 'gnus-exit-query-functions
20918 (if (and (file-exists-p nnmail-spool-file)
20919 (> (nnheader-file-size nnmail-spool-file) 0))
20920 (yes-or-no-p "New mail has arrived. Quit Gnus anyways? ")
20921 (y-or-n-p "Are you sure you want to quit Gnus? "))))
20925 allow message-default-headers to be a function.
20928 new Date score match types -- < > = (etc) that take floating point
20929 numbers and match on the age of the article.
20933 > > > If so, I've got one gripe: It seems that when I fire up gnus 5.2.25
20934 > > > under xemacs-19.14, it's creating a new frame, but is erasing the
20935 > > > buffer in the frame that it was called from =:-O
20937 > > Hm. How do you start up Gnus? From the toolbar or with
20938 > > `M-x gnus-other-frame'?
20940 > I normally start it up from the toolbar; at
20941 > least that's the way I've caught it doing the
20946 all commands that react to the process mark should push
20947 the current process mark set onto the stack.
20950 gnus-article-hide-pgp
20951 Selv ville jeg nok ha valgt å slette den dersom teksten matcher
20953 "\\(This\s+\\)?[^ ]+ has been automatically signed by"
20955 og det er maks hundre tegn mellom match-end og ----linja. Men -det-
20956 er min type heuristikk og langt fra alles.
20959 `gnus-subscribe-sorted' -- insert new groups where they would have been
20960 sorted to if `gnus-group-sort-function' were run.
20963 gnus-(group,summary)-highlight should respect any `face' text props set
20967 use run-with-idle-timer for gnus-demon instead of the
20968 home-brewed stuff for better reliability.
20971 add a way to select which NoCeM type to apply -- spam, troll, etc.
20974 nndraft-request-group should tally auto-save files.
20977 implement nntp-retry-on-break and nntp-command-timeout.
20980 gnus-article-highlight-limit that says when not to highlight (long)
20984 (nnoo-set SERVER VARIABLE VALUE)
20990 interrupitng agent fetching of articles should save articles.
20993 command to open a digest group, and copy all the articles there to the
20997 a variable to disable article body highlights if there's more than
20998 X characters in the body.
21001 handle 480/381 authinfo requests separately.
21004 include the texi/dir file in the distribution.
21007 format spec to "tab" to a position.
21010 Move all prompting to the new `M-n' default style.
21013 command to display all dormant articles.
21016 gnus-auto-select-next makeover -- list of things it should do.
21019 a score match type that adds scores matching on From if From has replied
21020 to something someone else has said.
21023 Read Netscape discussion groups:
21024 snews://secnews.netscape.com/netscape.communicator.unix
21027 One command to edit the original version if an article, and one to edit
21028 the displayed version.
21031 @kbd{T v} -- make all process-marked articles the children of the
21035 Switch from initial text to the new default text mechanism.
21038 How about making it possible to expire local articles? Will it be
21039 possible to make various constraints on when an article can be
21040 expired, e.g. (read), (age > 14 days), or the more interesting (read
21044 New limit command---limit to articles that have a certain string
21045 in the head or body.
21048 Allow breaking lengthy @sc{nntp} commands.
21051 gnus-article-highlight-limit, to disable highlighting in big articles.
21054 Editing an article should put the article to be edited
21055 in a special, unique buffer.
21058 A command to send a mail to the admin-address group param.
21061 A Date scoring type that will match if the article
21062 is less than a certain number of days old.
21065 New spec: %~(tab 56) to put point on column 56
21068 Allow Gnus Agent scoring to use normal score files.
21071 Rething the Agent active file thing. `M-g' doesn't update the active
21072 file, for instance.
21075 With dummy roots, `^' and then selecing the first article
21076 in any other dummy thread will make gnus highlight the
21077 dummy root instead of the first article.
21080 Propagate all group properties (marks, article numbers, etc) up to the
21081 topics for displaying.
21084 `n' in the group buffer with topics should go to the next group
21085 with unread articles, even if that group is hidden in a topic.
21088 gnus-posting-styles doesn't work in drafts.
21091 gnus-summary-limit-include-cached is slow when there are
21092 many articles in the cache, since it regenerates big parts of the
21093 summary buffer for each article.
21096 Implement gnus-batch-brew-soup.
21099 Group parameters and summary commands for un/subscribing to mailing
21103 Introduce nnmail-home-directory.
21106 gnus-fetch-group and friends should exit Gnus when the user
21110 The jingle is only played on the second invocation of Gnus.
21113 Bouncing articles should do MIME.
21116 Crossposted articles should "inherit" the % or @ mark from the other
21117 groups it has been crossposted to, or something. (Agent.)
21120 If point is on a group that appears multiple times in topics, and
21121 you press `l', point will move to the first instance of the group.
21124 A spec for the group line format to display the number of
21125 agent-downloaded articles in the group.
21128 Some nntp servers never respond when posting, so there should be a
21129 timeout for all commands.
21132 When stading on a topic line and `t'-ing, point goes to the last line.
21133 It should go somewhere else.
21136 I'm having trouble accessing a newsgroup with a "+" in its name with
21137 Gnus. There is a new newsgroup on msnews.microsoft.com named
21138 "microsoft.public.multimedia.directx.html+time" that I'm trying to
21140 "nntp+msnews.microsoft.com:microsoft.public.multimedia.directx.html+time"
21141 but it gives an error that it cant access the group.
21143 Is the "+" character illegal in newsgroup names? Is there any way in
21144 Gnus to work around this? (gnus 5.6.45 - XEmacs 20.4)
21151 Subject: Answer to your mails 01.01.1999-01.05.1999
21152 --text follows this line--
21153 Sorry I killfiled you...
21155 Under the subject "foo", you wrote on 01.01.1999:
21157 Under the subject "foo1", you wrote on 01.01.1999:
21162 Allow "orphan" scores in the Agent scoring.
21166 - Edit article's summary line.
21168 - Sort lines in buffer by subject
21170 --> the old subject line appears in Summary buffer, not the one that was
21176 Remove list identifiers from the subject in the summary when doing `^'
21180 Have the Agent write out articles, one by one, as it retrieves them,
21181 to avoid having to re-fetch them all if Emacs should crash while
21185 Be able to forward groups of messages as MIME digests.
21188 nnweb should include the "get whole article" article when getting articles.
21191 When I type W W c (gnus-article-hide-citation) in the summary
21192 buffer, the citations are revealed, but the [+] buttons don't turn
21193 into [-] buttons. (If I click on one of the [+] buttons, it does
21194 turn into a [-] button.)
21197 Perhaps there should be a command to "attach" a buffer of comments to
21198 a message? That is, `B WHATEVER', you're popped into a buffer, write
21199 something, end with `C-c C-c', and then the thing you've written gets
21200 to be the child of the message you're commenting.
21203 Handle external-body parts.
21206 When renaming a group name, nnmail-split-history does not get the group
21210 Allow mail splitting on bodies when using advanced mail splitting.
21213 (body "whatever.text")
21217 Be able to run `J u' from summary buffers.
21220 Solve the halting problem.
21229 @section The Manual
21233 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
21234 either @code{texi2dvi}
21236 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
21237 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
21239 to get what you hold in your hands now.
21241 The following conventions have been used:
21246 This is a @samp{string}
21249 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
21252 This is a @file{file}
21255 This is a @code{symbol}
21259 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
21263 (setq flargnoze "yes")
21266 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
21269 (setq flumphel 'yes)
21272 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
21273 ever get them confused.
21277 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
21278 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
21279 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
21280 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
21281 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
21282 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
21283 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
21289 @node On Writing Manuals
21290 @section On Writing Manuals
21292 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
21293 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
21294 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
21295 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
21296 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
21297 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
21300 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
21301 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
21302 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
21305 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
21306 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
21311 @section Terminology
21313 @cindex terminology
21318 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
21319 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
21320 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
21321 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
21322 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
21326 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
21327 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
21328 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
21329 not posting, and replying is not following up.
21333 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
21337 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
21342 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
21343 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
21344 is all done by the backends.
21348 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
21349 default, way of getting news.
21353 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
21354 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
21359 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
21360 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
21364 A message that has been posted as news.
21367 @cindex mail message
21368 A message that has been mailed.
21372 A mail message or news article
21376 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
21381 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
21386 A line from the head of an article.
21390 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
21391 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
21395 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
21396 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
21397 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
21398 normal @sc{head} format.
21402 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
21403 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
21404 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
21405 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
21406 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
21407 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
21409 @item killed groups
21410 @cindex killed groups
21411 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
21412 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
21414 @item zombie groups
21415 @cindex zombie groups
21416 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
21419 @cindex active file
21420 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
21421 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
21422 is rather large, as you might surmise.
21425 @cindex bogus groups
21426 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
21427 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
21428 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
21431 @cindex activating groups
21432 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
21433 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
21434 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
21438 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
21440 @item select method
21441 @cindex select method
21442 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
21445 @item virtual server
21446 @cindex virtual server
21447 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
21448 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
21449 whole is a virtual server.
21453 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
21454 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
21457 @item ephemeral groups
21458 @cindex ephemeral groups
21459 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
21460 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
21461 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
21464 @cindex solid groups
21465 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
21466 group buffer are solid groups.
21468 @item sparse articles
21469 @cindex sparse articles
21470 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
21471 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
21475 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
21476 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
21480 @cindex thread root
21481 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
21482 articles in the thread.
21486 An article that has responses.
21490 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
21494 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
21495 specified by RFC 1153.
21501 @node Customization
21502 @section Customization
21503 @cindex general customization
21505 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
21506 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
21507 for some quite common situations.
21510 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
21511 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
21512 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
21513 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
21517 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
21518 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
21520 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
21521 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
21522 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
21526 @item gnus-read-active-file
21527 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
21528 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
21529 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
21530 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
21531 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
21533 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
21534 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
21535 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
21536 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
21540 @node Slow Terminal Connection
21541 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
21543 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
21544 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
21545 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
21549 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
21550 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
21551 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
21552 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
21553 horizontal and vertical recentering.
21555 @item gnus-visible-headers
21556 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
21557 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
21558 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
21559 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
21561 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
21563 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
21564 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
21565 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
21568 @item gnus-use-full-window
21569 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
21570 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
21571 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
21572 want to read them anyway.
21574 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
21575 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
21578 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
21579 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
21580 lines, which might save some time.
21584 @node Little Disk Space
21585 @subsection Little Disk Space
21588 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
21589 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
21593 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
21594 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
21595 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
21596 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
21599 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
21600 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
21601 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
21602 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
21605 @item gnus-save-killed-list
21606 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
21607 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
21608 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
21609 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
21615 @subsection Slow Machine
21616 @cindex slow machine
21618 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
21619 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
21621 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
21622 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
21624 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
21625 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
21626 summary buffer faster.
21630 @node Troubleshooting
21631 @section Troubleshooting
21632 @cindex troubleshooting
21634 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
21642 Make sure your computer is switched on.
21645 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
21646 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
21650 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
21651 like @samp{T-gnus 6.14.* (based on Pterodactyl Gnus v0.*; for SEMI 1.1*,
21652 FLIM 1.1*)} you have the right files loaded. If, on the other hand, you
21653 get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp flee}, you have some
21654 old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
21657 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
21661 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
21662 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
21663 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
21664 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
21665 something like that.
21668 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
21671 @cindex reporting bugs
21673 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
21675 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
21676 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
21677 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
21678 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
21680 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
21681 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
21682 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
21683 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
21686 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
21687 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
21688 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
21689 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
21690 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
21691 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
21693 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
21694 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
21695 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
21698 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
21699 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
21701 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
21702 @cindex ding mailing list
21703 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
21704 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
21708 @node Gnus Reference Guide
21709 @section Gnus Reference Guide
21711 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
21712 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
21713 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
21714 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
21717 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
21718 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
21719 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
21720 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
21721 and general methods of operation.
21724 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
21725 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
21726 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
21727 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
21728 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
21729 * Group Info:: The group info format.
21730 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
21731 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
21732 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
21736 @node Gnus Utility Functions
21737 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
21738 @cindex Gnus utility functions
21739 @cindex utility functions
21741 @cindex internal variables
21743 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
21744 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
21745 Below is a list of the most common ones.
21749 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
21750 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
21751 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
21753 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
21754 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
21755 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
21757 @item gnus-group-real-name
21758 @findex gnus-group-real-name
21759 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
21762 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
21763 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
21764 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
21765 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
21767 @item gnus-get-info
21768 @findex gnus-get-info
21769 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
21771 @item gnus-group-unread
21772 @findex gnus-group-unread
21773 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
21777 @findex gnus-active
21778 The active entry for @var{group}.
21780 @item gnus-set-active
21781 @findex gnus-set-active
21782 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
21784 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
21785 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
21786 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
21789 @item gnus-continuum-version
21790 @findex gnus-continuum-version
21791 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
21792 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
21795 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
21796 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
21797 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
21799 @item gnus-news-group-p
21800 @findex gnus-news-group-p
21801 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
21803 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
21804 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
21805 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
21807 @item gnus-server-to-method
21808 @findex gnus-server-to-method
21809 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
21811 @item gnus-server-equal
21812 @findex gnus-server-equal
21813 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
21815 @item gnus-group-native-p
21816 @findex gnus-group-native-p
21817 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
21819 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
21820 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
21821 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
21823 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
21824 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
21825 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
21827 @item group-group-find-parameter
21828 @findex group-group-find-parameter
21829 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
21830 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
21832 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
21833 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
21834 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
21836 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
21837 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
21838 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
21840 @item gnus-check-backend-function
21841 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
21842 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
21843 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
21846 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
21850 @item gnus-read-method
21851 @findex gnus-read-method
21852 Prompts the user for a select method.
21857 @node Backend Interface
21858 @subsection Backend Interface
21860 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
21861 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
21862 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
21863 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
21864 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
21865 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
21867 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
21868 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
21869 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
21870 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
21871 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
21872 been opened, the function should fail.
21874 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
21875 name. Take this example:
21879 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
21880 (nntp-port-number 4324))
21883 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
21884 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
21886 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
21887 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
21888 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
21890 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
21891 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
21892 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
21894 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
21895 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
21896 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
21897 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
21898 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
21899 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
21902 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
21903 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
21904 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
21905 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
21908 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
21911 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
21914 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
21915 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
21916 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
21917 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
21918 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
21919 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
21923 @node Required Backend Functions
21924 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
21928 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
21930 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
21931 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
21932 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
21933 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
21935 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
21936 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
21937 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
21938 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
21940 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
21941 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
21942 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
21943 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
21944 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
21945 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
21946 number, do maximum fetches.
21948 Here's an example HEAD:
21951 221 1056 Article retrieved.
21952 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
21953 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
21954 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
21955 Subject: Re: Something very droll
21956 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
21957 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
21959 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
21960 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
21961 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
21965 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
21966 these in the data buffer.
21968 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
21972 head = error / valid-head
21973 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
21974 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
21975 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
21976 header = <text> eol
21979 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
21980 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
21984 nov-buffer = *nov-line
21985 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
21986 field = <text except TAB>
21989 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
21993 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
21995 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
21996 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
21998 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
21999 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
22000 server. In fact, it should do so.
22002 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
22003 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
22006 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
22008 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
22009 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
22012 There should be no data returned.
22015 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
22017 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
22018 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
22019 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
22020 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
22022 There should be no data returned.
22025 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
22027 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
22028 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
22029 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
22030 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
22032 There should be no data returned.
22035 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
22037 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
22039 There should be no data returned.
22042 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
22044 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
22045 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
22046 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
22047 it would be nice if that were possible.
22049 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
22050 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
22051 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
22052 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
22053 into its article buffer.
22055 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
22056 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
22057 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
22058 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
22059 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
22060 on successful article retrieval.
22063 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
22065 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
22066 making @var{group} the current group.
22068 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
22071 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
22074 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
22077 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
22078 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
22079 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
22080 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
22081 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
22082 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
22083 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
22084 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
22087 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
22088 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
22089 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
22093 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
22095 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
22096 a no-op on most backends.
22098 There should be no data returned.
22101 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
22103 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
22106 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
22109 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
22110 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
22113 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
22114 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
22117 active-file = *active-line
22118 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
22120 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
22123 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
22124 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
22125 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
22128 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
22130 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
22131 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
22132 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
22133 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
22134 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
22135 clear if the posting could not be completed.
22137 There should be no result data from this function.
22142 @node Optional Backend Functions
22143 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
22147 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
22149 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
22150 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
22151 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
22153 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
22154 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
22155 former is in the same format as the data from
22156 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
22157 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
22160 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
22164 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
22166 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
22167 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
22168 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
22169 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
22170 should return the (altered) group info.
22172 There should be no result data from this function.
22175 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
22177 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
22178 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
22179 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
22180 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
22181 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
22182 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
22183 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
22184 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
22186 There should be no result data from this function.
22189 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
22191 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
22192 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
22193 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some backends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
22194 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
22195 propagate the mark information to the server.
22197 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
22200 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
22203 Range is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. Action is
22204 @code{set}, @code{add} or @code{del}, respectively used for removing all
22205 existing marks and setting them as specified, adding (preserving the
22206 marks not mentioned) mark and removing (preserving the marks not
22207 mentioned) marks. Mark is a list of marks; where each mark is a symbol.
22208 Currently used marks are @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply},
22209 @code{expire}, @code{killed}, @code{dormant}, @code{save},
22210 @code{download} and @code{unsend}, but your backend should, if possible,
22211 not limit itself to these.
22213 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
22214 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
22215 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
22216 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
22218 An example action list:
22221 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
22222 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
22223 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
22226 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
22227 mark on (currently not used for anything).
22229 There should be no result data from this function.
22231 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
22233 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
22234 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
22235 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
22236 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
22237 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
22239 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
22240 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
22241 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
22244 There should be no result data from this function.
22247 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
22249 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
22250 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
22251 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
22252 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
22253 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
22254 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
22255 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
22257 There should be no result data from this function.
22260 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
22262 The result data from this function should be a description of
22266 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
22268 description = <text>
22271 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
22273 The result data from this function should be the description of all
22274 groups available on the server.
22277 description-buffer = *description-line
22281 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
22283 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
22284 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
22285 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
22288 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
22290 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
22292 There should be no return data.
22295 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
22297 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
22298 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
22299 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
22300 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
22301 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
22304 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
22307 There should be no result data returned.
22310 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
22313 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
22314 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
22316 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
22317 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
22318 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
22319 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
22320 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
22321 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
22323 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
22324 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
22327 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
22328 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
22330 There should be no data returned.
22333 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
22335 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
22336 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
22337 this function in short order.
22339 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
22340 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
22342 There should be no data returned.
22345 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
22347 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
22348 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
22350 There should be no data returned.
22353 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
22355 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
22356 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
22357 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
22359 There should be no data returned.
22362 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
22364 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
22365 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
22367 There should be no data returned.
22372 @node Error Messaging
22373 @subsubsection Error Messaging
22375 @findex nnheader-report
22376 @findex nnheader-get-report
22377 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
22378 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
22379 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
22380 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
22381 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
22382 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
22385 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
22387 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
22390 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
22391 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
22392 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
22393 takes one argument---the server symbol.
22395 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
22396 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
22397 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
22400 @node Writing New Backends
22401 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
22403 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
22404 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
22405 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
22406 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
22407 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
22410 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
22411 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
22412 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
22414 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
22415 package called @code{nnoo}.
22417 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
22418 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
22424 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
22425 parameters. For instance:
22428 (nnoo-declare nndir
22432 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
22433 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
22436 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
22437 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
22438 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
22440 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
22441 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
22442 a function in those backends.
22445 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
22446 "Where nndir will look for groups."
22447 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
22450 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
22451 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
22452 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
22454 @item nnoo-define-basics
22455 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
22459 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
22463 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
22464 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
22465 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
22467 @item nnoo-map-functions
22468 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
22469 functions from the parent backends.
22472 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
22473 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
22474 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
22477 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
22478 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
22479 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
22480 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
22483 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
22484 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
22485 haven't already been defined.
22491 nnmh-request-newgroups)
22495 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
22496 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
22497 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
22502 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
22505 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
22506 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
22510 (require 'nnheader)
22514 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
22516 (nnoo-declare nndir
22519 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
22520 "Where nndir will look for groups."
22521 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
22523 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
22524 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
22527 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
22528 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
22529 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
22531 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
22532 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
22534 ;;; Interface functions.
22536 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
22538 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
22539 (setq nndir-directory
22540 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
22542 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
22543 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
22544 (push `(nndir-current-group
22545 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
22547 (push `(nndir-top-directory
22548 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
22550 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
22552 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
22553 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
22554 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
22555 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
22556 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
22560 nnmh-status-message
22562 nnmh-request-newgroups))
22568 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
22569 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
22571 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
22572 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
22573 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
22574 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
22576 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
22577 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
22582 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
22585 The abilities can be:
22589 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
22591 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
22593 This backend supports both mail and news.
22595 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
22598 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
22599 articles and groups.
22601 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
22602 true for almost all backends.
22603 @item prompt-address
22604 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
22605 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
22606 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
22610 @node Mail-like Backends
22611 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
22613 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
22614 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
22615 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
22616 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
22619 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
22620 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
22621 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
22624 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
22625 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
22628 This function takes four parameters.
22632 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
22635 @item exit-function
22636 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
22638 @item temp-directory
22639 Where the temporary files should be stored.
22642 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
22643 performed for one group only.
22646 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
22647 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
22648 find the article number assigned to this article.
22650 The function also uses the following variables:
22651 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
22652 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
22653 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
22654 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
22658 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
22659 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
22663 @node Score File Syntax
22664 @subsection Score File Syntax
22666 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
22667 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
22668 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
22670 Here's a typical score file:
22674 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
22681 BNF definition of a score file:
22684 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
22685 element = rule / atom
22686 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
22687 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
22688 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
22689 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
22691 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
22692 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
22693 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
22694 date-header = "date"
22695 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
22696 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
22697 score = "nil" / <integer>
22698 date = "nil" / <natural number>
22699 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
22700 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
22701 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
22702 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
22703 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
22704 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
22705 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
22706 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
22707 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
22708 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
22709 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
22710 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
22711 exclude-files / read-only / touched
22712 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
22713 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
22714 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
22715 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
22716 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
22717 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
22718 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
22719 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
22720 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
22721 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
22722 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
22723 eval = "eval" space <form>
22724 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
22727 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
22730 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
22731 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
22732 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
22733 one looong line, then that's ok.
22735 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
22736 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
22740 @subsection Headers
22742 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
22743 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
22744 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
22745 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
22747 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
22748 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
22749 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
22750 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
22751 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
22752 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
22753 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
22755 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
22756 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
22757 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
22758 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
22759 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
22761 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
22762 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
22768 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
22769 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
22771 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
22772 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
22773 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
22774 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
22776 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
22780 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
22783 is transformed into
22786 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
22789 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
22790 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
22793 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
22796 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
22797 is slightly tricky:
22800 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
22806 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
22809 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
22815 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
22822 and is equal to the previous range.
22824 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
22825 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
22826 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
22830 range = simple-range / normal-range
22831 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
22832 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
22833 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
22834 number *[ " " contents ]
22837 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
22838 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
22839 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
22840 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
22841 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
22846 @subsection Group Info
22848 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
22849 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
22850 describes the group.
22852 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
22853 second is a more complex one:
22856 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
22858 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
22859 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
22861 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
22864 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
22865 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
22866 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
22867 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
22868 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
22869 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
22870 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
22871 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
22872 this section is about.
22874 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
22875 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
22876 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
22878 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
22881 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
22882 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
22883 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
22884 group = quote <string> quote
22885 ralevel = rank / level
22886 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
22887 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
22888 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
22890 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
22891 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
22892 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
22893 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
22896 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
22897 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
22900 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
22901 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
22904 @item gnus-info-group
22905 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
22906 @findex gnus-info-group
22907 @findex gnus-info-set-group
22908 Get/set the group name.
22910 @item gnus-info-rank
22911 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
22912 @findex gnus-info-rank
22913 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
22914 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
22916 @item gnus-info-level
22917 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
22918 @findex gnus-info-level
22919 @findex gnus-info-set-level
22920 Get/set the group level.
22922 @item gnus-info-score
22923 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
22924 @findex gnus-info-score
22925 @findex gnus-info-set-score
22926 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
22928 @item gnus-info-read
22929 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
22930 @findex gnus-info-read
22931 @findex gnus-info-set-read
22932 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
22934 @item gnus-info-marks
22935 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
22936 @findex gnus-info-marks
22937 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
22938 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
22940 @item gnus-info-method
22941 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
22942 @findex gnus-info-method
22943 @findex gnus-info-set-method
22944 Get/set the group select method.
22946 @item gnus-info-params
22947 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
22948 @findex gnus-info-params
22949 @findex gnus-info-set-params
22950 Get/set the group parameters.
22953 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
22954 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
22956 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
22957 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
22958 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
22959 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
22962 @node Extended Interactive
22963 @subsection Extended Interactive
22964 @cindex interactive
22965 @findex gnus-interactive
22967 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
22968 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
22969 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
22972 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
22973 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
22978 The best thing to do would have been to implement
22979 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
22980 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
22981 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
22982 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
22983 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
22984 @code{interactive}.
22986 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
22991 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
22992 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
22996 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
22997 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
22998 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
23001 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
23005 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
23009 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
23015 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
23016 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
23020 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
23021 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
23022 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
23024 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
23025 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
23026 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
23027 Gnus, that's very useful.
23029 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
23030 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
23031 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
23032 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
23033 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
23034 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
23035 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
23036 following function:
23039 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
23043 (,function ,@@args))
23047 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
23048 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
23049 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
23052 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
23053 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
23054 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
23056 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
23057 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
23058 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
23061 @node Various File Formats
23062 @subsection Various File Formats
23065 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
23066 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
23070 @node Active File Format
23071 @subsubsection Active File Format
23073 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
23074 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
23077 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
23080 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
23081 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
23082 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
23083 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
23084 no.general 1000 900 y
23087 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
23090 active = *group-line
23091 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
23092 group = <non-white-space string>
23094 high-number = <non-negative integer>
23095 low-number = <positive integer>
23096 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
23099 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
23100 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
23103 @node Newsgroups File Format
23104 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
23106 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
23107 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
23108 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
23111 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
23112 Here's the definition:
23116 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
23117 group = <non-white-space string>
23119 description = <string>
23124 @node Emacs for Heathens
23125 @section Emacs for Heathens
23127 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
23128 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
23129 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
23130 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
23131 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
23132 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
23133 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
23137 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
23138 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
23143 @subsection Keystrokes
23147 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
23150 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
23153 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
23154 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
23155 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
23156 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
23157 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
23158 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
23160 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
23161 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
23162 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
23163 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
23164 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
23165 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
23166 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
23168 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
23169 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
23170 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
23171 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
23172 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
23173 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
23174 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
23176 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
23177 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
23178 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
23179 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
23180 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
23186 @subsection Emacs Lisp
23188 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
23189 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
23190 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
23191 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
23193 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
23194 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
23195 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
23196 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
23197 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
23198 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
23199 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
23202 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
23203 write the following:
23206 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
23209 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
23210 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
23211 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
23214 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
23215 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
23216 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
23217 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
23218 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
23220 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
23221 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
23222 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
23226 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
23230 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
23233 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
23234 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
23237 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
23240 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
23241 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
23244 @include gnus-faq.texi