4 @settitle T-gnus 6.16 Manual
10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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286 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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295 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
297 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
300 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
301 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
302 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
303 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
304 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
305 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
306 License'' in the Emacs manual.
308 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
309 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
310 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
312 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
313 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
314 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
315 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
323 This file documents gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
325 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
326 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
328 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
329 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
330 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
331 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
332 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
333 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
334 License'' in the Emacs manual.
336 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
337 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
338 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
340 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
341 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
342 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
343 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
349 @title T-gnus 6.16 Manual
351 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
354 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
355 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
357 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
359 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
360 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
361 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
362 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
363 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
364 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
365 License'' in the Emacs manual.
367 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
368 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
369 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
371 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
372 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
373 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
374 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
383 @top The gnus Newsreader
387 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using T-gnus. The news
388 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@acronym{NNTP}, local
389 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
392 T-gnus provides @acronym{MIME} features based on @acronym{SEMI} API. So
393 T-gnus supports your right to read strange messages including big images
394 or other various kinds of formats. T-gnus also supports
395 internationalization/localization and multiscript features based on MULE
396 API. So T-gnus does not discriminate various language communities. Oh,
397 if you are a Klingon, please wait Unicode Next Generation.
399 This manual corresponds to T-gnus 6.16.
410 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
411 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
413 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
414 being accused of plagiarism:
416 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
417 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
418 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
419 can even read news with it!
421 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
422 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
423 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend gnus to make it behave
424 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
425 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
431 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
432 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
433 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
434 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
435 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
436 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
437 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
438 * Various:: General purpose settings.
439 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
440 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, @acronym{FAQ}, History, Internals.
441 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
442 * Key Index:: Key Index.
444 Other related manuals
446 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
447 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
448 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
449 * PGG:(pgg). @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
452 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
456 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
457 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
458 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
459 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
460 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
461 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
462 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
463 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
464 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
465 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
466 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
470 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
471 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
472 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
476 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
477 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
478 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
479 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
480 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
481 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
482 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
483 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
484 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
485 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
486 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
487 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
488 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
489 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
490 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
491 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
492 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
496 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
497 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
498 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
502 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
503 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
504 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
505 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
506 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
510 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
511 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
512 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
513 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
514 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
518 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
519 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
520 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
521 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
522 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
523 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
524 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
525 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
526 * Threading:: How threads are made.
527 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
528 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
529 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
530 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
531 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
532 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
533 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
534 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
535 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
536 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
537 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
538 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
539 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
540 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
541 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
542 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
543 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
544 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
545 or reselecting the current group.
546 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
547 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
548 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
549 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
551 Summary Buffer Format
553 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
554 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
555 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
556 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
560 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
561 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
563 Reply, Followup and Post
565 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
566 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
567 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
568 * Canceling and Superseding::
572 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
573 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
574 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
576 * Generic Marking Commands::
577 * Setting Process Marks::
581 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
582 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
583 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
587 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
588 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
590 Customizing Threading
592 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
593 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
594 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
595 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
599 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
600 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
601 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
602 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
603 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
604 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
608 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
609 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
610 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
614 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
615 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
616 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
617 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
618 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
619 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
620 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
621 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
622 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
623 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
624 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
626 Alternative Approaches
628 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
629 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
631 Various Summary Stuff
633 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
634 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
635 * Summary Generation Commands::
636 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
640 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
641 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
642 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
643 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
644 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
648 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
649 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
650 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
651 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
652 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
653 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
654 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
655 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
659 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
660 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
661 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
662 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
663 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @acronym{IMAP} client.
664 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
665 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
666 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
670 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
671 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
672 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
673 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
674 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
675 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
676 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
680 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
681 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
685 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
686 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
687 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
691 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
692 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
693 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
694 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
695 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
696 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
697 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
698 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
699 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
700 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
701 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
702 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
703 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
707 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
708 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
709 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
711 Choosing a Mail Back End
713 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
714 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the Rmail Babyl format.
715 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
716 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
717 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
718 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
719 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
724 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
725 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
726 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
727 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
728 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
729 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
733 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
734 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
735 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
736 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
737 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use @acronym{IMAP} namespace in Gnus.
741 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
742 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
743 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
744 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
745 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
749 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
753 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
754 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
755 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
759 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
760 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
764 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
765 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
766 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
767 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
768 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
769 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
770 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
771 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
772 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
773 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
774 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
775 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
779 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
780 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
781 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
785 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
786 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
787 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
791 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
792 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
793 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
794 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
795 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
796 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
797 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
798 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
799 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
800 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
801 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
802 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
803 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
804 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
805 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
806 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
807 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
811 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
812 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
813 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
814 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
818 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
819 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
820 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
824 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
825 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
826 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
827 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
828 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
829 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
830 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
831 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
832 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
833 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
834 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
835 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
836 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
837 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
838 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
839 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
840 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
841 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
842 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
846 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
847 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
848 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
849 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
850 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
851 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
852 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
853 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
857 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
858 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
859 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
860 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
864 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
865 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
866 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
867 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
868 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
869 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
873 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
874 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
875 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
876 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
877 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
878 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
879 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
880 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
881 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ.
885 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
886 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
887 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
888 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
889 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
890 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
891 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
892 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
893 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
897 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
898 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
899 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
900 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
901 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
902 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10.
906 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
907 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
908 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
909 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
913 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
914 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
915 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
916 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
917 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
918 * Group Info:: The group info format.
919 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
920 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
921 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
925 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
926 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
927 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
928 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
929 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
930 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
934 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
935 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
939 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
940 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
946 @chapter Starting gnus
951 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting gnus
952 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
955 @findex gnus-other-frame
956 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
957 If you want to start gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
958 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
960 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
961 variables in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file. This file is similar to
962 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
964 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
965 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
968 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
969 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
970 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
971 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
972 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
973 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
974 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
975 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
976 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
977 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
978 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
982 @node Finding the News
983 @section Finding the News
986 @vindex gnus-select-method
988 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where gnus should look for
989 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
990 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
991 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
994 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @acronym{NNTP} server is where
995 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
998 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
1001 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
1004 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
1007 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1008 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1009 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1011 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1013 @cindex @acronym{NNTP} server
1014 If this variable is not set, gnus will take a look at the
1015 @env{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1016 gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1017 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter.
1018 If that fails as well, gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs
1019 as an @acronym{NNTP} server. That's a long shot, though.
1021 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1022 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1023 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1024 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1026 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1027 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1028 You can also make gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1029 @acronym{NNTP} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1030 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), gnus will let you choose between the servers
1031 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1032 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1033 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1034 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1037 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1039 However, if you use one @acronym{NNTP} server regularly and are just
1040 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1041 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1042 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1043 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1044 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1046 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1048 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1049 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1050 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1051 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1052 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1053 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1056 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1057 you would typically set this variable to
1060 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1064 @node The First Time
1065 @section The First Time
1066 @cindex first time usage
1068 If no startup files exist, gnus will try to determine what groups should
1069 be subscribed by default.
1071 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1072 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, gnus
1073 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1074 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1077 Since she hasn't, gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1078 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1079 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1081 You'll also be subscribed to the gnus documentation group, which should
1082 help you with most common problems.
1084 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, gnus will just
1085 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1089 @node The Server is Down
1090 @section The Server is Down
1091 @cindex server errors
1093 If the default server is down, gnus will understandably have some
1094 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1095 the news groups, you may want to start gnus anyway.
1097 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1098 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1099 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1100 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1101 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1102 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1103 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1105 @findex gnus-no-server
1106 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1108 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1109 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1110 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start gnus. That might come in handy
1111 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1112 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1113 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1114 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1118 @section Slave Gnusae
1121 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one gnus at the
1122 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1123 are using the two different gnusae to read from two different servers),
1124 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1126 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1127 @file{.newsrc} file.
1129 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the gnus
1130 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1131 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1132 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1133 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1134 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1135 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1138 Anyway, you start one gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1139 however you do it). Each subsequent slave gnusae should be started with
1140 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1141 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1142 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master gnus
1143 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1144 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1145 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1147 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1148 information in the normal (i.e., master) @file{.newsrc} file.
1150 If the @file{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1151 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1152 file. If you answer ``yes'', the unsaved changes to the master will be
1153 incorporated into the slave. If you answer ``no'', the slave may see some
1154 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1156 @node Fetching a Group
1157 @section Fetching a Group
1158 @cindex fetching a group
1160 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1161 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1162 group and I don't care whether gnus has been started or not''. This is
1163 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1164 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1165 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1171 @cindex subscription
1173 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1174 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1175 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1176 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1177 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1178 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1179 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1180 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1181 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1184 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1185 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1186 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1190 @node Checking New Groups
1191 @subsection Checking New Groups
1193 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1194 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1195 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1196 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, gnus will ask the
1197 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1198 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1199 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1200 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1201 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1202 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1204 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1205 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1206 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1207 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1208 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1209 work. I could write a function to make gnus guess whether the server
1210 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1211 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1212 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1213 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1214 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1216 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, gnus will
1217 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1218 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1219 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1220 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1221 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1224 @node Subscription Methods
1225 @subsection Subscription Methods
1227 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1228 What gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1229 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1231 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1232 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1234 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1238 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1239 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1240 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1241 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1242 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1244 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1245 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1246 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1247 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1249 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1250 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1251 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1253 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1254 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1255 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1256 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1257 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1258 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1259 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1260 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1261 up. Or something like that.
1263 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1264 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1265 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that gnus will ask
1266 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1267 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1269 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1270 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1271 Kill all new groups.
1273 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1274 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1275 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1276 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1277 topic parameter that looks like
1283 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1286 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1291 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1292 A closely related variable is
1293 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1294 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will ask you in a
1295 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1296 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1299 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1300 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1301 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1302 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1305 @node Filtering New Groups
1306 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1308 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1309 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1310 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1313 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1316 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1317 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1318 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1319 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1320 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1321 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1322 subscribing these groups.
1323 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1324 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1326 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1327 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1328 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1329 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1330 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1331 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1332 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1333 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1335 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1336 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1337 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1338 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1339 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1340 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1341 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1342 that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1343 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1344 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1347 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1348 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1351 @node Changing Servers
1352 @section Changing Servers
1353 @cindex changing servers
1355 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another.
1356 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1357 very flaky and you want to use another.
1359 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1360 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1364 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1365 @acronym{NNTP} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1366 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1367 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1370 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1371 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1372 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1373 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1375 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1376 @findex gnus-change-server
1377 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1378 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1379 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1380 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1381 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1383 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1384 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1385 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1386 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1387 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1389 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1390 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1391 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1392 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1393 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1394 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1396 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1397 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1398 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1399 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1401 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1402 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1403 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1404 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1405 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1406 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1407 cache for all groups).
1411 @section Startup Files
1412 @cindex startup files
1417 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1418 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1420 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1421 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1422 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1423 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1424 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1425 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1426 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1428 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1429 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1430 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1431 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1432 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1433 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1435 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1436 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1437 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1438 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1439 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from gnus faster.
1440 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1441 gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1442 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes gnus ignore the
1443 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1444 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1446 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1447 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1448 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1449 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1450 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1451 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1452 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1453 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1454 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1455 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1456 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1457 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1459 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1460 @vindex gnus-backup-startup-file
1461 @vindex version-control
1462 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1463 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1464 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1465 If you want version control for this file, set
1466 @code{gnus-backup-startup-file}. It respects the same values as the
1467 @code{version-control} variable.
1469 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1470 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1471 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1472 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1473 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1474 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1475 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1476 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1477 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1478 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1481 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1482 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1484 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1485 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1488 @vindex gnus-init-file
1489 @vindex gnus-site-init-file
1490 When gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1491 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1492 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1493 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1494 @file{site-init} files with gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1495 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1496 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1497 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1498 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1504 @cindex dribble file
1507 Whenever you do something that changes the gnus data (reading articles,
1508 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1509 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1510 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1511 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1514 If gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1515 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1518 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1519 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, gnus won't create and
1520 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1522 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1523 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1524 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, gnus will dribble
1525 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1526 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1527 file permissions as the @file{.newsrc} file.
1529 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1530 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1531 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1534 @node The Active File
1535 @section The Active File
1537 @cindex ignored groups
1539 When gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1540 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1541 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1543 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1544 Before examining the active file, gnus deletes all lines that match the
1545 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1546 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make gnus
1547 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1548 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1549 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1552 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1553 @c if you set it to anything else.
1555 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1557 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1558 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent gnus from
1559 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1561 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1562 you actually subscribe to.
1564 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1565 variable to @code{nil} will probably make gnus slower, not faster. At
1566 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow gnus down
1567 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1569 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1570 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1571 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1572 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1573 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1574 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1576 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1577 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1578 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1581 If this variable is @code{nil}, gnus will ask for group info in total
1582 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1583 @acronym{NNTP} server, gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1584 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1585 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1586 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1588 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1589 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1591 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1592 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1594 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1595 secondary select methods.
1598 @node Startup Variables
1599 @section Startup Variables
1603 @item gnus-load-hook
1604 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1605 A hook run while gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1606 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1607 times you start gnus.
1609 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1610 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1611 A hook run after starting up gnus successfully.
1613 @item gnus-startup-hook
1614 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1615 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1617 @item gnus-started-hook
1618 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1619 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1622 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1623 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1624 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1625 generating the group buffer.
1627 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1628 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1629 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1630 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1631 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1632 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1633 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1634 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1636 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1637 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1638 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1639 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1640 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1641 @file{~/.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @file{.emacs} instead.
1643 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1644 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1645 Message displayed by gnus when no groups are available.
1647 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1648 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1649 If non-@code{nil}, play the gnus jingle at startup.
1651 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1652 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1653 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1654 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1660 @chapter Group Buffer
1661 @cindex group buffer
1663 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1665 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1666 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1667 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1668 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1669 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1670 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1671 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1672 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1673 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1674 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1675 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1676 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1677 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1678 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1679 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1680 @c human rights at 9...
1683 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1684 is the first buffer shown when gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1685 long as gnus is active.
1689 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1690 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1691 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1692 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1693 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1694 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1695 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1696 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1702 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1703 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1704 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1705 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1706 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1707 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1708 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1709 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1710 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1711 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1712 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1713 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1714 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1715 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1716 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1717 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1718 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1722 @node Group Buffer Format
1723 @section Group Buffer Format
1726 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1727 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
1728 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1732 @node Group Line Specification
1733 @subsection Group Line Specification
1734 @cindex group buffer format
1736 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1737 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1739 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1742 25: news.announce.newusers
1743 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1748 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1749 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1750 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1751 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1753 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1754 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1755 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1756 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1757 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1758 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1760 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1762 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1763 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1764 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1765 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1766 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1768 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1769 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1770 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1772 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1777 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1780 Whether the group is subscribed.
1783 Level of subscribedness.
1786 Number of unread articles.
1789 Number of dormant articles.
1792 Number of ticked articles.
1795 Number of read articles.
1798 Number of unseen articles.
1801 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1802 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1804 Gnus uses this estimation because the @acronym{NNTP} protocol provides
1805 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1806 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1807 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1808 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1809 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1810 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1811 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1814 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1817 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1826 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1827 comment element in the group parameters.
1830 Newsgroup description. You need to read the group descriptions
1831 before these will appear, and to do that, you either have to set
1832 @code{gnus-read-active-file} or use the group buffer @kbd{M-d}
1836 @samp{m} if moderated.
1839 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1845 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1851 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1855 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1858 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1859 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1860 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1861 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1862 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1865 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1867 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1871 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1874 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1878 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1879 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1880 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1881 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1882 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1883 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1888 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1889 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1890 group, or a bogus native group.
1893 @node Group Mode Line Specification
1894 @subsection Group Mode Line Specification
1895 @cindex group mode line
1897 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1898 The mode line can be changed by setting
1899 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1900 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1904 The native news server.
1906 The native select method.
1910 @node Group Highlighting
1911 @subsection Group Highlighting
1912 @cindex highlighting
1913 @cindex group highlighting
1915 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1916 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1917 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1918 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1919 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1921 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1925 (cond (window-system
1926 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1927 (defface my-group-face-1
1928 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1929 (defface my-group-face-2
1930 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t)))
1931 "Second group face")
1932 (defface my-group-face-3
1933 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1934 (defface my-group-face-4
1935 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1936 (defface my-group-face-5
1937 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1939 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1940 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1941 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1942 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1943 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1944 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1947 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1949 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1956 The number of unread articles in the group.
1960 Whether the group is a mail group.
1962 The level of the group.
1964 The score of the group.
1966 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1968 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather,
1969 @var{max-number} minus @var{min-number} plus one.
1971 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1972 topic being inserted.
1975 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1976 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal gnus
1977 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1979 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1980 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1981 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1982 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1983 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1986 @node Group Maneuvering
1987 @section Group Maneuvering
1988 @cindex group movement
1990 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1991 expected, hopefully.
1997 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1998 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1999 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
2005 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
2006 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
2007 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
2011 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2012 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2016 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2017 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2021 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2022 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2023 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2027 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2028 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2029 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2032 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2038 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2039 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2040 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2045 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2046 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2047 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2051 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2052 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2053 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2056 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2057 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2058 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2059 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2063 @node Selecting a Group
2064 @section Selecting a Group
2065 @cindex group selection
2070 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2071 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2072 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2073 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2074 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2075 this command, gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2076 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{n}, @var{n}
2077 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{n} is
2078 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{n} newest articles, if @var{n} is
2079 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{n})} oldest articles.
2081 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2082 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2083 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2085 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2086 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2091 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2092 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2093 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2094 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2095 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2099 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2100 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2101 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2102 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2103 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2104 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2105 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2106 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2107 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2108 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2111 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2112 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2113 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2114 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2115 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2118 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2119 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2120 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2121 doing any processing of its contents
2122 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2123 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2124 manner will have no permanent effects.
2128 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2129 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should
2130 consider to be a big group. If it is @code{nil}, no groups are
2131 considered big. The default vaule is 200. If the group has more
2132 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, gnus will query the user
2133 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many
2134 articles should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a
2135 negative number (@var{-n}), the @var{n} oldest articles will be
2136 fetched. If it is positive, the @var{n} articles that have arrived
2137 most recently will be fetched.
2139 @vindex gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup
2140 @code{gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup} is the same as
2141 @code{gnus-large-newsgroup}, but is only used for ephemeral
2144 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2145 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2146 @vindex gnus-auto-select-subject
2147 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2148 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2149 Which article this is is controlled by the
2150 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2156 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2159 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2162 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2164 @item unseen-or-unread
2165 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2166 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2170 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2174 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2175 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2177 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2178 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2179 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2180 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2184 @node Subscription Commands
2185 @section Subscription Commands
2186 @cindex subscription
2194 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2195 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2196 Toggle subscription to the current group
2197 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2203 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2204 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2205 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2206 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2212 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2213 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2214 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2220 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2221 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2224 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2225 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2226 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2227 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2228 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2234 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2235 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2239 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2240 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2243 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2244 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2245 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2246 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2247 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2248 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2249 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2250 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2251 @file{.newsrc} file.
2255 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2265 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2266 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2267 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2268 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2269 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2270 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2275 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2276 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2277 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2281 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2282 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2283 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2285 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2286 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2287 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2288 If you have switched from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another, all your marks
2289 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2290 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2297 @section Group Levels
2301 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2302 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2303 can ask gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2304 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2305 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2307 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2313 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2314 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2315 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2316 prompted for a level.
2319 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2320 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2321 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2322 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2323 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2324 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2325 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2326 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2327 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2328 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2329 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2330 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2331 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2332 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2333 reasons of efficiency.
2335 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2336 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2338 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2339 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2340 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2341 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2342 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2343 groups are hidden, in a way.
2345 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2346 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2347 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2348 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2349 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2350 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2352 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2353 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2354 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2355 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2356 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2357 list of killed groups.)
2359 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2360 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2361 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2363 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2364 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2365 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2366 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2367 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2368 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2369 relevant valid ranges.
2371 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2372 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2373 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2374 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2375 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2376 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2379 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2380 one with the best level.
2382 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2383 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2384 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2387 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2388 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2389 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2390 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2393 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2394 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2395 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2396 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2398 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2399 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2400 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2401 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2402 to 5. The default is 6.
2406 @section Group Score
2411 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2412 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2413 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2416 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2417 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2418 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2419 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2420 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2421 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2422 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2423 least significant part.))
2425 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2426 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2427 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2428 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2429 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2430 action after each summary exit, you can add
2431 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2432 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2433 slow things down somewhat.
2436 @node Marking Groups
2437 @section Marking Groups
2438 @cindex marking groups
2440 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2441 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2442 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2443 bidding on those groups.
2445 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2446 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2447 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2455 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2456 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2462 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2463 Remove the mark from the current group
2464 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2468 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2469 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2473 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2474 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2478 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2479 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2483 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2484 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2485 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2488 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2490 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2491 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2492 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2493 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2494 the command to be executed.
2497 @node Foreign Groups
2498 @section Foreign Groups
2499 @cindex foreign groups
2501 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2502 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2503 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2504 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2511 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2512 @cindex making groups
2513 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2514 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2515 to subscribe to @acronym{NNTP} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2519 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2520 @cindex renaming groups
2521 Rename the current group to something else
2522 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2523 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2529 @findex gnus-group-customize
2530 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2534 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2535 @cindex renaming groups
2536 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2537 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2541 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2542 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2543 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2547 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2548 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2549 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2553 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2555 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2556 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2561 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2562 Make the gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2566 @cindex (ding) archive
2567 @cindex archive group
2568 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2569 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2570 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2571 Make a gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2572 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2573 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2574 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2578 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2580 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2581 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2582 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2583 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2587 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2589 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2590 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2591 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2595 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2596 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2598 Make a group based on some file or other
2599 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2600 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2601 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2602 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2603 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2604 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2605 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2606 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2607 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2611 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2612 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2613 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2614 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2618 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2622 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2623 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2624 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2625 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2626 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2627 @xref{Web Searches}.
2629 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2630 to a particular group by using a match string like
2631 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2634 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2635 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2636 This function will delete the current group
2637 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2638 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2639 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2640 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2641 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2645 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2646 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2647 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2651 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2652 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2653 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2656 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2659 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2660 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2661 gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2662 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2663 groups from different @acronym{NNTP} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2664 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2668 @node Group Parameters
2669 @section Group Parameters
2670 @cindex group parameters
2672 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2673 Here's an example group parameter list:
2676 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2680 We see that each element consists of a ``dotted pair''---the thing before
2681 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2682 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2683 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2685 Some parameters have correspondent customizable variables, each of which
2686 is an alist of regexps and values.
2688 The following group parameters can be used:
2693 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2696 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2699 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2700 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2701 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2702 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2703 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2705 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2706 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2707 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2708 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2709 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2710 list address instead.
2712 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2716 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2719 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2722 It is totally ignored
2723 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2724 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2726 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2727 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2728 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2729 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2730 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2732 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2733 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2734 sending the message.
2736 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2737 @cindex mail list groups
2738 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2739 entering summary buffer.
2741 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2746 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2747 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2748 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2749 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2750 headers for your posts to these lists. Look here @pxref{Mailing
2751 Lists, , Mailing Lists, message, The Message Manual} for a complete
2752 treatment of available MFT support.
2754 See also @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses}, the function that
2755 directly uses this group parameter.
2759 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2760 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2761 of whether it has any unread articles.
2763 @item broken-reply-to
2764 @cindex broken-reply-to
2765 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2766 headers in this group are to be ignored, and for the header to be hidden
2767 if @code{reply-to} is part of @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}. This
2768 can be useful if you're reading a mailing list group where the listserv
2769 has inserted @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv
2770 itself. That is broken behavior. So there!
2774 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2775 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2779 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, gnus
2780 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2781 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2786 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2787 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2788 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2789 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2790 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2791 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2792 (@pxref{Archived Messages}). CAVEAT:: It yields an error putting
2793 @code{(gcc-self . t)} in groups of a @code{nntp} server or so, because
2794 a @code{nntp} server doesn't accept articles.
2798 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2799 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2800 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2802 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2805 @cindex total-expire
2806 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2807 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2808 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2809 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2812 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2816 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2817 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2818 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2819 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2820 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2821 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2822 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2825 @cindex score file group parameter
2826 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2827 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2828 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2831 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2832 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2833 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2834 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2837 @cindex admin-address
2838 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2839 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2840 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2841 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2845 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2846 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2850 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2853 Display the last @var{integer} articles in the group. This is the same as
2854 entering the group with @kbd{C-u @var{integer}}.
2857 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2861 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2863 Here are some examples:
2867 Display only unread articles.
2870 Display everything except expirable articles.
2872 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2873 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2877 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2878 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2879 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2880 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2881 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2885 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2886 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2887 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2891 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2892 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2893 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2897 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2898 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2899 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2901 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2903 @item ignored-charsets
2904 @cindex ignored-charset
2905 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2906 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2907 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2909 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2912 @cindex posting-style
2913 You can store additional posting style information for this group
2914 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2915 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2916 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2917 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2919 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2920 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2921 like this in the group parameters:
2926 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
2927 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2932 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2933 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2937 An item like @code{(banner . @var{regexp})} causes any part of an article
2938 that matches the regular expression @var{regexp} to be stripped. Instead of
2939 @var{regexp}, you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2940 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2941 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2945 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2946 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2947 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2948 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
2950 For example, if the INBOX.list.sieve group has the @code{(sieve
2951 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
2952 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
2953 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
2956 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
2957 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
2961 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, , Top, sieve,
2964 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2965 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2966 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2967 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2968 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2969 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2970 @code{eval}ed there.
2972 Note that this feature sets the variable locally to the summary buffer.
2973 But some variables are evaluated in the article buffer, or in the
2974 message buffer (of a reply or followup or otherwise newly created
2975 message). As a workaround, it might help to add the variable in
2976 question to @code{gnus-newsgroup-variables}. @xref{Various Summary
2977 Stuff}. So if you want to set @code{message-from-style} via the group
2978 parameters, then you may need the following statement elsewhere in your
2979 @file{~/.gnus} file:
2981 (add-to-list 'gnus-newsgroup-variables 'message-from-style)
2984 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
2985 A use for this feature is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
2986 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
2988 nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps
2990 has the tag @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this
2991 tag can be removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for
2992 the group by putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")}
2993 into the group parameters for the group.
2995 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2996 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2997 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2998 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2999 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
3003 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
3004 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
3005 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
3006 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
3007 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
3009 @vindex gnus-parameters
3010 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
3011 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
3015 (setq gnus-parameters
3017 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3018 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
3019 (gnus-summary-line-format
3020 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
3024 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
3028 (gnus-use-scoring t))
3032 (broken-reply-to . t))))
3035 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
3036 the @code{to-group} example shows.
3039 @node Listing Groups
3040 @section Listing Groups
3041 @cindex group listing
3043 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3051 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3052 List all groups that have unread articles
3053 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3054 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3055 only lists groups of level five (i.e.,
3056 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3063 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3064 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3065 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3066 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3067 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3068 unsubscribed groups).
3072 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3073 List all unread groups on a specific level
3074 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3075 with no unread articles.
3079 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3080 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3081 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3082 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3087 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3088 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3092 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3093 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3094 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3098 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3099 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3103 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3104 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3105 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3106 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3107 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3108 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3109 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3110 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3114 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3115 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3116 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3120 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3121 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3122 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3126 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3127 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3131 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3132 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3136 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3137 List groups limited within the current selection
3138 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3142 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3143 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3147 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3148 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3152 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3153 @cindex visible group parameter
3154 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3155 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3156 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3157 get the same effect.
3159 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3160 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3161 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3162 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3163 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3166 @node Sorting Groups
3167 @section Sorting Groups
3168 @cindex sorting groups
3170 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3171 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3172 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3173 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3174 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3175 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3180 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3181 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3182 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3184 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3185 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3186 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3188 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3189 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3190 Sort by group level.
3192 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3193 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3194 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3196 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3197 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3198 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3199 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3201 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3202 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3203 Sort by number of unread articles.
3205 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3206 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3207 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3209 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3210 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3211 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3216 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3217 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3221 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3222 some sorting criteria:
3226 @kindex G S a (Group)
3227 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3228 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3229 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3232 @kindex G S u (Group)
3233 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3234 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3235 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3238 @kindex G S l (Group)
3239 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3240 Sort the group buffer by group level
3241 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3244 @kindex G S v (Group)
3245 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3246 Sort the group buffer by group score
3247 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3250 @kindex G S r (Group)
3251 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3252 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3253 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3256 @kindex G S m (Group)
3257 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3258 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name@*
3259 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3262 @kindex G S n (Group)
3263 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3264 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3265 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3269 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3270 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3272 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3273 commands will sort in reverse order.
3275 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3279 @kindex G P a (Group)
3280 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3281 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3282 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3285 @kindex G P u (Group)
3286 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3287 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3288 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3291 @kindex G P l (Group)
3292 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3293 Sort the groups by group level
3294 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3297 @kindex G P v (Group)
3298 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3299 Sort the groups by group score
3300 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3303 @kindex G P r (Group)
3304 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3305 Sort the groups by group rank
3306 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3309 @kindex G P m (Group)
3310 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3311 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name@*
3312 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3315 @kindex G P n (Group)
3316 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3317 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3318 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3321 @kindex G P s (Group)
3322 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3323 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3327 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3331 @node Group Maintenance
3332 @section Group Maintenance
3333 @cindex bogus groups
3338 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3339 Find bogus groups and delete them
3340 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3344 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3345 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3346 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3347 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3348 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3352 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3353 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3354 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3355 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3356 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3357 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3360 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3361 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3362 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3363 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3368 @node Browse Foreign Server
3369 @section Browse Foreign Server
3370 @cindex foreign servers
3371 @cindex browsing servers
3376 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3377 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3378 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3379 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3382 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3383 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3384 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3385 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3387 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3392 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3393 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3397 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3398 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3401 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3402 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3403 Enter the current group and display the first article
3404 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3407 @kindex RET (Browse)
3408 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3409 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3413 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3414 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3415 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3421 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3422 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3426 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3427 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3431 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3432 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3433 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3438 @section Exiting gnus
3439 @cindex exiting gnus
3441 Yes, gnus is ex(c)iting.
3446 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3447 Suspend gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit gnus,
3448 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3449 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3453 @findex gnus-group-exit
3454 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3455 Quit gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3459 @findex gnus-group-quit
3460 Quit gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3461 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3464 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3465 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3466 @vindex gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook
3467 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend gnus and
3468 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit gnus, while
3469 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3475 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3476 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3477 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3483 @section Group Topics
3486 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3487 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3488 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3489 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3490 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3491 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3495 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3496 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3507 2: alt.religion.emacs
3510 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3512 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3513 13: comp.sources.unix
3516 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3518 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3519 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3520 is a toggling command.)
3522 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3523 dum@dots{} Nice tune, that@dots{} la la la@dots{} What, you're back?
3524 Yes, and now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed
3525 under @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
3528 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3529 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3530 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
3533 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3537 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3538 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3539 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3540 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3541 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3545 @node Topic Commands
3546 @subsection Topic Commands
3547 @cindex topic commands
3549 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3550 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3551 definitions slightly.
3553 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3554 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3555 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3556 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3557 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3558 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3560 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3567 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3568 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3569 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3573 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3575 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3576 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3577 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3578 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3581 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3582 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3583 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3584 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3588 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3589 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3590 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3591 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3597 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3598 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3599 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3603 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3604 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3605 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3608 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3609 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the `cut' part of cut and paste. Then,
3610 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the `Gnus'
3611 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the `paste' part of cut and
3612 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3614 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3615 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3619 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3620 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3627 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3629 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3630 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3631 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3632 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3633 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3634 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3638 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3644 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3645 Move the current group to some other topic
3646 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3647 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3651 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3652 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3656 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3657 Copy the current group to some other topic
3658 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3659 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3663 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3664 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3665 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3669 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3670 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3671 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3675 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3676 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3677 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3678 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3679 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3680 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3681 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3684 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3685 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3689 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3690 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3691 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3695 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3696 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3697 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3701 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3702 Toggle hiding empty topics
3703 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3707 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3708 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3709 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3710 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3713 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3714 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3715 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3716 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3717 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3720 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3721 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3722 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3723 expiry process (if any)
3724 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3728 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3729 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3732 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3733 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3734 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3738 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3739 List all groups that gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3740 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3743 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3744 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3745 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3748 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3749 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3750 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3754 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3755 @cindex group parameters
3756 @cindex topic parameters
3758 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3759 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3764 @node Topic Variables
3765 @subsection Topic Variables
3766 @cindex topic variables
3768 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3769 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3771 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3772 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3773 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3786 Number of groups in the topic.
3788 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3790 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3793 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3794 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3795 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3798 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3799 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3801 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3802 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3803 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3807 @subsection Topic Sorting
3808 @cindex topic sorting
3810 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3816 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3817 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3818 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3819 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3822 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3823 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3824 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3825 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3828 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3829 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3830 Sort the current topic by group level
3831 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3834 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3835 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3836 Sort the current topic by group score
3837 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3840 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3841 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3842 Sort the current topic by group rank
3843 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3846 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3847 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3848 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3849 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3852 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3853 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3854 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3855 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3859 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
3860 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
3861 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
3862 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
3866 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
3867 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
3871 @node Topic Topology
3872 @subsection Topic Topology
3873 @cindex topic topology
3876 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3883 2: alt.religion.emacs
3886 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3888 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3889 13: comp.sources.unix
3893 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3894 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3895 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3900 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3901 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3905 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3906 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3907 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3908 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3909 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3910 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3912 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3913 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3914 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3917 @node Topic Parameters
3918 @subsection Topic Parameters
3919 @cindex topic parameters
3921 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3922 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3923 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3925 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3930 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3931 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3932 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3935 @item subscribe-level
3936 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
3937 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
3938 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
3942 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3943 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3944 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3945 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3951 2: alt.religion.emacs
3955 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3957 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3958 13: comp.sources.unix
3962 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3963 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3964 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3965 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3966 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3967 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3969 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3970 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3971 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3972 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3973 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3975 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3976 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3977 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3978 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3979 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3980 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3981 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3982 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3985 @node Misc Group Stuff
3986 @section Misc Group Stuff
3989 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3990 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3991 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3992 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3993 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
4000 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
4001 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
4002 @xref{Server Buffer}.
4006 @findex gnus-group-post-news
4007 Start composing a message (a news by default)
4008 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
4009 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
4010 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
4011 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
4012 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4016 @findex gnus-group-mail
4017 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
4018 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
4019 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
4020 @xref{Composing Messages}.
4024 @findex gnus-group-news
4025 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
4026 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
4027 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4029 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
4030 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
4031 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
4032 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
4033 for this to work though.
4037 Variables for the group buffer:
4041 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
4042 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
4043 is called after the group buffer has been
4046 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4047 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4048 is called after the group buffer is
4049 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4052 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4053 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4054 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4055 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4057 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4058 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4059 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4060 whether they are empty or not.
4062 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4063 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4064 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
4065 non-@acronym{ASCII} group names.
4069 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4070 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4073 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4074 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4075 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4076 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
4077 is used to show non-@acronym{ASCII} group names. @code{((".*"
4078 utf-8))} is the default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the
4079 default is @code{nil}.
4083 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4084 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
4089 @node Scanning New Messages
4090 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4091 @cindex new messages
4092 @cindex scanning new news
4098 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4099 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4100 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4101 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4102 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4103 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4108 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4109 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4110 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4111 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4112 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4113 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4114 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4116 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4117 @cindex activating groups
4119 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4120 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4125 @findex gnus-group-restart
4126 Restart gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4127 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4128 gnus variables, and then starts gnus all over again.
4132 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4133 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4135 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4136 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4140 @node Group Information
4141 @subsection Group Information
4142 @cindex group information
4143 @cindex information on groups
4150 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4151 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4154 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} for the current group
4155 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the @acronym{FAQ}
4156 from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on
4157 a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
4158 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4159 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be
4160 used for fetching the file.
4162 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, gnus will attempt to go
4163 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4167 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4168 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4170 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4171 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4174 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4175 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4176 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4180 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4181 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4182 @cindex control message
4183 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4184 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4185 group if given a prefix argument.
4187 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-@code{nil},
4188 Gnus will open the control messages in a browser using
4189 @code{browse-url}. Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp}
4190 and displayed in an ephemeral group.
4192 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4193 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode} (@pxref{Compressed
4194 Files, ,Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Manual}).
4198 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4200 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4201 @cindex describing groups
4202 @cindex group description
4203 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4204 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4205 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4209 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4210 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4211 prefix, force gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4218 @findex gnus-version
4219 Display current gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4223 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4224 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4227 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4230 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4231 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4235 @node Group Timestamp
4236 @subsection Group Timestamp
4238 @cindex group timestamps
4240 It can be convenient to let gnus keep track of when you last read a
4241 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4242 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4245 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4248 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4250 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4251 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4254 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4255 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4258 This will result in lines looking like:
4261 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4262 0: custom 19961002T012713
4265 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4266 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4270 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4271 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4274 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4275 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4279 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4280 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4281 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4282 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4284 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4290 @subsection File Commands
4291 @cindex file commands
4297 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4298 @vindex gnus-init-file
4299 @cindex reading init file
4300 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4301 @file{~/.gnus.el}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4305 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4306 @cindex saving .newsrc
4307 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4308 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4309 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4312 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4313 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4314 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4319 @node Sieve Commands
4320 @subsection Sieve Commands
4321 @cindex group sieve commands
4323 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4324 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4325 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4326 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4327 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4329 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4330 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4331 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4332 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4333 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4334 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4335 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4336 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4337 regenerate the Sieve script.
4339 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4340 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4341 is generated. If it is non-@code{nil} (the default) articles is
4342 placed in all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article
4343 is only placed in the group with the first matching rule. For
4344 example, the group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4345 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4346 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is @code{nil}. (When
4347 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-@code{nil}, it looks the same
4348 except that the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4351 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4352 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4357 @xref{Top, ,Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4363 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4364 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4365 @cindex generating sieve script
4366 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4367 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4371 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4372 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4373 @cindex updating sieve script
4374 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4375 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4376 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4381 @node Summary Buffer
4382 @chapter Summary Buffer
4383 @cindex summary buffer
4385 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4386 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4388 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4389 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4391 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4394 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4395 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4396 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4397 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4398 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4399 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4400 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4401 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4402 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4403 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4404 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4405 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4406 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4407 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4408 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4409 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4410 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4411 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4412 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4413 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4414 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4415 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4416 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4417 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4418 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4419 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4420 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4421 or reselecting the current group.
4422 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4423 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4424 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4425 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4429 @node Summary Buffer Format
4430 @section Summary Buffer Format
4431 @cindex summary buffer format
4435 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4436 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4437 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4443 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4444 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4445 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4446 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4449 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4450 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4451 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4452 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4453 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4454 @code{From} header. Three pre-defined functions exist:
4455 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4456 fast, and too simplistic solution;
4457 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works nicely, but is
4458 slower; and @code{std11-extract-address-components}, which works very
4459 nicely, but is slower. The default function will return the wrong
4460 answer in 5% of the cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the
4461 other function instead:
4464 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4465 'mail-extract-address-components)
4468 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4469 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4470 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4471 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4474 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4475 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4477 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4478 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4479 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4480 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4481 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4483 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4484 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4485 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4486 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4487 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4488 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4490 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4492 The following format specification characters and extended format
4493 specification(s) are understood:
4499 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4500 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4502 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4503 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4504 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4506 Full @code{From} header.
4508 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4510 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4513 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4514 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4515 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4516 may be more thorough.
4518 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4521 Number of lines in the article.
4523 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4524 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4526 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4527 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4529 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4531 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4532 lines. A thread could be drawn like this:
4545 You can customize the appearance with the following options. Note
4546 that it is possible to make the thread display look really neat by
4547 replacing the default @acronym{ASCII} characters with graphic
4548 line-drawing glyphs.
4550 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4551 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4552 Used for the root of a thread. If @code{nil}, use subject
4553 instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4555 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4556 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4557 Used for the false root of a thread (@pxref{Loose Threads}). If
4558 @code{nil}, use subject instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4560 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4561 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4562 Used for a thread with just one message. If @code{nil}, use subject
4563 instead. The default is @samp{}.
4565 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4566 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4567 Used for drawing a vertical line. The default is @samp{| }.
4569 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4570 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4571 Used for indenting. The default is @samp{ }.
4573 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4574 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4575 Used for a leaf with brothers. The default is @samp{+-> }.
4577 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4578 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4579 Used for a leaf without brothers. The default is @samp{\-> }
4584 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4585 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4587 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4588 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4590 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4591 for adopted articles.
4593 One space for each thread level.
4595 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4597 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4600 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4601 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4602 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4605 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4607 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4608 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4609 default level. If the difference between
4610 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4611 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4619 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4621 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4627 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4628 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4630 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4631 article has any children.
4637 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4638 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4640 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4641 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4642 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4643 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4644 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4645 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4648 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4649 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4650 There can only be one such area.
4652 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4653 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, gnus will
4654 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4655 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4656 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4657 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4659 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4660 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4662 This restriction may disappear in later versions of gnus.
4665 @node To From Newsgroups
4666 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4670 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4671 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4672 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4673 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4674 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4678 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4679 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4680 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4684 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4685 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4688 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4689 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4692 @findex gnus-extra-header
4693 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4694 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4695 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4698 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4702 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4703 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4704 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4705 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4706 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4707 headers are used instead.
4711 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4712 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4713 to include extra headers when generating overview (@acronym{NOV}) files.
4714 If you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after
4715 changing this variable, by entering the server buffer using @kbd{^},
4716 and then @kbd{g} on the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause
4719 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4720 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4721 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4722 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4724 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4728 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4730 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4731 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4732 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4733 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4737 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4740 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
4741 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
4744 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4745 the @acronym{NOV} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4746 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
4752 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4753 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4756 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4757 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4759 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4760 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4761 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4762 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4764 Here are the elements you can play with:
4770 Unprefixed group name.
4772 Current article number.
4774 Current article score.
4778 Number of unread articles in this group.
4780 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4783 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4784 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4785 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4786 and no unselected ones.
4788 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4789 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4791 Subject of the current article.
4793 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4795 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4797 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4799 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4801 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4803 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4807 @node Summary Highlighting
4808 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4812 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4813 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4814 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4815 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4816 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4818 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4819 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4820 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4821 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4823 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4824 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4825 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4826 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4828 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4829 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4830 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4831 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4832 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4833 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4836 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4837 ((> score default) . bold))
4839 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4840 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4844 @node Summary Maneuvering
4845 @section Summary Maneuvering
4846 @cindex summary movement
4848 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4849 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4851 None of these commands select articles.
4856 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4857 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4858 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4859 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4860 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4864 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4865 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4866 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4867 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4868 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4871 @kindex G g (Summary)
4872 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4873 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4874 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4877 If gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4878 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4879 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4880 to the group buffer.
4882 Variables related to summary movement:
4886 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4887 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4888 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4889 no more unread articles after the current one, gnus will offer to go to
4890 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4891 empty, gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4892 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, gnus will select the
4893 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
4894 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
4895 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
4896 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
4897 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
4898 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
4899 @pxref{Group Levels}.
4901 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4902 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4903 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4904 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4905 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4906 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4907 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4909 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4911 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4912 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4913 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4914 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4915 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4917 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4918 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4919 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4920 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4921 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4922 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4923 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4924 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4927 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4928 the given number of lines from the top.
4933 @node Choosing Articles
4934 @section Choosing Articles
4935 @cindex selecting articles
4938 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4939 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4943 @node Choosing Commands
4944 @subsection Choosing Commands
4946 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4947 and they all select and display an article.
4949 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4950 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4954 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4955 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4956 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4957 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4959 If you have an article window open already and you press @kbd{SPACE}
4960 again, the article will be scrolled. This lets you conveniently
4961 @kbd{SPACE} through an entire newsgroup. @pxref{Paging the Article}.
4966 @kindex G n (Summary)
4967 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4968 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4969 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4974 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4975 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4976 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4981 @kindex G N (Summary)
4982 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4983 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4988 @kindex G P (Summary)
4989 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4990 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4993 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4994 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4995 Go to the next article with the same subject
4996 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4999 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
5000 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
5001 Go to the previous article with the same subject
5002 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
5006 @kindex G f (Summary)
5008 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
5009 Go to the first unread article
5010 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
5014 @kindex G b (Summary)
5016 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
5017 Go to the unread article with the highest score
5018 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
5019 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
5024 @kindex G l (Summary)
5025 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
5026 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
5029 @kindex G o (Summary)
5030 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
5032 @cindex article history
5033 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
5034 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
5035 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
5036 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
5037 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
5038 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
5043 @kindex G j (Summary)
5044 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
5045 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
5046 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
5051 @node Choosing Variables
5052 @subsection Choosing Variables
5054 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
5057 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5058 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5059 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
5060 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
5061 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
5062 the server and display it in the article buffer.
5064 @item gnus-select-article-hook
5065 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
5066 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
5067 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article. If you would
5068 like each article to be saved in the Agent as you read it, putting
5069 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this hook will do so.
5071 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
5072 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
5073 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
5074 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
5075 @findex gnus-unread-mark
5076 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
5077 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
5078 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
5079 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
5080 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
5081 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
5082 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
5083 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
5084 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
5089 @node Paging the Article
5090 @section Scrolling the Article
5091 @cindex article scrolling
5096 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5097 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5098 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5099 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5100 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5102 @vindex gnus-article-boring-faces
5103 @vindex gnus-article-skip-boring
5104 If @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} is non-@code{nil} and the rest of
5105 the article consists only of citations and signature, then it will be
5106 skipped; the next article will be shown instead. You can customize
5107 what is considered uninteresting with
5108 @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}. You can manually view the article's
5109 pages, no matter how boring, using @kbd{C-M-v}.
5112 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5113 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5114 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5117 @kindex RET (Summary)
5118 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5119 Scroll the current article one line forward
5120 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5123 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5124 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5125 Scroll the current article one line backward
5126 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5130 @kindex A g (Summary)
5132 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5133 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5134 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5135 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5136 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5137 the way it came from the server.
5139 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5140 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5141 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5144 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5149 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5154 @kindex A < (Summary)
5155 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5156 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5157 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5162 @kindex A > (Summary)
5163 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5164 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5168 @kindex A s (Summary)
5170 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5171 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5172 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5176 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5177 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5182 @node Reply Followup and Post
5183 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5186 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5187 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5188 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5189 * Canceling and Superseding::
5193 @node Summary Mail Commands
5194 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5196 @cindex composing mail
5198 Commands for composing a mail message:
5204 @kindex S r (Summary)
5206 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5207 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5208 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5209 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5210 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5215 @kindex S R (Summary)
5216 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5217 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5218 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5219 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5220 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5223 @kindex S w (Summary)
5224 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5225 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5226 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5227 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5228 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
5231 @kindex S W (Summary)
5232 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5233 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5234 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5235 the process/prefix convention.
5238 @kindex S v (Summary)
5239 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5240 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5241 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5242 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5243 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5244 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5247 @kindex S V (Summary)
5248 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5249 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5250 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5251 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5254 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5255 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5256 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5257 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5258 If you need this because a mailing list incorrectly sets a
5259 @code{Reply-To} header pointing to the list, you probably want to set
5260 the @code{broken-reply-to} group parameter instead, so things will work
5261 correctly. @xref{Group Parameters}.
5264 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5265 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5266 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5267 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5268 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5272 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5273 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5274 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5275 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5276 Forward the current article to some other person
5277 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5278 headers of the forwarded article.
5283 @kindex S m (Summary)
5284 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5285 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5286 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5287 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5288 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5293 @kindex S i (Summary)
5294 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5295 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5296 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5297 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5299 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5300 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
5301 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5302 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5303 for this to work though.
5306 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5307 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5308 @cindex bouncing mail
5309 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5310 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5311 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5312 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5313 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5314 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, gnus will try to fetch
5315 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5316 very well fail, though.
5319 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5320 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5321 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5322 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5323 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5324 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5325 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5326 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5327 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5328 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5330 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5331 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5332 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5333 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5334 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5336 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5337 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5340 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5341 @findex gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward
5342 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5343 result using mail (@code{gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward}). This
5344 command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5347 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5348 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5349 @cindex crossposting
5350 @cindex excessive crossposting
5351 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5352 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5354 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5355 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5356 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5357 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5358 command understands the process/prefix convention
5359 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5363 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5364 Manual}, for more information.
5367 @node Summary Post Commands
5368 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5370 @cindex composing news
5372 Commands for posting a news article:
5378 @kindex S p (Summary)
5379 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5380 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5381 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5382 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5383 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5388 @kindex S f (Summary)
5389 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5390 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5391 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5395 @kindex S F (Summary)
5397 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5398 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5399 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5400 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5401 process/prefix convention.
5404 @kindex S n (Summary)
5405 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5406 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5407 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5410 @kindex S N (Summary)
5411 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5412 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5413 message through mail and include the original message
5414 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5415 the process/prefix convention.
5418 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5419 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5420 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5421 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5422 headers of the forwarded article.
5425 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5426 @findex gnus-summary-digest-post-forward
5428 @cindex making digests
5429 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5430 (@code{gnus-summary-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
5431 process/prefix convention.
5434 @kindex S u (Summary)
5435 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5436 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5437 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5438 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5441 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5442 Manual}, for more information.
5445 @node Summary Message Commands
5446 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5450 @kindex S y (Summary)
5451 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5452 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5453 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5454 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5455 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5460 @node Canceling and Superseding
5461 @subsection Canceling Articles
5462 @cindex canceling articles
5463 @cindex superseding articles
5465 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5466 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5468 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5470 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5472 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5473 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5474 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5475 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5476 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5477 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5479 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5480 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5483 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5484 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5485 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5487 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5488 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5489 your original article.
5491 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5493 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5494 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5495 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5498 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5499 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5500 have posted almost the same article twice.
5502 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5503 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5504 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5505 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5506 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5507 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5508 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5509 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5510 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5511 canceled/superseded.
5513 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5515 @node Delayed Articles
5516 @section Delayed Articles
5517 @cindex delayed sending
5518 @cindex send delayed
5520 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5521 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5522 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5523 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5526 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5529 @findex gnus-delay-article
5530 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5531 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5532 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5533 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5537 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5538 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5539 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5540 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5543 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5544 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5545 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5548 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5549 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5550 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5551 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5552 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5553 that means a time tomorrow.
5556 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5557 couple of variables:
5560 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5561 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5562 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5563 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5565 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5566 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5567 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5568 formats described above.
5570 @item gnus-delay-group
5571 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5572 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5573 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5574 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5576 @item gnus-delay-header
5577 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5578 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5579 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5580 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5583 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5584 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5585 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5586 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5587 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5589 @findex gnus-delay-send-queue
5590 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5591 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5592 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5593 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5594 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5595 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5598 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5599 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5601 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5602 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
5603 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-@code{nil},
5604 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
5605 argument is ignored.
5607 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
5608 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
5609 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
5613 @node Marking Articles
5614 @section Marking Articles
5615 @cindex article marking
5616 @cindex article ticking
5619 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5621 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5622 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5623 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5625 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5628 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5629 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5630 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5634 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
5638 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5639 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5640 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5644 @node Unread Articles
5645 @subsection Unread Articles
5647 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5652 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5653 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5655 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5656 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5657 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5658 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5659 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5660 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5661 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5664 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5665 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5667 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5668 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5669 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5670 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5674 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5675 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5677 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5682 @subsection Read Articles
5683 @cindex expirable mark
5685 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5690 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5691 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5692 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5695 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5696 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5699 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5700 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5701 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5704 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5705 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5708 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5709 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5712 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5713 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5716 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5717 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5720 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5721 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5724 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5725 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5728 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5729 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5733 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5734 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5735 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5739 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5740 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5742 One more special mark, though:
5746 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5747 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5749 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5750 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5751 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5752 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by gnus at
5758 @subsection Other Marks
5759 @cindex process mark
5762 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5768 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5769 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5770 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5771 in the article, and gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5772 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5775 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5776 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5777 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5778 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5781 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5782 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5783 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5786 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5787 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5788 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5791 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5792 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5793 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5794 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5797 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5798 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
5799 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5800 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
5801 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
5802 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
5805 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5806 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
5807 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5808 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
5811 @vindex gnus-downloaded-mark
5812 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, articles may be
5813 downloaded for unplugged (offline) viewing. If you are using the
5814 @samp{%O} spec, these articles get the @samp{+} mark in that spec.
5815 (The variable @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} controls which character to
5819 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
5820 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, some articles might
5821 not have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you
5822 are unplugged (offline). If you are using the @samp{%O} spec, these
5823 articles get the @samp{-} mark in that spec. (The variable
5824 @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls which character to use.)
5827 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
5828 The Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics} downloads some articles
5829 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
5830 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
5831 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
5832 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
5836 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5837 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5838 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5839 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5840 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5843 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5844 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5845 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5846 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5847 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5848 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5852 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5853 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5854 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5856 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5857 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5858 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5862 @subsection Setting Marks
5863 @cindex setting marks
5865 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5870 @kindex M c (Summary)
5871 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5872 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5873 @cindex mark as unread
5874 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5875 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5881 @kindex M t (Summary)
5882 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5883 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5884 @xref{Article Caching}.
5889 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5890 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5891 Mark the current article as dormant
5892 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5896 @kindex M d (Summary)
5898 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5899 Mark the current article as read
5900 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5904 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5905 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5906 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5911 @kindex M k (Summary)
5912 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5913 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5914 and then select the next unread article
5915 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5919 @kindex M K (Summary)
5920 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5921 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5922 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5923 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5926 @kindex M C (Summary)
5927 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5928 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5929 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5932 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5933 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5934 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5935 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5938 @kindex M H (Summary)
5939 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5940 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
5941 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5944 @kindex M h (Summary)
5945 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
5946 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
5947 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
5950 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5951 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5952 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5953 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5956 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5957 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5958 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5959 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5963 @kindex M e (Summary)
5965 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5966 Mark the current article as expirable
5967 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5970 @kindex M b (Summary)
5971 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5972 Set a bookmark in the current article
5973 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5976 @kindex M B (Summary)
5977 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5978 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5979 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5982 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5983 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5984 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5985 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5988 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5989 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5990 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5991 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5994 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5995 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5996 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5997 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5998 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
6001 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
6002 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
6003 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
6004 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
6005 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
6006 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
6007 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
6008 The default is @code{t}.
6011 @node Generic Marking Commands
6012 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
6014 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
6015 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
6016 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
6017 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
6018 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
6021 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
6022 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
6025 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
6026 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
6027 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
6028 to list in this manual.
6030 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
6031 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
6032 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
6033 article, you could say something like:
6037 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
6038 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6039 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
6047 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6048 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
6052 @node Setting Process Marks
6053 @subsection Setting Process Marks
6054 @cindex setting process marks
6056 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
6057 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
6058 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
6059 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
6060 commands into the cache. For more information,
6061 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
6068 @kindex M P p (Summary)
6069 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6070 Mark the current article with the process mark
6071 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
6072 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6076 @kindex M P u (Summary)
6077 @kindex M-# (Summary)
6078 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
6079 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6082 @kindex M P U (Summary)
6083 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6084 Remove the process mark from all articles
6085 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6088 @kindex M P i (Summary)
6089 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
6090 Invert the list of process marked articles
6091 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
6094 @kindex M P R (Summary)
6095 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6096 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6097 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6100 @kindex M P G (Summary)
6101 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6102 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6103 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6106 @kindex M P r (Summary)
6107 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6108 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6112 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6113 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6116 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6117 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6118 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6119 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6122 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6123 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6124 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6125 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6128 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6129 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6130 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6131 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6134 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6135 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6136 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6139 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6140 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6141 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6142 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6145 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6146 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6147 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6150 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6151 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6152 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6153 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6156 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6157 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6158 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6159 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6162 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6163 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6164 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6165 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6168 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6169 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6170 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6171 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6175 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
6176 set process marks based on article body contents.
6183 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6184 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6185 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6188 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6189 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6190 additional articles.
6196 @kindex / / (Summary)
6197 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6198 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6199 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6203 @kindex / a (Summary)
6204 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6205 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6206 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6210 @kindex / x (Summary)
6211 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6212 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6213 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6214 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6219 @kindex / u (Summary)
6221 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6222 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6223 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6224 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6225 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6228 @kindex / m (Summary)
6229 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6230 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6231 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6234 @kindex / t (Summary)
6235 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6236 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6237 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6238 articles younger than that number of days.
6241 @kindex / n (Summary)
6242 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6243 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
6244 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
6245 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6248 @kindex / w (Summary)
6249 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6250 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6251 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6255 @kindex / . (Summary)
6256 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6257 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6258 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6261 @kindex / v (Summary)
6262 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6263 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6264 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6267 @kindex / p (Summary)
6268 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6269 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6270 group parameter predicate
6271 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). See @pxref{Group
6272 Parameters} for more on this predicate.
6276 @kindex M S (Summary)
6277 @kindex / E (Summary)
6278 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6279 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6280 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6283 @kindex / D (Summary)
6284 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6285 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6286 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6289 @kindex / * (Summary)
6290 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6291 Include all cached articles in the limit
6292 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6295 @kindex / d (Summary)
6296 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6297 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6298 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6301 @kindex / M (Summary)
6302 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6303 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6306 @kindex / T (Summary)
6307 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6308 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6311 @kindex / c (Summary)
6312 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6313 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit@*
6314 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6317 @kindex / C (Summary)
6318 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6319 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6320 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6321 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6324 @kindex / N (Summary)
6325 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6326 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6327 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6330 @kindex / o (Summary)
6331 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6332 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6333 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6341 @cindex article threading
6343 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6344 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6345 hierarchical fashion.
6347 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6348 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6349 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6350 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6351 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6352 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6353 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
6355 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6359 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6362 A tree-like article structure.
6365 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6368 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6369 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6370 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6371 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6372 called loose threads.
6374 @item thread gathering
6375 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6377 @item sparse threads
6378 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6379 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6385 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6386 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6390 @node Customizing Threading
6391 @subsection Customizing Threading
6392 @cindex customizing threading
6395 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6396 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6397 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6398 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
6403 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6406 @cindex loose threads
6409 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6410 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6411 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6412 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6413 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6414 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6416 When there is no real root of a thread, gnus will have to fudge
6417 something. This variable says what fudging method gnus should use.
6418 There are four possible values:
6422 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6423 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6424 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6425 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6426 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6431 @cindex adopting articles
6436 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6437 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6438 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6439 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6442 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6443 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6444 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6445 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6446 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6447 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6448 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6449 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6450 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6451 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to @code{t}.
6454 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6455 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6456 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6460 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6461 display them after one another.
6464 Don't gather loose threads.
6467 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6468 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6469 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6470 variable is @code{nil}, gnus requires an exact match between the
6471 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6472 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6473 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6474 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6475 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6476 variable to a really low number, you'll find that gnus will gather
6477 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6479 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6480 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, gnus will
6481 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6484 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6485 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6486 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6487 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6488 simplification is used.
6490 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6491 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6492 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6493 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6495 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6497 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6503 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6504 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6505 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6506 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6511 (mapconcat 'identity
6512 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6514 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6517 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6520 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6521 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6522 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6523 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6524 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6525 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6527 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6530 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6531 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6532 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6534 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6535 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6538 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6539 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6540 Remove excessive whitespace.
6542 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6543 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6544 Remove all whitespace.
6547 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6550 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6551 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6552 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6553 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6554 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6555 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6556 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6557 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6559 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6560 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6561 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6562 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6563 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6564 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6565 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6566 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6567 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6571 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6572 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6573 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6574 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6576 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6577 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6578 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6581 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6585 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6586 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6592 @node Filling In Threads
6593 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6596 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6597 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6598 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6599 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
6600 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
6601 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
6602 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
6603 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
6604 fetching old headers only works if the back end you are using carries
6605 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
6606 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
6607 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do
6610 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6611 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6612 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6614 @item gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
6615 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
6616 Same as @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}, but only used for ephemeral
6619 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6620 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6621 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6622 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6623 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6624 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6625 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where gnus guesses that an article
6626 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6627 lines. If you select a gap, gnus will try to fetch the article in
6628 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, gnus will display all these
6629 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6630 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, gnus won't cut
6631 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6632 @code{nil} by default.
6634 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6635 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6636 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6637 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6638 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6639 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6640 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6642 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6643 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6644 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6649 @node More Threading
6650 @subsubsection More Threading
6653 @item gnus-show-threads
6654 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6655 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6656 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6657 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6658 slower and more awkward.
6660 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6661 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6662 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6665 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
6666 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
6667 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}.
6672 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6673 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
6674 gnus-article-unseen-p))
6677 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
6678 unread, but you get my drift.)
6681 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6682 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6683 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6684 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6685 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6686 threads are expunged.
6688 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6689 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6690 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6693 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6694 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6695 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6696 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6697 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6698 result in a new thread.
6700 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6701 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6702 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6705 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6706 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6707 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6708 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6709 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6710 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6711 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6712 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6713 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6714 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6715 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6720 @node Low-Level Threading
6721 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6725 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6726 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6727 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
6728 @code{(gnus-set-summary-default-charset)}, which sets up local value of
6729 @code{default-mime-charset} in summary buffer based on variable
6730 @code{gnus-newsgroup-default-charset-alist}.
6732 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6733 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6734 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6735 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6736 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6737 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6738 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6739 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6740 meaningful. Here's one example:
6743 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6745 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6746 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6748 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6750 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6757 @node Thread Commands
6758 @subsection Thread Commands
6759 @cindex thread commands
6765 @kindex T k (Summary)
6766 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6767 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6768 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6769 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6770 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6775 @kindex T l (Summary)
6776 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6777 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6778 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6779 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6782 @kindex T i (Summary)
6783 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6784 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6785 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6788 @kindex T # (Summary)
6789 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6790 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6791 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6794 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6795 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6796 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6797 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6800 @kindex T T (Summary)
6801 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6802 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6805 @kindex T s (Summary)
6806 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6807 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any@*
6808 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6811 @kindex T h (Summary)
6812 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6813 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6816 @kindex T S (Summary)
6817 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6818 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6821 @kindex T H (Summary)
6822 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6823 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6826 @kindex T t (Summary)
6827 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6828 Re-thread the current article's thread
6829 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6830 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6833 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6834 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6835 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6836 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6840 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6841 understand the numeric prefix.
6846 @kindex T n (Summary)
6848 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
6850 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6851 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6852 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6855 @kindex T p (Summary)
6857 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
6859 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6860 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6861 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6864 @kindex T d (Summary)
6865 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6866 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6869 @kindex T u (Summary)
6870 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6871 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6874 @kindex T o (Summary)
6875 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6876 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6879 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6880 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6881 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6882 a command like @kbd{T k} (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6883 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6884 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6885 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6886 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6887 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6888 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6889 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6890 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6894 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6895 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6897 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6898 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6899 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6900 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6901 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6902 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6903 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
6904 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6905 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-thread
6906 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6907 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6908 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6909 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6911 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6912 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6913 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6914 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
6915 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
6916 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
6917 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
6918 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6920 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6921 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6922 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6924 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6925 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6926 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6927 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6928 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6929 ascending article order.
6931 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6932 by number, you could do something like:
6935 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6936 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6937 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6938 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6941 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6942 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6943 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6944 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6945 which the articles arrived.
6947 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6951 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6953 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6954 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6957 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6958 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6959 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6960 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6963 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6964 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6965 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6966 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6967 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6968 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
6969 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6970 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
6971 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
6972 variable. It is very similar to the
6973 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
6974 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
6975 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6976 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
6977 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
6978 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
6979 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6981 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6985 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6986 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6987 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6992 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6993 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6994 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6995 @cindex article pre-fetch
6998 If you read your news from an @acronym{NNTP} server that's far away, the
6999 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
7000 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
7001 article appears. Why can't gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
7002 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
7004 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
7005 article fetching, especially the way gnus does it.
7007 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
7008 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
7009 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
7010 article 3, but since gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
7011 connection is blocked.
7013 To avoid these situations, gnus will open two (count 'em two)
7014 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
7015 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
7016 extra connection takes some time, so gnus startup will be slower.
7018 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
7019 the link between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server will become more
7020 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
7021 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
7024 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing@dots{} unless
7027 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
7028 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
7029 happen automatically.
7031 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
7032 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
7033 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
7034 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
7035 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
7036 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
7037 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
7039 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
7040 @findex gnus-async-read-p
7041 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
7042 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p}
7043 variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This
7044 function should return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is
7045 to be pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which
7046 returns @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an
7047 article data structure as the only parameter.
7049 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter
7050 than 100 lines, you could say something like:
7053 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
7054 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
7055 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
7056 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
7059 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
7062 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
7063 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down gnus too much.
7064 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
7066 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
7067 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
7068 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
7069 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
7073 Remove articles when they are read.
7076 Remove articles when exiting the group.
7079 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
7081 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
7082 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
7083 @c from the next group.
7086 @node Article Caching
7087 @section Article Caching
7088 @cindex article caching
7091 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @acronym{NNTP} connection, you may
7092 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
7093 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
7094 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
7095 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
7097 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
7099 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7100 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
7101 @vindex gnus-use-cache
7102 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
7103 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
7104 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
7105 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
7106 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
7108 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
7109 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
7110 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
7111 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
7112 as dormant, and don't worry.
7114 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
7116 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
7117 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
7118 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
7119 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
7120 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7121 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7122 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7123 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7124 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7125 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7127 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7128 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7129 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7130 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7131 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7132 command if 1) your connection to the @acronym{NNTP} server is really, really,
7133 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7134 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7135 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7136 not then be downloaded by this command.
7138 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7139 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7140 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7141 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7142 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7143 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7145 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7146 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7147 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7148 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7149 variables, the group is not cached.
7151 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7152 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7153 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7154 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7155 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7156 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, gnus
7157 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7158 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @acronym{NOV}
7159 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7162 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7163 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7164 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7165 where, isn't that cool?
7167 @node Persistent Articles
7168 @section Persistent Articles
7169 @cindex persistent articles
7171 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7172 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7173 useful in my opinion.
7175 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7176 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7177 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7178 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7179 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7180 the expiry going on at the news server.
7182 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7183 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7184 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7190 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7191 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7194 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7195 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7196 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7197 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7201 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7203 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7204 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7205 interested in persistent articles:
7208 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7212 @node Article Backlog
7213 @section Article Backlog
7215 @cindex article backlog
7217 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7218 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7219 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where gnus will buffer
7220 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7221 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7222 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7223 that, turning the backlog on will slow gnus down a little bit, and
7224 increase memory usage some.
7226 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7227 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, gnus will store
7228 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7229 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, gnus will store
7230 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7231 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7232 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7234 The default value is 20.
7237 @node Saving Articles
7238 @section Saving Articles
7239 @cindex saving articles
7241 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7242 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7243 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7244 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7245 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7247 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7248 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7249 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7251 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7252 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, gnus will not delete
7253 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7255 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7256 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7257 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7258 deleted before saving.
7264 @kindex O o (Summary)
7266 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7267 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7268 Save the current article using the default article saver
7269 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7272 @kindex O m (Summary)
7273 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7274 Save the current article in mail format
7275 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7278 @kindex O r (Summary)
7279 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7280 Save the current article in Rmail format
7281 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7284 @kindex O f (Summary)
7285 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7286 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7287 Save the current article in plain file format
7288 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7291 @kindex O F (Summary)
7292 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7293 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7294 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7297 @kindex O b (Summary)
7298 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7299 Save the current article body in plain file format
7300 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7303 @kindex O h (Summary)
7304 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7305 Save the current article in mh folder format
7306 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7309 @kindex O v (Summary)
7310 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7311 Save the current article in a VM folder
7312 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7316 @kindex O p (Summary)
7318 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7319 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7320 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7321 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7322 complete headers in the piped output.
7325 @kindex O P (Summary)
7326 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7327 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7328 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7329 external program @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/,
7330 Muttprint}. The program name and options to use is controlled by the
7331 variable @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}.
7332 (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7336 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7337 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7338 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7339 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7340 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7341 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7342 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7343 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7344 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7345 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7346 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7347 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7351 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7352 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7353 gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
7354 functions below, or you can create your own.
7358 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7359 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7360 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7361 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7362 This is the default format, @dfn{Babyl}. Uses the function in the
7363 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7364 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7366 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7367 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7368 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7369 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7370 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7371 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7373 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7374 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7375 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7376 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7377 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7378 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7379 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7381 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7382 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7383 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7384 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7385 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7386 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7388 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7389 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7390 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7391 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7392 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7394 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7395 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7396 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7397 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7398 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7401 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7402 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7403 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7404 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7405 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7407 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7408 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7409 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7410 reader to use this setting.
7413 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7414 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7415 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7416 @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7419 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7420 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7421 available functions that generate names:
7425 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7426 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7427 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7429 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7430 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7431 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7433 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7434 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7435 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7437 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7438 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7439 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7441 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7442 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7443 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7446 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7447 You can have gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7448 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7449 save articles related to gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7450 related to VM in @file{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7454 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7455 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7456 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7457 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7460 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7461 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7462 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7463 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7464 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7465 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7466 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7467 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7468 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7470 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7471 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7472 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7473 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7475 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7476 means that gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7477 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7480 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7481 lots of mail groups called things like
7482 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7483 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7484 following will do just that:
7487 (defun my-save-name (group)
7488 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7489 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7491 (setq gnus-split-methods
7492 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7497 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7498 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7499 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7500 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7501 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7502 all the files in the top level directory
7503 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7504 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7505 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7506 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7508 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7509 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7510 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7511 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7512 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7515 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7519 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; @r{to get a hierarchy}
7520 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7521 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; @r{no encoding}
7524 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7525 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7526 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7527 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7530 @node Decoding Articles
7531 @section Decoding Articles
7532 @cindex decoding articles
7534 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7535 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7538 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7539 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7540 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7541 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7542 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7543 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7547 @cindex article series
7548 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7549 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7550 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7551 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7552 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7554 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7555 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7556 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7558 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, gnus
7559 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7560 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7562 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7563 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7564 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7567 @node Uuencoded Articles
7568 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7570 @cindex uuencoded articles
7575 @kindex X u (Summary)
7576 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7577 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7578 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7581 @kindex X U (Summary)
7582 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7583 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7584 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7587 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7588 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7589 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7592 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7593 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7594 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7595 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7599 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7600 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7601 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7602 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7603 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7605 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7606 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7607 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7608 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7611 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7612 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7613 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7614 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7615 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7616 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7620 @node Shell Archives
7621 @subsection Shell Archives
7623 @cindex shell archives
7624 @cindex shared articles
7626 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7627 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7628 some commands to deal with these:
7633 @kindex X s (Summary)
7634 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7635 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7638 @kindex X S (Summary)
7639 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7640 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7643 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7644 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7645 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7648 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7649 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7650 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7651 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7655 @node PostScript Files
7656 @subsection PostScript Files
7662 @kindex X p (Summary)
7663 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7664 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7667 @kindex X P (Summary)
7668 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7669 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7670 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7673 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7674 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7675 View the current PostScript series
7676 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7679 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7680 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7681 View and save the current PostScript series
7682 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7687 @subsection Other Files
7691 @kindex X o (Summary)
7692 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7693 Save the current series
7694 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7697 @kindex X b (Summary)
7698 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7699 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7700 doesn't really work yet.
7704 @node Decoding Variables
7705 @subsection Decoding Variables
7707 Adjective, not verb.
7710 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7711 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7712 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7716 @node Rule Variables
7717 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7718 @cindex rule variables
7720 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7721 variables are of the form
7724 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7731 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7732 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7734 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7735 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @file{.au} sound file, you could
7738 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7739 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7742 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7743 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7744 This variable is consulted if gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7745 user and default view rules.
7747 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7748 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7749 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
7754 @node Other Decode Variables
7755 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
7758 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7760 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7761 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
7762 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
7763 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
7764 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
7768 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
7769 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
7772 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
7773 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
7774 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
7777 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7778 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7779 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
7780 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
7781 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
7784 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7785 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7786 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
7788 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7789 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7790 Files with a @acronym{MIME} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
7791 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7792 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @acronym{MIME} package (yet), so this is slightly
7795 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7796 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7797 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7799 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7800 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7801 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7802 looking for files to display.
7804 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7805 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7806 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7809 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7810 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7811 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7814 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7815 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7816 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7819 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7820 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7821 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7824 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7825 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7826 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7827 decoded articles as unread.
7829 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7830 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7831 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7832 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7834 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7835 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7836 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7838 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7839 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7841 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7842 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @acronym{MIME}
7843 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7844 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7846 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7847 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7848 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7849 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7850 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7851 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7852 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7853 simply dropped them.
7858 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7859 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7863 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7864 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7865 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7866 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7867 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7868 for you when you post the article.
7870 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7871 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7872 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7873 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7875 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7876 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7877 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7878 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7879 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7880 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7881 think that counts@dots{}) Default is @code{nil}.
7883 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7884 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7885 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7886 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7887 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7888 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7889 Default is @code{t}.
7895 @subsection Viewing Files
7896 @cindex viewing files
7897 @cindex pseudo-articles
7899 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, gnus will attempt
7900 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7901 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7902 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, gnus will
7903 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7904 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7905 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7907 Finally, gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7908 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7909 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7910 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7912 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7913 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7914 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7916 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7917 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7918 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7919 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7920 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7922 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7923 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7924 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7925 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7926 a list of parameters to that command.
7928 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7929 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7930 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7932 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7933 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7934 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7937 @node Article Treatment
7938 @section Article Treatment
7940 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7941 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7942 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7943 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7944 these articles easier.
7947 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7948 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7949 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7950 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7951 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
7952 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7953 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
7954 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7955 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
7956 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7957 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
7961 @node Article Highlighting
7962 @subsection Article Highlighting
7963 @cindex highlighting
7965 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7966 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7971 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7972 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7973 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7974 Do much highlighting of the current article
7975 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7976 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7979 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7980 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7981 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7982 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7983 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7984 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7985 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7986 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7987 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7988 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7989 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7990 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7993 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7994 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7995 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7997 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
8000 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8002 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8003 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
8004 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
8006 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
8007 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
8008 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
8010 @item gnus-cite-face-list
8011 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
8012 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
8013 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
8014 gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
8015 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
8017 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
8018 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
8019 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
8021 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8022 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8023 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
8025 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8026 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8027 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
8028 that it's a citation.
8030 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8031 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8032 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
8034 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8035 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8036 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
8038 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
8039 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
8040 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
8041 cited text belonging to the attribution.
8047 @kindex W H s (Summary)
8048 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8049 @vindex gnus-signature-face
8050 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
8051 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
8052 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
8053 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
8054 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
8059 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
8062 @node Article Fontisizing
8063 @subsection Article Fontisizing
8065 @cindex article emphasis
8067 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
8068 @kindex W e (Summary)
8069 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
8070 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
8071 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
8072 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
8074 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
8075 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
8076 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
8077 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
8078 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
8079 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
8080 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
8081 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
8085 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
8086 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
8087 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
8096 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
8097 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
8098 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
8099 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
8100 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
8101 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
8102 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
8103 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
8104 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
8105 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
8106 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
8107 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
8108 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
8110 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
8111 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
8112 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
8116 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
8119 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
8121 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8122 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8123 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8124 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8126 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8129 @node Article Hiding
8130 @subsection Article Hiding
8131 @cindex article hiding
8133 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8134 too much cruft in most articles.
8139 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8140 @findex gnus-article-hide
8141 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8142 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8143 headers, @acronym{PGP}, cited text and the signature.
8146 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8147 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8148 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8152 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8153 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8154 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8155 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8158 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8159 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8160 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8164 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8165 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8166 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8167 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8168 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8169 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8170 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8171 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8175 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8176 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8177 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8178 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8183 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8184 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8185 Hide @acronym{PEM} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8186 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8189 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8190 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8191 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8192 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8195 @cindex stripping advertisements
8196 @cindex advertisements
8197 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8198 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8199 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8200 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8201 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8202 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8203 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8204 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8205 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8206 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8209 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8210 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8211 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8215 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8216 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8217 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8218 @code{(@var{address} . @var{banner})}, where @var{address} is a regexp
8219 matching a mail address in the From header, @var{banner} is one of a
8220 symbol @code{signature}, an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist},
8221 a regexp and @code{nil}. If @var{address} matches author's mail
8222 address, it will remove things like advertisements. For example, if a
8223 sender has the mail address @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a
8224 banner something like @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he
8225 sends, you can use the following element to remove them:
8228 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" .
8229 "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8235 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8236 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8237 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8238 customizing the hiding:
8242 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8243 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8244 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8245 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8246 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8247 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8248 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8253 Starting point of the hidden text.
8255 Ending point of the hidden text.
8257 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8259 Number of lines of hidden text.
8262 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8263 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8264 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8265 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8266 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8271 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8272 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8274 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8275 following two variables:
8278 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8279 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8280 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8281 50), hide the cited text.
8283 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8284 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8285 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8290 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8291 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8292 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8293 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8294 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8295 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8299 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8300 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8301 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8303 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8304 citation customization.
8306 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8310 @node Article Washing
8311 @subsection Article Washing
8313 @cindex article washing
8315 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8316 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8318 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8319 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8322 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8323 articles by default.
8328 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8329 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8333 Force redisplaying of the current article
8334 (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). This is also not really washing.
8335 If you type this, you see the article without any previously applied
8336 interactive Washing functions but with all default treatments
8337 (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8340 @kindex W l (Summary)
8341 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8342 Remove page breaks from the current article
8343 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8347 @kindex W r (Summary)
8348 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8349 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8350 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8351 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8352 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8353 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8355 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8356 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8357 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8358 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8361 @kindex W m (Summary)
8362 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8363 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8367 @kindex W t (Summary)
8369 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8370 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8371 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8374 @kindex W v (Summary)
8375 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8376 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8377 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8380 @kindex W m (Summary)
8381 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
8382 Toggle whether to run the article through @acronym{MIME} before
8383 displaying (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
8386 @kindex W o (Summary)
8387 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8388 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8391 @kindex W d (Summary)
8392 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8393 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8395 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8397 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8398 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8399 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8400 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8403 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8404 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8405 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8406 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8409 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
8410 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8411 @cindex Outlook Express
8412 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
8413 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
8414 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8417 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
8418 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
8419 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min
8420 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max
8421 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
8422 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
8423 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
8424 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the minimum and
8425 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
8426 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines}).
8429 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
8430 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
8431 Repair a broken attribution line.@*
8432 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
8435 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
8436 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
8437 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
8438 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
8441 @kindex W w (Summary)
8442 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8443 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8445 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8449 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8450 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8451 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8454 @kindex W C (Summary)
8455 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8456 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8457 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8460 @kindex W c (Summary)
8461 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8462 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8463 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8464 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8465 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8467 @kindex W q (Summary)
8468 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
8469 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
8470 Quoted-Printable is one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when
8471 sending non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. It typically
8472 makes strings like @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which
8473 doesn't look very readable to me. Note that this is usually done
8474 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8475 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
8476 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8479 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8480 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8481 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}). Base64 is
8482 one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when sending
8483 non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is
8484 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8485 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
8486 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8489 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8490 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8491 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8492 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8493 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8496 @kindex W u (Summary)
8497 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
8498 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
8499 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
8500 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
8501 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
8504 @kindex W h (Summary)
8505 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8506 Treat @acronym{HTML} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
8507 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8508 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @acronym{HTML}.
8510 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8512 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
8513 The default is to use the function specified by
8514 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display
8515 Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) to convert the
8516 @acronym{HTML}, but this is controlled by the
8517 @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions you
8525 Use @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/, emacs-w3m}.
8528 Use @uref{http://links.sf.net/, Links}.
8531 Use @uref{http://lynx.isc.org/, Lynx}.
8534 Use html2text---a simple @acronym{HTML} converter included with Gnus.
8539 @kindex W b (Summary)
8540 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8541 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8542 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8545 @kindex W B (Summary)
8546 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8547 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8548 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8551 @kindex W p (Summary)
8552 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8553 Verify a signed control message
8554 (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}). Control messages such as
8555 @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are usually signed by the
8556 hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the @acronym{PGP} public key of
8557 the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8558 message.@footnote{@acronym{PGP} keys for many hierarchies are
8559 available at @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8562 @kindex W s (Summary)
8563 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8564 Verify a signed (@acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME} or
8565 @acronym{S/MIME}) message
8566 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8569 @kindex W a (Summary)
8570 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
8571 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8572 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
8575 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8576 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8577 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8578 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8581 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8582 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8583 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8584 lines with a single empty line.
8585 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8588 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8589 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8590 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8591 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8594 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8595 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8596 Do all the three commands above
8597 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8600 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8601 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8602 Remove all blank lines
8603 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8606 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8607 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8608 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8609 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8612 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8613 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8614 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8615 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8619 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8622 @node Article Header
8623 @subsection Article Header
8625 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8630 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8631 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8632 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8635 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8636 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8637 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8638 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8641 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8642 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
8643 Fold all the message headers
8644 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8648 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
8649 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
8650 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
8655 @node Article Buttons
8656 @subsection Article Buttons
8659 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8660 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8661 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8662 button on these references.
8664 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8665 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8666 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man pages and
8667 Emacs or Gnus related references. This is controlled by two variables,
8668 one that handles article bodies and one that handles article heads:
8672 @item gnus-button-alist
8673 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8674 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8677 (@var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
8683 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
8684 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
8685 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
8686 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
8687 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp} and @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp}.
8690 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8691 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8692 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8695 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8696 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8697 avoid false matches. Often variables named
8698 @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} are used here, @xref{Article Button
8699 Levels}, but any other form may be used too.
8701 @c @code{use-p} is @code{eval}ed only if @code{regexp} matches.
8704 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8707 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8708 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8712 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8715 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8718 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8719 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8720 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8721 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8722 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8725 (@var{header} @var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
8728 @var{header} is a regular expression.
8731 @subsubsection Related variables and functions
8734 @item gnus-button-@var{*}-level
8735 @xref{Article Button Levels}.
8737 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-browse-level
8739 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
8740 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
8741 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
8742 default values of the variables above.
8744 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-man-level
8746 @item gnus-button-man-handler
8747 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8748 The function to use for displaying man pages. It must take at least one
8749 argument with a string naming the man page.
8751 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-message-level
8753 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
8754 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
8755 Regular expression that matches a message ID or a mail address.
8757 @item gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
8758 @vindex gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
8759 This variable determines what to do when the button on a string as
8760 @samp{foo123@@bar.invalid} is pushed. Strings like this can be either a
8761 message ID or a mail address. If it is one of the symbols @code{mid} or
8762 @code{mail}, Gnus will always assume that the string is a message ID or
8763 a mail address, respectively. If this variable is set to the symbol
8764 @code{ask}, always query the user what do do. If it is a function, this
8765 function will be called with the string as it's only argument. The
8766 function must return @code{mid}, @code{mail}, @code{invalid} or
8767 @code{ask}. The default value is the function
8768 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
8770 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
8771 @findex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
8772 Function that guesses whether it's argument is a message ID or a mail
8773 address. Returns @code{mid} it's a message IDs, @code{mail} if it's a
8774 mail address, @code{ask} if unsure and @code{invalid} if the string is
8777 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
8778 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
8779 An alist of @code{(RATE . REGEXP)} pairs used by the function
8780 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
8782 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-tex-level
8784 @item gnus-button-ctan-handler
8785 @findex gnus-button-ctan-handler
8786 The function to use for displaying CTAN links. It must take one
8787 argument, the string naming the URL.
8790 @vindex gnus-ctan-url
8791 Top directory of a CTAN (Comprehensive TeX Archive Network) archive used
8792 by @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler}.
8796 @item gnus-article-button-face
8797 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
8798 Face used on buttons.
8800 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
8801 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
8802 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
8806 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
8809 @node Article Button Levels
8810 @subsection Article button levels
8811 @cindex button levels
8812 The higher the value of the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level},
8813 the more buttons will appear. If the level is zero, no corresponding
8814 buttons are displayed. With the default value (which is 5) you should
8815 already see quite a lot of buttons. With higher levels, you will see
8816 more buttons, but you may also get more false positives. To avoid them,
8817 you can set the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} local to
8818 specific groups (@pxref{Group Parameters}). Here's an example for the
8819 variable @code{gnus-parameters}:
8822 ;; @r{increase @code{gnus-button-*-level} in some groups:}
8823 (setq gnus-parameters
8824 '(("\\<\\(emacs\\|gnus\\)\\>" (gnus-button-emacs-level 10))
8825 ("\\<unix\\>" (gnus-button-man-level 10))
8826 ("\\<tex\\>" (gnus-button-tex-level 10))))
8831 @item gnus-button-browse-level
8832 @vindex gnus-button-browse-level
8833 Controls the display of references to message IDs, mail addresses and
8834 news URLs. Related variables and functions include
8835 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}, @code{browse-url}, and
8836 @code{browse-url-browser-function}.
8838 @item gnus-button-emacs-level
8839 @vindex gnus-button-emacs-level
8840 Controls the display of Emacs or Gnus references. Related functions are
8841 @code{gnus-button-handle-custom},
8842 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-function},
8843 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-variable},
8844 @code{gnus-button-handle-symbol},
8845 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-key},
8846 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos},
8847 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-command},
8848 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-variable},
8849 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-documentation}, and
8850 @code{gnus-button-handle-library}.
8852 @item gnus-button-man-level
8853 @vindex gnus-button-man-level
8854 Controls the display of references to (Unix) man pages.
8855 See @code{gnus-button-man-handler}.
8857 @item gnus-button-message-level
8858 @vindex gnus-button-message-level
8859 Controls the display of message IDs, mail addresses and news URLs.
8860 Related variables and functions include
8861 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp},
8862 @code{gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail},
8863 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}, and
8864 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist}.
8866 @item gnus-button-tex-level
8867 @vindex gnus-button-tex-level
8868 Controls the display of references to @TeX{} or LaTeX stuff, e.g. for CTAN
8869 URLs. See the variables @code{gnus-ctan-url},
8870 @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler},
8871 @code{gnus-button-ctan-directory-regexp}, and
8872 @code{gnus-button-handle-ctan-bogus-regexp}.
8878 @subsection Article Date
8880 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
8881 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
8882 when the article was sent.
8887 @kindex W T u (Summary)
8888 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
8889 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
8890 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
8893 @kindex W T i (Summary)
8894 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
8896 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
8897 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
8900 @kindex W T l (Summary)
8901 @findex gnus-article-date-local
8902 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
8905 @kindex W T p (Summary)
8906 @findex gnus-article-date-english
8907 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
8908 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
8911 @kindex W T s (Summary)
8912 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
8913 @findex gnus-article-date-user
8914 @findex format-time-string
8915 Display the date using a user-defined format
8916 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
8917 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
8918 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
8919 for a list of possible format specs.
8922 @kindex W T e (Summary)
8923 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
8924 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
8925 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
8926 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
8927 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
8930 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
8933 @vindex gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header
8934 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
8935 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
8938 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
8939 into wonderful absurdities.
8941 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
8944 (gnus-start-date-timer)
8947 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
8948 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
8952 @kindex W T o (Summary)
8953 @findex gnus-article-date-original
8954 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
8955 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
8956 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
8957 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
8958 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
8962 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
8963 preferred format automatically.
8966 @node Article Display
8967 @subsection Article Display
8972 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
8973 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
8975 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
8976 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
8978 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
8979 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
8981 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
8982 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
8984 All these functions are toggles---if the elements already exist,
8989 @kindex W D x (Summary)
8990 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
8991 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
8992 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
8995 @kindex W D d (Summary)
8996 @findex gnus-article-display-face
8997 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
8998 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
9001 @kindex W D s (Summary)
9002 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
9003 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
9006 @kindex W D f (Summary)
9007 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
9008 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
9011 @kindex W D m (Summary)
9012 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
9013 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
9014 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
9017 @kindex W D n (Summary)
9018 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
9019 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
9020 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
9023 @kindex W D D (Summary)
9024 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
9025 Remove all images from the article buffer
9026 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
9032 @node Article Signature
9033 @subsection Article Signature
9035 @cindex article signature
9037 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
9038 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
9039 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
9040 that says what is to be considered a signature is
9041 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
9042 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
9043 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
9044 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
9045 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
9048 (setq gnus-signature-separator
9049 '("^-- $" ; @r{The standard}
9050 "^-- *$" ; @r{A common mangling}
9051 "^-------*$" ; @r{Many people just use a looong}
9052 ; @r{line of dashes. Shame!}
9053 "^ *--------*$" ; @r{Double-shame!}
9054 "^________*$" ; @r{Underscores are also popular}
9055 "^========*$")) ; @r{Pervert!}
9058 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
9061 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
9062 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
9063 signature when displaying articles.
9067 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
9070 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
9073 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
9074 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
9076 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
9077 in question is not a signature.
9080 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
9081 listed above. Here's an example:
9084 (setq gnus-signature-limit
9085 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
9088 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
9089 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
9090 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
9091 signature after all.
9094 @node Article Miscellanea
9095 @subsection Article Miscellanea
9099 @kindex A t (Summary)
9100 @findex gnus-article-babel
9101 Translate the article from one language to another
9102 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
9108 @section MIME Commands
9109 @cindex MIME decoding
9111 @cindex viewing attachments
9113 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
9114 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @acronym{MIME} part''.
9120 @kindex K v (Summary)
9121 View the @acronym{MIME} part.
9124 @kindex K o (Summary)
9125 Save the @acronym{MIME} part.
9128 @kindex K c (Summary)
9129 Copy the @acronym{MIME} part.
9132 @kindex K e (Summary)
9133 View the @acronym{MIME} part externally.
9136 @kindex K i (Summary)
9137 View the @acronym{MIME} part internally.
9140 @kindex K | (Summary)
9141 Pipe the @acronym{MIME} part to an external command.
9144 The rest of these @acronym{MIME} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
9149 @kindex K b (Summary)
9150 Make all the @acronym{MIME} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
9151 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
9155 @kindex K m (Summary)
9156 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
9157 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
9158 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
9159 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
9160 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
9163 @kindex X m (Summary)
9164 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
9165 Save all parts matching a @acronym{MIME} type to a directory
9166 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
9167 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9170 @kindex M-t (Summary)
9171 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
9172 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
9173 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
9176 @kindex W M w (Summary)
9177 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
9178 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
9179 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
9182 @kindex W M c (Summary)
9183 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
9184 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
9185 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
9187 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
9188 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
9189 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
9190 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
9191 include @acronym{MIME} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
9192 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9195 @kindex W M v (Summary)
9196 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
9197 View all the @acronym{MIME} parts in the current article
9198 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
9205 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
9206 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
9207 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9208 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
9211 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
9214 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
9218 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
9219 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
9220 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't require the @samp{MIME-Version} header
9221 before interpreting the message as a @acronym{MIME} message. This helps
9222 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
9223 default is @code{nil}.
9225 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
9226 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
9227 There are other, non-@acronym{MIME} encoding methods used. The most common
9228 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
9229 this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
9230 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
9231 Gnus @acronym{MIME} machinery. The default is @code{t}.
9233 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9234 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9235 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9236 this list won't have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9237 displayed or this variable is overridden by
9238 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
9239 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
9240 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is @code{nil}.
9242 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9243 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9244 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9245 this list will have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9246 displayed. This variable overrides
9247 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
9248 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
9251 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
9252 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
9253 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9255 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9256 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9257 If this is non-@code{nil}, then all @acronym{MIME} parts get buttons. The
9258 default value is @code{nil}.
9260 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9261 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9262 For each @acronym{MIME} part, this function will be called with the @acronym{MIME}
9263 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9264 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9265 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9266 save all jpegs into some directory).
9268 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9271 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9272 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9274 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9275 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9276 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9277 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9278 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9281 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9282 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9283 Alist of @acronym{MIME} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9285 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9286 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9287 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @acronym{MIME} parts.
9288 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9290 Ready-made functions include@*
9291 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9292 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9293 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9294 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9295 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9296 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9297 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9298 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9299 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9300 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9301 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9302 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9304 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9305 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9307 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9308 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9309 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9312 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9313 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9314 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9315 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9319 to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
9328 People use different charsets, and we have @acronym{MIME} to let us know what
9329 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
9330 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @acronym{MIME}, and
9331 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
9332 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
9333 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
9334 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
9336 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
9337 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
9338 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
9339 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
9341 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets
9342 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @acronym{MIME}-aware agents that
9343 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
9344 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
9345 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
9346 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
9347 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
9348 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
9349 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
9351 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
9352 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
9353 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @acronym{MIME}
9354 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
9355 quoted-printable header encoding.
9357 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
9358 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
9359 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
9363 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
9366 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
9367 means encode all charsets),
9369 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
9370 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
9371 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
9378 @cindex coding system aliases
9379 @cindex preferred charset
9381 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
9383 If there are several @acronym{MIME} charsets that encode the same Emacs
9384 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
9387 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
9388 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
9391 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
9392 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @acronym{MIME} charset.
9394 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
9397 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
9400 This will almost do the right thing.
9402 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
9406 (codepage-setup 1251)
9407 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
9411 @node Article Commands
9412 @section Article Commands
9419 @kindex A P (Summary)
9420 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
9421 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
9422 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
9423 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
9424 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
9425 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
9430 @node Summary Sorting
9431 @section Summary Sorting
9432 @cindex summary sorting
9434 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
9435 can't really see why you'd want that.
9440 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
9441 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
9442 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
9445 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
9446 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
9447 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
9450 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
9451 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
9452 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
9455 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
9456 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
9457 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
9460 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
9461 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
9462 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
9465 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
9466 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
9467 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
9470 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
9471 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
9472 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
9475 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
9476 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
9477 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
9480 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
9481 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
9482 Sort using the default sorting method
9483 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
9486 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
9487 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
9488 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
9489 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
9490 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
9494 @node Finding the Parent
9495 @section Finding the Parent
9496 @cindex parent articles
9497 @cindex referring articles
9502 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
9503 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
9504 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
9505 if the current group is fetched by @acronym{NNTP}, the parent hasn't expired
9506 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
9507 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
9508 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
9509 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
9510 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
9512 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
9513 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
9514 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, gnus will fetch the parent, the
9515 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
9516 @kbd{-3 ^}, gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
9520 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
9521 @kindex A R (Summary)
9522 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
9523 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
9526 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
9527 @kindex A T (Summary)
9528 Display the full thread where the current article appears
9529 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
9530 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
9531 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
9532 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
9533 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
9534 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
9536 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
9537 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
9538 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
9539 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
9540 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
9541 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
9544 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
9545 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
9547 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
9548 You can also ask the @acronym{NNTP} server for an arbitrary article, no
9549 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
9550 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
9551 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
9552 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
9553 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
9556 The current select method will be used when fetching by
9557 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
9558 by giving this command a prefix.
9560 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
9561 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
9562 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
9563 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @acronym{NNTP} method. It
9564 would, perhaps, be best if the @acronym{NNTP} server you consult is the one
9565 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
9568 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
9569 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
9570 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
9573 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
9574 then ask Google if that fails:
9577 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
9579 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
9582 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
9583 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
9584 @code{nnbabyl}, and @code{nnmaildir} are able to locate articles from
9585 any groups, while @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
9586 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current group.
9587 (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not
9588 support this at all.
9591 @node Alternative Approaches
9592 @section Alternative Approaches
9594 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
9595 gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
9598 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
9599 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
9604 @subsection Pick and Read
9605 @cindex pick and read
9607 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
9608 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
9609 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
9610 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
9612 @findex gnus-pick-mode
9613 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
9614 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
9615 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
9616 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
9617 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
9619 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
9624 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
9625 Pick the article or thread on the current line
9626 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9627 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
9628 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
9629 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
9630 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
9631 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
9634 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
9635 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
9636 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
9637 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
9641 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
9642 Unpick the thread or article
9643 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9644 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
9645 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
9646 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9647 the thread or article at that line.
9651 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9652 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9653 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9654 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9655 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9656 will still be visible when you are reading.
9660 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9661 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9662 which is mapped to the same function
9663 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9665 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9668 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9671 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9672 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
9674 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
9675 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
9676 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
9678 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
9679 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
9680 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
9681 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
9682 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
9683 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
9684 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
9688 @subsection Binary Groups
9689 @cindex binary groups
9691 @findex gnus-binary-mode
9692 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
9693 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
9694 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
9695 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
9696 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
9697 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
9700 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
9701 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
9702 command, when you have turned on this mode
9703 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
9705 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
9706 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
9710 @section Tree Display
9713 @vindex gnus-use-trees
9714 If you don't like the normal gnus summary display, you might try setting
9715 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
9716 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
9719 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
9722 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
9723 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
9724 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
9726 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9727 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9728 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
9729 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
9730 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
9732 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
9733 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
9734 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
9735 default is @code{modeline}.
9737 @item gnus-tree-line-format
9738 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
9739 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
9740 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
9741 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
9742 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
9743 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
9749 The name of the poster.
9751 The @code{From} header.
9753 The number of the article.
9755 The opening bracket.
9757 The closing bracket.
9762 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
9764 Variables related to the display are:
9767 @item gnus-tree-brackets
9768 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
9769 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
9770 ``sparse'' articles. The format is
9772 ((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
9773 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close})
9774 (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))
9776 and the default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
9778 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9779 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9780 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
9781 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
9785 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
9786 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
9787 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will try to keep the tree
9788 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other gnus
9789 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
9790 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
9791 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
9792 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
9793 other windows displayed next to it.
9795 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
9799 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
9800 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
9803 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
9804 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
9805 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9806 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
9807 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
9808 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
9809 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
9813 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
9816 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
9826 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
9831 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
9832 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
9834 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
9836 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
9842 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
9843 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
9844 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
9847 (setq gnus-use-trees t
9848 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9849 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
9850 (gnus-add-configuration
9854 (summary 0.75 point)
9859 @xref{Window Layout}.
9862 @node Mail Group Commands
9863 @section Mail Group Commands
9864 @cindex mail group commands
9866 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
9867 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
9869 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
9870 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9875 @kindex B e (Summary)
9876 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
9877 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
9878 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
9879 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
9880 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
9883 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
9884 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
9885 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
9886 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
9887 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
9888 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
9891 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
9892 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
9893 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
9894 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
9895 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
9896 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
9899 @kindex B m (Summary)
9901 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
9902 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
9903 Move the article from one mail group to another
9904 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9905 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9908 @kindex B c (Summary)
9910 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
9911 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
9912 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
9913 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9914 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9917 @kindex B B (Summary)
9918 @cindex crosspost mail
9919 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
9920 Crosspost the current article to some other group
9921 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
9922 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
9923 be properly updated.
9926 @kindex B i (Summary)
9927 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
9928 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
9929 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
9930 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9933 @kindex B I (Summary)
9934 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
9935 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
9936 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
9937 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9940 @kindex B r (Summary)
9941 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
9942 @vindex gnus-summary-respool-default-method
9943 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
9944 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
9945 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
9946 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
9947 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
9948 (which is the default).
9952 @kindex B w (Summary)
9954 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
9955 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
9956 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
9957 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
9958 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
9959 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
9960 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, gnus won't re-highlight the article.
9963 @kindex B q (Summary)
9964 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
9965 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
9966 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
9967 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
9970 @kindex B t (Summary)
9971 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
9972 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
9973 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
9976 @kindex B p (Summary)
9977 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
9978 Some people have a tendency to send you ``courtesy'' copies when they
9979 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
9980 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
9981 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
9982 article from your news server (or rather, from
9983 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
9984 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
9985 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
9986 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
9987 just not have arrived yet.
9990 @kindex K E (Summary)
9991 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
9992 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
9993 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
9994 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
9995 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
9999 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
10000 @cindex moving articles
10001 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have gnus
10002 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
10003 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
10004 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
10005 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
10006 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
10007 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
10010 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
10011 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
10012 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
10013 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
10017 @node Various Summary Stuff
10018 @section Various Summary Stuff
10021 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
10022 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
10023 * Summary Generation Commands::
10024 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
10028 @vindex gnus-summary-display-while-building
10029 @item gnus-summary-display-while-building
10030 If non-@code{nil}, show and update the summary buffer as it's being
10031 built. If @code{t}, update the buffer after every line is inserted.
10032 If the value is an integer, @var{n}, update the display every @var{n}
10033 lines. The default is @code{nil}.
10035 @vindex gnus-summary-display-arrow
10036 @item gnus-summary-display-arrow
10037 If non-@code{nil}, display an arrow in the fringe to indicate the
10040 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
10041 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
10042 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
10044 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
10045 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
10046 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
10047 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
10048 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
10049 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
10052 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10053 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10054 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
10055 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
10056 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
10058 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10059 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10060 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
10063 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10064 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10065 When gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
10066 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
10067 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
10068 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
10069 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), gnus will rename the
10070 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
10071 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
10072 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
10074 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10075 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10076 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
10077 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
10078 list of articles to be selected.
10080 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
10081 the list in one particular group:
10084 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
10085 (if (string= group "some.group")
10086 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
10090 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
10091 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
10092 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
10093 variables and their default values (when the default values are not
10094 @code{nil}), that should be made global while the summary buffer is
10095 active. These variables can be used to set variables in the group
10096 parameters while still allowing them to affect operations done in
10097 other buffers. For example:
10100 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
10101 '(message-use-followup-to
10102 (gnus-visible-headers .
10103 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
10109 @node Summary Group Information
10110 @subsection Summary Group Information
10115 @kindex H f (Summary)
10116 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
10117 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
10118 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} (list of frequently asked questions)
10119 for the current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try
10120 to get the @acronym{FAQ} from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which
10121 is usually a directory on a remote machine. This variable can also be
10122 a list of directories. In that case, giving a prefix to this command
10123 will allow you to choose between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp}
10124 or @code{efs} will probably be used for fetching the file.
10127 @kindex H d (Summary)
10128 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
10129 Give a brief description of the current group
10130 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
10131 rereading the description from the server.
10134 @kindex H h (Summary)
10135 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
10136 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
10137 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
10140 @kindex H i (Summary)
10141 @findex gnus-info-find-node
10142 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
10146 @node Searching for Articles
10147 @subsection Searching for Articles
10152 @kindex M-s (Summary)
10153 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
10154 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
10155 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
10158 @kindex M-r (Summary)
10159 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
10160 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
10161 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
10164 @kindex & (Summary)
10165 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
10166 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
10167 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
10168 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
10169 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
10170 search backward instead.
10172 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
10173 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
10176 @kindex M-& (Summary)
10177 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
10178 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
10179 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
10182 @node Summary Generation Commands
10183 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
10188 @kindex Y g (Summary)
10189 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
10190 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
10193 @kindex Y c (Summary)
10194 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
10195 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10196 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
10199 @kindex Y d (Summary)
10200 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
10201 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10202 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
10207 @node Really Various Summary Commands
10208 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
10214 @kindex C-d (Summary)
10215 @kindex A D (Summary)
10216 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
10217 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
10218 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
10219 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
10220 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
10221 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
10222 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
10223 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
10227 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
10228 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
10229 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
10230 several documents into one biiig group
10231 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
10232 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
10233 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
10234 command understands the process/prefix convention
10235 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10238 @kindex C-t (Summary)
10239 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
10240 Toggle truncation of summary lines
10241 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
10242 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
10243 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
10246 @kindex = (Summary)
10247 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
10248 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
10249 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
10252 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
10253 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
10254 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10255 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
10258 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
10259 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
10260 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10261 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
10266 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
10267 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
10268 @cindex summary exit
10269 @cindex exiting groups
10271 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
10272 group and return you to the group buffer.
10278 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
10279 @kindex q (Summary)
10280 @findex gnus-summary-exit
10281 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
10282 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
10283 @vindex gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook
10284 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
10285 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
10286 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
10287 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
10288 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
10289 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
10290 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
10291 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
10295 @kindex Z E (Summary)
10296 @kindex Q (Summary)
10297 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
10298 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
10299 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
10303 @kindex Z c (Summary)
10304 @kindex c (Summary)
10305 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
10306 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
10307 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
10308 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
10311 @kindex Z C (Summary)
10312 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
10313 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
10314 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
10317 @kindex Z n (Summary)
10318 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
10319 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
10320 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
10323 @kindex Z R (Summary)
10324 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
10325 Exit this group, and then enter it again
10326 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
10327 all articles, both read and unread.
10331 @kindex Z G (Summary)
10332 @kindex M-g (Summary)
10333 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
10334 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
10335 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
10336 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
10337 articles, both read and unread.
10340 @kindex Z N (Summary)
10341 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
10342 Exit the group and go to the next group
10343 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
10346 @kindex Z P (Summary)
10347 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
10348 Exit the group and go to the previous group
10349 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
10352 @kindex Z s (Summary)
10353 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
10354 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
10355 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
10356 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
10357 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
10360 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
10361 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
10362 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
10363 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
10365 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
10366 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
10367 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
10368 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
10369 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
10370 If you do that, gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
10371 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
10372 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
10373 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
10374 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
10375 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
10376 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
10378 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
10380 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
10381 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
10382 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
10383 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
10384 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
10385 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
10386 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
10387 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
10388 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
10391 @node Crosspost Handling
10392 @section Crosspost Handling
10396 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
10397 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
10398 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
10399 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
10400 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
10401 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
10404 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
10405 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
10406 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
10407 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
10408 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
10410 @cindex cross-posting
10412 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
10413 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
10414 correctly is if you use an @acronym{NNTP} server that supports @sc{xover}
10415 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
10416 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @acronym{NOV} lines. This is
10417 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
10418 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
10419 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
10420 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
10421 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
10422 the cross reference mechanism.
10424 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
10425 @cindex overview.fmt
10426 To check whether your @acronym{NNTP} server includes the @code{Xref} header
10427 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
10428 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
10429 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
10430 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
10431 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
10434 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
10435 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
10436 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
10441 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
10444 @node Duplicate Suppression
10445 @section Duplicate Suppression
10447 By default, gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
10448 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
10449 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
10450 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
10455 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
10456 is evil and not very common.
10459 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
10460 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
10463 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
10464 different @acronym{NNTP} servers.
10467 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
10470 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
10471 well, but these four are the most common situations.
10473 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
10474 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
10475 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
10476 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
10477 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
10478 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
10479 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
10482 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
10483 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
10484 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
10485 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
10486 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
10487 saw the article in.
10490 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
10491 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
10492 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
10494 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
10495 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
10496 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
10497 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
10498 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single gnus
10499 session are suppressed.
10501 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
10502 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
10503 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
10504 suppression list. The default is 10000.
10506 @item gnus-duplicate-file
10507 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
10508 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
10509 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
10512 If you have a tendency to stop and start gnus often, setting
10513 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
10514 you leave gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
10515 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
10516 so that means that if you stop and start gnus often, you should set
10517 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
10518 to you to figure out, I think.
10523 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
10524 The formats that are supported are @acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME}
10525 and @acronym{S/MIME}, however you need some external programs to get
10530 To handle @acronym{PGP} and @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages, you have to
10531 install an OpenPGP implementation such as GnuPG. The Lisp interface
10532 to GnuPG included with Gnus is called PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg, PGG
10533 Manual}), but Mailcrypt and gpg.el are also supported.
10536 To handle @acronym{S/MIME} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
10537 or newer is recommended.
10541 More information on how to set things up can be found in the message
10542 manual (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
10545 @item mm-verify-option
10546 @vindex mm-verify-option
10547 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
10548 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
10549 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10551 @item mm-decrypt-option
10552 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
10553 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
10554 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
10555 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10558 @vindex mml1991-use
10559 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10560 @acronym{PGP} messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but
10561 @code{mailcrypt} and @code{gpg} are also supported although
10565 @vindex mml2015-use
10566 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10567 @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but
10568 @code{mailcrypt} and @code{gpg} are also supported although
10573 @cindex snarfing keys
10574 @cindex importing PGP keys
10575 @cindex PGP key ring import
10576 Snarfing OpenPGP keys (i.e., importing keys from articles into your
10577 key ring) is not supported explicitly through a menu item or command,
10578 rather Gnus do detect and label keys as @samp{application/pgp-keys},
10579 allowing you to specify whatever action you think is appropriate
10580 through the usual @acronym{MIME} infrastructure. You can use a
10581 @file{~/.mailcap} entry (@pxref{mailcap, , mailcap, emacs-mime, The
10582 Emacs MIME Manual}) such as the following to import keys using GNU
10583 Privacy Guard when you click on the @acronym{MIME} button
10584 (@pxref{Using MIME}).
10587 application/pgp-keys; gpg --import --interactive --verbose; needsterminal
10590 This happens to also be the default action defined in
10591 @code{mailcap-mime-data}.
10594 @section Mailing List
10595 @cindex mailing list
10598 @kindex A M (summary)
10599 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10600 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10601 add a @code{to-list} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10602 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10605 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10610 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10611 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10612 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10615 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10616 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10617 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10620 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10621 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10622 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10626 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10627 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10628 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
10631 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
10632 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10633 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
10636 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
10637 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10638 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
10643 @node Article Buffer
10644 @chapter Article Buffer
10645 @cindex article buffer
10647 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
10648 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
10649 tell gnus otherwise.
10652 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
10653 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
10654 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
10655 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
10656 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
10660 @node Hiding Headers
10661 @section Hiding Headers
10662 @cindex hiding headers
10663 @cindex deleting headers
10665 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
10666 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
10668 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
10669 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
10670 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
10671 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
10672 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
10673 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
10674 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseam---and you'll probably want to get rid
10675 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
10676 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
10678 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
10682 @item gnus-visible-headers
10683 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
10684 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
10685 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
10686 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
10688 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
10689 the article and the subject, you'd say:
10692 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
10695 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10698 @item gnus-ignored-headers
10699 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
10700 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
10701 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
10702 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
10703 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
10705 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} field
10706 and the @code{Xref} field, you might say:
10709 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
10712 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10715 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
10716 variable will have no effect.
10720 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
10721 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
10722 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
10723 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
10724 the headers are to be displayed.
10726 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
10727 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10730 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10733 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10734 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10736 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10737 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10738 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10739 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10740 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10741 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
10742 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10745 These conditions are:
10748 Remove all empty headers.
10750 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10751 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10753 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
10754 @code{From} header, or if the @code{broken-reply-to} group parameter is
10757 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10760 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10761 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
10763 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10764 the current groups's @code{to-list} parameter.
10766 Remove the @code{CC} header if it only contains the address identical to
10767 the current groups's @code{to-list} parameter.
10769 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10772 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10774 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10777 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
10780 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10781 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10784 This is also the default value for this variable.
10788 @section Using MIME
10789 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
10791 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10792 while people stand around yawning.
10794 @acronym{MIME}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10795 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10797 @acronym{MIME} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10798 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10799 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10801 @vindex gnus-show-mime
10802 @vindex gnus-article-display-method-for-mime
10803 @findex gnus-article-display-mime-message
10804 gnus handles @acronym{MIME} by pushing the articles through
10805 @code{gnus-article-display-method-for-mime}, which is
10806 @code{gnus-article-display-mime-message} by default. This function
10807 calls the @acronym{SEMI} MIME-View program to actually do the work. For
10808 more information on @acronym{SEMI} MIME-View, see its manual page
10809 (however it is not existed yet, sorry).
10811 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
10812 @acronym{MIME} all the time. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime} set,
10813 then you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article buffer.
10814 These can't be avoided.
10816 In GNUS or Gnus, it might be best to just use the toggling functions
10817 from the summary buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance,
10818 you enter the group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it,
10819 @acronym{MIME} has decoded the sound file in the article and some
10820 horrible sing-a-long song comes screaming out your speakers, and you
10821 can't find the volume button, because there isn't one, and people are
10822 starting to look at you, and you try to stop the program, but you can't,
10823 and you can't find the program to control the volume, and everybody else
10824 in the room suddenly decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll
10825 feel rather stupid.)
10827 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
10829 To avoid such kind of situation, gnus stops to use
10830 @code{metamail-buffer}. So now, you can set @code{gnus-show-mime} to
10831 non-@code{nil} every-time, then you can push button in the article
10832 buffer when there are nobody else.
10834 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
10837 @node Customizing Articles
10838 @section Customizing Articles
10839 @cindex article customization
10841 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
10842 exist. You can call these functions interactively
10843 (@pxref{Article Washing}), or you can have them
10844 called automatically when you select the articles.
10846 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
10847 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
10848 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
10849 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
10851 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
10852 for sensible values.
10856 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
10859 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
10862 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
10865 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
10868 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
10872 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
10873 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
10874 regexps in the list.
10877 A list where the first element is not a string:
10879 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
10880 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
10881 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
10885 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
10889 @code{mime}: Do this treatment if the value of @code{gnus-show-mime}' is
10894 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
10895 to the fact that some messages are @acronym{MIME} multipart articles that may
10896 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
10897 considered to contain just a single part.
10899 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
10900 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
10901 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
10902 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
10903 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
10904 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
10905 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
10907 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
10908 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
10909 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
10910 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
10913 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
10914 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
10916 @xref{Article Buttons}.
10918 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
10919 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
10920 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
10921 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
10922 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
10923 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
10924 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
10925 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
10926 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
10927 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
10928 @item gnus-treat-decode-article-as-default-mime-charset (t, integer)
10930 @xref{Article Washing}.
10932 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
10933 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
10934 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
10935 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
10936 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
10937 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
10938 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
10940 @xref{Article Date}.
10942 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
10943 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
10944 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
10948 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
10950 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
10952 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
10953 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
10954 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
10958 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
10962 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
10963 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
10964 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
10965 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
10966 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
10967 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
10968 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
10969 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
10970 @item gnus-treat-strip-banner (t, last)
10971 @item gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers (head)
10973 @xref{Article Hiding}.
10975 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
10976 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
10977 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
10979 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
10981 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
10982 @item gnus-treat-translate
10983 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
10985 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
10986 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
10987 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
10988 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
10990 @xref{Article Header}.
10995 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
10996 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
10997 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
10998 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
10999 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
11003 @node Article Keymap
11004 @section Article Keymap
11006 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
11007 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
11008 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
11009 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
11012 A few additional keystrokes are available:
11017 @kindex SPACE (Article)
11018 @findex gnus-article-next-page
11019 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
11020 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h SPACE h}.
11023 @kindex DEL (Article)
11024 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
11025 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
11026 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h DEL h}.
11029 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
11030 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
11031 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
11032 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
11033 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
11036 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
11037 @findex gnus-article-mail
11038 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
11039 given a prefix, include the mail.
11042 @kindex s (Article)
11043 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
11044 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
11045 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
11048 @kindex ? (Article)
11049 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
11050 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
11051 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
11054 @kindex TAB (Article)
11055 @findex gnus-article-next-button
11056 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
11057 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
11060 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
11061 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
11062 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
11065 @kindex R (Article)
11066 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
11067 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
11068 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
11069 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
11073 @kindex F (Article)
11074 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
11075 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
11076 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
11077 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
11085 @section Misc Article
11089 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
11090 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
11091 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
11092 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
11095 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
11096 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
11097 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
11098 Hook used to decode @acronym{MIME} articles. The default value is
11099 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
11101 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
11102 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
11103 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
11104 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
11105 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
11106 the contents of the article buffer.
11108 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
11109 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
11110 Hook called in article mode buffers.
11112 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
11113 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
11114 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
11115 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
11117 @vindex gnus-article-over-scroll
11118 @item gnus-article-over-scroll
11119 If non-@code{nil}, allow scrolling the article buffer even when there
11120 no more new text to scroll in. The default is @code{nil}.
11122 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
11123 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
11124 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
11125 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
11126 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
11132 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
11133 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
11134 performed. The characters and their meaning:
11139 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
11142 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
11145 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
11146 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
11147 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
11150 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
11153 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
11156 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
11161 The number of @acronym{MIME} parts in the article.
11165 @vindex gnus-break-pages
11167 @item gnus-break-pages
11168 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
11169 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
11170 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
11171 paging will not be done.
11173 @item gnus-page-delimiter
11174 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
11175 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
11179 @cindex internationalized domain names
11180 @vindex gnus-use-idna
11181 @item gnus-use-idna
11182 This variable controls whether Gnus performs IDNA decoding of
11183 internationalized domain names inside @samp{From}, @samp{To} and
11184 @samp{Cc} headers. This requires
11185 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/, GNU Libidn}, and this
11186 variable is only enabled if you have installed it.
11191 @node Composing Messages
11192 @chapter Composing Messages
11193 @cindex composing messages
11196 @cindex sending mail
11201 @cindex using s/mime
11202 @cindex using smime
11204 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
11205 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
11206 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
11207 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
11208 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
11209 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
11212 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
11213 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
11214 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
11215 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
11216 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
11217 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
11218 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
11219 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
11222 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
11223 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
11229 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
11232 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
11233 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
11234 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
11235 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
11236 @code{nil} include all headers.
11238 @item gnus-add-to-list
11239 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
11240 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
11241 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
11243 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11244 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11245 This can also be a function receiving the group name as the only
11246 parameter which should return non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is
11247 needed, or a regular expression matching group names, where
11248 confirmation is should be asked for.
11250 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
11251 press R anyway, this variable might be for you.
11253 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11254 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11255 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
11256 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
11257 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
11262 @node Posting Server
11263 @section Posting Server
11265 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
11266 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
11268 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
11270 It can be quite complicated.
11272 @vindex gnus-post-method
11273 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
11274 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
11275 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
11276 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
11277 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
11278 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
11279 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
11280 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
11281 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
11284 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
11287 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
11288 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
11289 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
11290 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
11292 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
11293 gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
11295 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
11296 If that's the case, gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
11299 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
11300 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
11302 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
11303 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
11304 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
11305 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
11306 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @acronym{SMTP}
11307 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
11308 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
11309 package correctly. An example:
11312 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
11313 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11314 ;; The following variable needs to be set because of the FLIM version of
11315 ;; smtpmail.el. Which smtpmail.el is used depends on the `load-path'.
11316 (setq smtp-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11319 To the thing similar to this, there is
11320 @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}. It is useful if your ISP requires
11321 the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication. See the
11322 documentation for the function @code{mail-source-touch-pop}.
11324 Other possible choices for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
11325 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
11326 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
11328 @node Mail and Post
11329 @section Mail and Post
11331 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
11335 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
11336 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
11337 @cindex mailing lists
11339 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
11340 gatewayed to the @acronym{NNTP} server, you can read those groups without
11341 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
11342 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
11343 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
11344 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
11345 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
11346 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
11347 still a pain, though.
11349 @item gnus-user-agent
11350 @vindex gnus-user-agent
11353 This variable controls which information should be exposed in the
11354 User-Agent header. It can be one of the symbols @code{gnus} (show only
11355 Gnus version), @code{emacs-gnus} (show only Emacs and Gnus versions),
11356 @code{emacs-gnus-config} (same as @code{emacs-gnus} plus system
11357 configuration), @code{emacs-gnus-type} (same as @code{emacs-gnus} plus
11358 system type) or a custom string. If you set it to a string, be sure to
11359 use a valid format, see RFC 2616.
11363 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
11364 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
11365 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
11368 @findex ispell-message
11370 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
11373 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
11374 you're in, you could say something like the following:
11377 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
11381 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
11382 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
11384 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
11387 Modify to suit your needs.
11390 @node Archived Messages
11391 @section Archived Messages
11392 @cindex archived messages
11393 @cindex sent messages
11395 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
11396 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
11397 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
11398 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
11401 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
11402 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
11405 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
11406 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server gnus is to
11407 use to store sent messages. The default is:
11410 (nnfolder "archive"
11411 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
11412 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
11413 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
11414 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
11417 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
11418 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
11419 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
11420 directory chosen, you could say something like:
11423 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
11424 '(nnfolder "archive"
11425 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
11426 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
11427 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
11430 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
11432 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
11433 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
11434 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
11436 This variable can be used to do the following:
11441 Messages will be saved in that group.
11443 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
11444 message will not be stored in the select method given by
11445 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
11446 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
11447 has the default value shown above. Then setting
11448 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
11449 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
11450 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
11454 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
11456 an alist of regexps, functions and forms
11457 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
11460 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
11465 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
11467 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
11470 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
11472 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
11475 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
11477 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11478 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
11479 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
11480 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
11483 More complex stuff:
11485 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11486 '((if (message-news-p)
11491 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
11492 messages in one file per month:
11495 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11496 '((if (message-news-p)
11498 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
11501 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
11502 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
11504 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
11505 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
11506 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
11507 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
11508 gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
11509 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
11510 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
11511 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
11512 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
11513 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
11515 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
11516 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
11517 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
11518 this will disable archiving.
11521 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
11522 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
11523 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
11524 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
11525 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
11528 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
11529 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
11530 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
11533 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
11534 but the latter is the preferred method.
11536 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11537 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11538 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
11540 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11541 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11542 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
11543 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
11544 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
11545 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
11546 changed in the future.
11551 @node Posting Styles
11552 @section Posting Styles
11553 @cindex posting styles
11556 All them variables, they make my head swim.
11558 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
11559 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
11560 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
11563 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
11564 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
11565 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
11566 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
11567 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
11572 (signature "Peace and happiness")
11573 (organization "What me?"))
11575 (signature "Death to everybody"))
11576 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
11577 (organization "Emacs is it")))
11580 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
11581 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
11582 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
11583 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
11584 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
11585 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
11586 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
11587 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
11589 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
11590 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
11591 If it is the form @code{(header @var{match} @var{regexp})}, then Gnus
11592 will look in the original article for a header whose name is
11593 @var{match} and compare that @var{regexp}. @var{match} and
11594 @var{regexp} are strings. (There original article is the one you are
11595 replying or following up to. If you are not composing a reply or a
11596 followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
11597 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with
11598 no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
11599 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
11600 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is
11601 said to @dfn{match}.
11603 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
11604 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
11605 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
11606 @code{x-face-file}, @code{address} (overriding
11607 @code{user-mail-address}), @code{name} (overriding
11608 @code{(user-full-name)}) or @code{body}. The attribute name can also
11609 be a string or a symbol. In that case, this will be used as a header
11610 name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the article; if
11611 the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed. If the
11612 attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the result
11615 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
11616 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
11617 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
11618 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
11619 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
11620 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
11621 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
11622 references chars lines xref extra.
11624 @vindex message-reply-headers
11626 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
11627 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
11628 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
11630 @findex message-mail-p
11631 @findex message-news-p
11633 So here's a new example:
11636 (setq gnus-posting-styles
11638 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11640 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11641 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11643 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
11644 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; @r{A form}
11645 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
11646 (message-news-p ;; @r{A function symbol}
11647 (signature my-news-signature))
11648 (window-system ;; @r{A value symbol}
11649 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
11650 ;; @r{If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.}
11651 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
11652 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
11653 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; @r{A user defined function}
11654 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
11655 (address "user@@bar.foo")
11656 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
11657 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
11659 (From (save-excursion
11660 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
11661 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
11663 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
11666 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
11667 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
11668 if you fill many roles.
11670 Setting the @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} variable will make
11671 posting-styles allow to have distinctive names. You can specify an
11672 arbitrary posting-style when article posting with @kbd{S P} in the
11673 summary buffer. @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} is an alist which maps
11674 the names to styles. Once a posting-style is added to the alist, we can
11675 import it from @code{gnus-posting-styles}. If an attribute whose name
11676 is @code{import} is found, Gnus will look for the attribute value in
11677 @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} and expand it in place.
11682 (setq gnus-named-posting-styles
11684 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11686 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11687 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11690 (organization "The Church of Emacs"))))
11693 The posting-style named "Emacs" will inherit all the attributes from
11694 "Default" except @code{organization}.
11701 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
11702 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
11703 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
11704 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
11705 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
11707 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
11708 some sort using the gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
11709 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
11710 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
11711 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
11715 @vindex nndraft-directory
11716 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
11717 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
11718 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
11719 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
11720 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
11721 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
11723 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
11724 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
11725 unsubscribe it. The special properties of the draft group comes from
11726 a group property (@pxref{Group Parameters}), and if lost the group
11727 behaves like any other group. This means the commands below will not
11728 be available. To restore the special properties of the group, the
11729 simplest way is to kill the group, using @kbd{C-k}, and restart
11730 Gnus. The group is automatically created again with the
11731 correct parameters. The content of the group is not lost.
11733 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
11734 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
11735 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
11736 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
11737 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
11738 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
11739 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
11740 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
11741 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
11742 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
11743 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
11744 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
11745 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
11746 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
11748 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
11749 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
11750 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
11752 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
11753 @kindex D e (Draft)
11754 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
11755 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
11756 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
11758 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
11761 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
11762 @kindex D s (Draft)
11763 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
11764 @kindex D S (Draft)
11765 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
11766 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
11767 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
11768 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
11769 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
11772 @findex gnus-draft-toggle-sending
11773 @kindex D t (Draft)
11774 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
11775 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
11776 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
11779 @node Rejected Articles
11780 @section Rejected Articles
11781 @cindex rejected articles
11783 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
11784 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
11785 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
11786 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
11788 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of gnus.
11789 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
11790 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
11791 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So gnus saves these
11792 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
11794 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
11795 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
11796 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
11798 @node Signing and encrypting
11799 @section Signing and encrypting
11801 @cindex using s/mime
11802 @cindex using smime
11804 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla
11805 @acronym{PGP} format or @acronym{PGP/MIME} or @acronym{S/MIME}. For
11806 decoding such messages, see the @code{mm-verify-option} and
11807 @code{mm-decrypt-option} options (@pxref{Security}).
11809 @vindex gnus-message-replysign
11810 @vindex gnus-message-replyencrypt
11811 @vindex gnus-message-replysignencrypted
11812 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
11813 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
11814 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
11815 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
11816 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
11817 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
11818 automatically encrypted messages.
11820 Instructing MML to perform security operations on a @acronym{MIME} part is
11821 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c
11822 C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
11827 @kindex C-c C-m s s
11828 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
11830 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
11833 @kindex C-c C-m s o
11834 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11836 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP}.
11839 @kindex C-c C-m s p
11840 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11842 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
11845 @kindex C-c C-m c s
11846 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
11848 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
11851 @kindex C-c C-m c o
11852 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
11854 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP}.
11857 @kindex C-c C-m c p
11858 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
11860 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
11863 @kindex C-c C-m C-n
11864 @findex mml-unsecure-message
11865 Remove security related MML tags from message.
11869 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
11871 @node Select Methods
11872 @chapter Select Methods
11873 @cindex foreign groups
11874 @cindex select methods
11876 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
11877 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
11878 @acronym{NNTP} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
11879 personal mail group.
11881 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
11882 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
11883 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
11884 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
11885 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
11886 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
11888 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
11889 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
11891 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
11894 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @acronym{NNTP} server
11895 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
11896 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
11897 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
11898 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
11900 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
11903 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
11904 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
11905 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
11906 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
11907 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @acronym{IMAP} client.
11908 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
11909 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
11910 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
11914 @node Server Buffer
11915 @section Server Buffer
11917 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
11918 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
11919 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
11920 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
11921 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
11922 back end represents a virtual server.
11924 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
11925 different actual @acronym{NNTP} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
11926 on the same actual @acronym{NNTP} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
11927 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
11929 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
11930 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
11931 @acronym{NNTP} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
11932 hangs if queried for @acronym{NOV} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
11933 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
11934 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
11935 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
11937 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
11938 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
11941 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
11942 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
11943 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
11944 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
11945 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
11946 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
11947 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
11950 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
11951 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
11954 @node Server Buffer Format
11955 @subsection Server Buffer Format
11956 @cindex server buffer format
11958 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
11959 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
11960 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
11961 variable, with some simple extensions:
11966 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
11969 The name of this server.
11972 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
11975 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
11978 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
11979 The mode line can also be customized by using the
11980 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
11981 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
11991 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
11994 @node Server Commands
11995 @subsection Server Commands
11996 @cindex server commands
12002 @findex gnus-server-add-server
12003 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
12007 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
12008 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
12011 @kindex SPACE (Server)
12012 @findex gnus-server-read-server
12013 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
12017 @findex gnus-server-exit
12018 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
12022 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
12023 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
12027 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
12028 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
12032 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
12033 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
12037 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
12038 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
12042 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
12043 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
12044 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
12049 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
12050 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
12051 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
12052 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
12057 @node Example Methods
12058 @subsection Example Methods
12060 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
12063 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
12066 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
12072 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
12073 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
12076 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
12077 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
12079 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
12080 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
12084 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
12087 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
12088 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
12090 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
12091 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
12092 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
12096 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
12099 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
12102 Here's the method for a public spool:
12106 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
12107 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
12113 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @acronym{NNTP}
12114 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
12115 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
12116 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
12117 should probably look something like this:
12121 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
12122 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
12123 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
12124 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
12127 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
12128 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
12129 configuration to the example above:
12132 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
12135 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}.
12137 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
12138 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
12139 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
12143 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12144 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
12145 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
12146 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
12149 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
12150 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
12151 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
12152 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
12155 @node Creating a Virtual Server
12156 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
12158 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
12159 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
12161 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
12162 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
12163 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
12165 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
12167 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
12168 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
12169 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
12170 will contain the following:
12180 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
12181 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
12182 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
12185 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
12186 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
12187 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
12190 @node Server Variables
12191 @subsection Server Variables
12192 @cindex server variables
12193 @cindex server parameters
12195 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
12196 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
12197 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
12198 change the ``base'' variable after the variables have been loaded, you
12199 won't change the ``derived'' variables.
12201 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
12202 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
12203 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
12204 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
12205 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
12206 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
12207 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
12208 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
12209 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
12213 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
12214 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
12215 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
12218 Server variables are often called @dfn{server parameters}.
12220 @node Servers and Methods
12221 @subsection Servers and Methods
12223 Wherever you would normally use a select method
12224 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
12225 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
12226 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
12230 @node Unavailable Servers
12231 @subsection Unavailable Servers
12233 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
12234 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
12235 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
12236 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
12237 actually the case or not.
12239 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
12240 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
12241 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
12242 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
12243 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
12244 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
12245 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
12246 it will regard that server as ``down''.
12248 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
12249 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
12251 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
12252 with the following commands:
12258 @findex gnus-server-open-server
12259 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
12260 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
12264 @findex gnus-server-close-server
12265 Close the connection (if any) to the server
12266 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
12270 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
12271 Mark the current server as unreachable
12272 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
12275 @kindex M-o (Server)
12276 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
12277 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
12278 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
12281 @kindex M-c (Server)
12282 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
12283 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
12284 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
12288 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
12289 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
12290 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
12294 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
12295 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
12301 @section Getting News
12302 @cindex reading news
12303 @cindex news back ends
12305 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
12306 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @acronym{NNTP} server,
12307 or it can read from a local spool.
12310 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
12311 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
12319 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @acronym{NNTP} server is rather easy.
12320 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @acronym{NNTP}
12321 server as the, uhm, address.
12323 If the @acronym{NNTP} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
12324 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
12325 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
12326 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12328 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
12329 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
12330 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
12332 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
12337 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
12338 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
12339 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
12341 @cindex authentification
12342 @cindex nntp authentification
12343 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12344 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
12345 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
12346 commands to the @acronym{NNTP} server after it has been contacted. By
12347 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
12348 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
12349 present in this hook.
12351 @item nntp-authinfo-function
12352 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
12353 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12354 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
12355 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @acronym{NNTP}
12356 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
12357 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
12358 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
12359 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
12360 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
12361 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
12362 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
12366 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
12369 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
12371 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
12372 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
12373 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
12374 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
12375 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
12376 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
12377 @samp{force} is explained below.
12381 Here's an example file:
12384 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
12385 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
12388 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
12389 have to be first, for instance.
12391 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
12392 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
12393 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
12394 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
12395 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
12396 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
12397 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
12399 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
12400 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
12406 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
12407 previously mentioned.
12409 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
12411 @item nntp-server-action-alist
12412 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
12413 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
12414 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
12415 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
12418 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
12419 '(("innd" (ding))))
12422 You probably don't want to do that, though.
12424 The default value is
12427 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
12428 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
12429 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
12432 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
12433 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
12435 @item nntp-maximum-request
12436 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
12437 If the @acronym{NNTP} server doesn't support @acronym{NOV} headers, this back end
12438 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
12439 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
12440 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
12441 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
12442 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
12444 @item nntp-connection-timeout
12445 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
12446 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
12447 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @acronym{NNTP} servers not
12448 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
12449 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
12450 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
12451 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
12452 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
12453 no timeouts are done.
12455 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
12456 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
12457 @c @cindex PPP connections
12458 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
12459 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
12460 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
12461 @c changes after connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server, Gnus will simply sit
12462 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
12463 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
12464 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
12465 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
12466 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
12467 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
12469 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
12470 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
12471 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
12472 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
12473 @c described above.
12475 @item nntp-server-hook
12476 @vindex nntp-server-hook
12477 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @acronym{NNTP}
12480 @item nntp-buggy-select
12481 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
12482 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
12484 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
12485 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
12486 If the @acronym{NNTP} server does not support @acronym{NOV}, you could set this
12487 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @acronym{NOV}
12490 @item nntp-xover-commands
12491 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
12492 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
12494 List of strings used as commands to fetch @acronym{NOV} lines from a
12495 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
12499 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
12500 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @acronym{NOV} lines to
12501 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
12502 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
12503 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @acronym{NOV}
12504 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
12505 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
12506 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
12507 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
12508 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
12509 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
12511 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
12512 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
12513 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @acronym{NNTP} server.
12515 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12516 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12517 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
12518 server closes connection.
12520 @item nntp-record-commands
12521 @vindex nntp-record-commands
12522 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
12523 @acronym{NNTP} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
12524 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@acronym{NNTP} connection
12525 that doesn't seem to work.
12527 @item nntp-open-connection-function
12528 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
12529 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
12530 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
12531 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
12532 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
12533 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
12534 indirect ones (two pre-made).
12536 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
12537 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
12538 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
12539 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
12540 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
12541 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
12542 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
12545 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
12548 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
12549 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
12551 @item nntp-read-timeout
12552 @vindex nntp-read-timeout
12553 How long nntp should wait between checking for the end of output.
12554 Shorter values mean quicker response, but is more CPU intensive. The
12555 default is 0.1 seconds. If you have a slow line to the server (and
12556 don't like to see Emacs eat your available CPU power), you might set
12559 @item nntp-list-options
12560 @vindex nntp-list-options
12561 List of newsgroup name used for a option of the LIST command to restrict
12562 the listing output to only the specified newsgroups. Each newsgroup name
12563 can be a shell-style wildcard, for instance, @dfn{fj.*}, @dfn{japan.*},
12564 etc. Fortunately, if the server can accept such a option, it will
12565 probably make gnus run faster. You may use it as a server variable as
12569 (setq gnus-select-method
12570 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12571 (nntp-list-options ("fj.*" "japan.*"))))
12574 @item nntp-options-subscribe
12575 @vindex nntp-options-subscribe
12576 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will be subscribed
12577 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12578 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12579 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12580 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12583 (setq gnus-select-method
12584 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12585 (nntp-options-subscribe "^fj\\.\\|^japan\\.")))
12588 @item nntp-options-not-subscribe
12589 @vindex nntp-options-not-subscribe
12590 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will not be subscribed
12591 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12592 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12593 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12594 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12597 (setq gnus-select-method
12598 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12599 (nntp-options-not-subscribe "\\.binaries\\.")))
12604 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
12605 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
12606 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
12610 @node Direct Functions
12611 @subsubsection Direct Functions
12612 @cindex direct connection functions
12614 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
12615 between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server. The behavior of these
12616 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
12617 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12620 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
12621 @item nntp-open-network-stream
12622 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
12625 @findex nntp-open-tls-stream
12626 @item nntp-open-tls-stream
12627 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12628 this you must have @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/, GNUTLS}
12629 installed. You then define a server as follows:
12632 ;; @r{"nntps" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
12633 ;; @r{however, @samp{gnutls-cli -p} doesn't like named ports.}
12635 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12636 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-tls-stream)
12637 (nntp-port-number )
12638 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12641 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
12642 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
12643 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12644 this you must have @uref{http://www.openssl.org, OpenSSL} or
12645 @uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL, SSLeay} installed. You
12646 then define a server as follows:
12649 ;; @r{"snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
12650 ;; @r{however, @samp{openssl s_client -port} doesn't like named ports.}
12652 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12653 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
12654 (nntp-port-number 563)
12655 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12658 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
12659 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
12660 Opens a connection to an @acronym{NNTP} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
12661 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
12662 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
12663 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
12664 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
12665 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
12669 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12670 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
12671 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
12674 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
12675 session, which is not a good idea.
12679 @node Indirect Functions
12680 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
12681 @cindex indirect connection functions
12683 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
12684 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
12685 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
12686 the ``via'' family of connection: they're all prefixed with ``via'' to make
12687 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
12688 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12691 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12692 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12693 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
12694 to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from there. This is useful for instance if
12695 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
12697 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12700 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12701 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12702 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12703 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12705 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12706 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12707 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12708 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
12709 @samp{ssh} for @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}, you may set this to
12710 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
12711 this to @samp{("-t" "-e" "none")} or @samp{("-C" "-t" "-e" "none")} if
12712 the telnet command requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate
12716 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12717 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12718 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
12719 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
12721 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12724 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
12725 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
12726 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
12729 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
12730 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
12731 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12732 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
12734 @item nntp-via-user-password
12735 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
12736 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
12738 @item nntp-via-envuser
12739 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
12740 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
12741 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
12742 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
12744 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
12745 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
12746 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
12747 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
12754 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
12759 @item nntp-via-user-name
12760 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
12761 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
12763 @item nntp-via-address
12764 @vindex nntp-via-address
12765 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
12770 @node Common Variables
12771 @subsubsection Common Variables
12773 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
12774 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
12779 @item nntp-pre-command
12780 @vindex nntp-pre-command
12781 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native
12782 connection function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream},
12783 @code{nntp-open-tls-stream}, and @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is
12784 where you would put a @samp{SOCKS} wrapper for instance.
12787 @vindex nntp-address
12788 The address of the @acronym{NNTP} server.
12790 @item nntp-port-number
12791 @vindex nntp-port-number
12792 Port number to connect to the @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
12793 @samp{nntp}. If you use @acronym{NNTP} over
12794 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you may want to use integer ports rather
12795 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews} or
12796 @samp{nntps}), because external @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} tools may
12797 not work with named ports.
12799 @item nntp-end-of-line
12800 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
12801 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @acronym{NNTP}
12802 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
12803 using a non native connection function.
12805 @item nntp-telnet-command
12806 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
12807 Command to use when connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server through
12808 @samp{telnet}. This is @emph{not} for an intermediate host. This is
12809 just for the real @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
12812 @item nntp-telnet-switches
12813 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
12814 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
12821 @subsection News Spool
12825 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
12826 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
12827 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
12830 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
12831 anything else) as the address.
12833 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
12834 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
12835 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
12836 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
12840 @item nnspool-inews-program
12841 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
12842 Program used to post an article.
12844 @item nnspool-inews-switches
12845 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
12846 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
12848 @item nnspool-spool-directory
12849 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
12850 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
12851 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
12853 @item nnspool-nov-directory
12854 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
12855 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @acronym{NOV} files. This is normally@*
12856 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
12858 @item nnspool-lib-dir
12859 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
12860 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
12862 @item nnspool-active-file
12863 @vindex nnspool-active-file
12864 The name of the active file.
12866 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
12867 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
12868 The name of the group descriptions file.
12870 @item nnspool-history-file
12871 @vindex nnspool-history-file
12872 The name of the news history file.
12874 @item nnspool-active-times-file
12875 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
12876 The name of the active date file.
12878 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
12879 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
12880 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @acronym{NOV} files
12883 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12884 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12886 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
12887 relevant portion from the overview file. If @code{nil},
12888 @code{nnspool} will load the entire file into a buffer and process it
12895 @section Getting Mail
12896 @cindex reading mail
12899 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
12903 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
12904 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
12905 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
12906 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
12907 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
12908 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
12909 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
12910 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
12911 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
12912 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
12913 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
12914 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
12915 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
12919 @node Mail in a Newsreader
12920 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
12922 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
12923 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
12924 of a culture shock.
12926 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
12927 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
12929 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
12930 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
12931 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
12932 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
12934 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
12936 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
12937 deleted? How awful!
12939 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
12940 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
12941 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
12942 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
12945 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
12946 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
12947 they want to treat a message.
12949 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
12950 via @acronym{SMTP}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
12951 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
12952 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
12953 archived somewhere else.
12955 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
12956 These are transported via @acronym{NNTP}, and are therefore news. But we may need
12957 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
12958 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
12959 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
12961 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
12962 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
12963 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
12965 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
12966 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
12969 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
12970 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
12971 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
12972 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
12973 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
12975 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
12976 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
12977 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
12978 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
12979 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
12980 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
12984 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
12985 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
12987 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
12988 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
12989 and things will happen automatically.
12991 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a ``one file per
12992 mail'' back end), you could put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
12995 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12998 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
12999 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
13000 directory, which is @file{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
13001 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
13002 like any other group.
13004 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
13007 (setq nnmail-split-methods
13008 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13009 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
13013 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
13014 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
13015 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
13018 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
13019 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
13020 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
13023 @node Splitting Mail
13024 @subsection Splitting Mail
13025 @cindex splitting mail
13026 @cindex mail splitting
13028 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
13029 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
13030 to be split into groups.
13033 (setq nnmail-split-methods
13034 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13035 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
13036 ("mail.other" "")))
13039 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
13040 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
13041 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
13042 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
13043 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
13044 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
13045 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
13048 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
13051 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
13052 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
13053 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
13054 mail belongs in that group.
13056 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
13057 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{*} so that it matches any mails
13058 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
13059 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
13060 rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have crossposting enabled.
13061 In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.)
13063 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
13064 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
13065 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
13066 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
13067 thinks should carry this mail message.
13069 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
13070 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
13071 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
13072 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
13074 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
13075 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
13076 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
13077 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
13078 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{*}) group.
13080 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
13083 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
13084 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
13085 links. If that's the case for you, set
13086 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
13087 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
13089 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
13090 @findex nnmail-split-history
13091 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
13092 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
13093 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
13094 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
13097 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
13098 Header lines longer than the value of
13099 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
13102 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
13103 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
13104 By default the splitting codes @acronym{MIME} decodes headers so you
13105 can match on non-@acronym{ASCII} strings. The
13106 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset} variable specifies the default
13107 charset for decoding. The behaviour can be turned off completely by
13108 binding @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to @code{nil}, which is
13109 useful if you want to match articles based on the raw header data.
13111 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
13112 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If you
13113 specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable @code{mail-sources}
13114 @pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}, however, then splitting does
13115 @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
13116 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-@code{nil} value to make
13117 splitting happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on
13118 other kinds of entries.)
13120 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
13121 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
13122 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
13123 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
13124 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
13125 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
13126 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
13127 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
13128 month's rent money.
13132 @subsection Mail Sources
13134 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from
13135 a @acronym{POP} mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a
13136 maildir, for instance.
13139 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
13140 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
13141 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
13145 @node Mail Source Specifiers
13146 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
13148 @cindex mail server
13151 @cindex mail source
13153 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
13154 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
13159 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
13162 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
13163 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
13164 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
13167 The following mail source types are available:
13171 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
13177 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @env{MAIL}
13178 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
13179 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
13183 Script run before/after fetching mail.
13186 An example file mail source:
13189 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
13192 Or using the default file name:
13198 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best
13199 to use @acronym{POP} or @acronym{IMAP} or the like to fetch the mail.
13200 You can not use ange-ftp file names here---it has no way to lock the
13201 mail spool while moving the mail.
13203 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
13207 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
13210 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
13214 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
13217 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
13219 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
13222 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
13226 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
13227 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used
13228 when you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files.
13229 That is, there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that
13230 directory and groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool}
13231 will be put in the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix
13232 to be used instead of @code{.spool}.) Setting
13233 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-@code{nil} forces
13234 Gnus to scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful
13235 if you want to scan mail groups at a specified level.
13237 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
13238 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
13239 that to a non-@code{nil} value, then the normal splitting process is
13240 applied to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
13246 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
13250 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
13254 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
13255 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
13256 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
13257 predicate are considered.
13261 Script run before/after fetching mail.
13265 An example directory mail source:
13268 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
13273 Get mail from a @acronym{POP} server.
13279 The name of the @acronym{POP} server. The default is taken from the
13280 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13283 The port number of the @acronym{POP} server. This can be a number (eg,
13284 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
13285 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
13286 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
13287 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
13290 The user name to give to the @acronym{POP} server. The default is the login
13294 The password to give to the @acronym{POP} server. If not specified,
13295 the user is prompted.
13298 The program to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. This
13299 should be a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
13302 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
13305 The valid format specifier characters are:
13309 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
13310 included in this string.
13313 The name of the server.
13316 The port number of the server.
13319 The user name to use.
13322 The password to use.
13325 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13326 corresponding keywords.
13329 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13330 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13333 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13334 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13337 The function to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. The
13338 function is called with one parameter---the name of the file where the
13339 mail should be moved to.
13341 @item :authentication
13342 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
13343 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
13347 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this can be the symbol
13348 @code{ssl}, the symbol @code{tls} or others. The default is @code{nil}
13349 and use insecure connections. Note that for SSL/TLS, you need external
13350 programs and libraries:
13354 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL@. Requires OpenSSL (the program
13355 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
13356 library @samp{ssl.el}.
13358 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to SSL)@.
13359 Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
13364 Non-@code{nil} if mail is to be left on the server and UIDL used for
13365 message retrieval. The default is @code{nil}.
13369 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
13370 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
13372 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default @acronym{POP} server,
13373 using the default user name, and default fetcher:
13379 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
13382 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
13383 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
13386 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
13389 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
13393 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
13394 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
13395 contains exactly one mail.
13401 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
13402 taken from the @env{MAILDIR} environment variable or
13405 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
13406 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
13408 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
13409 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
13410 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
13413 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
13414 from locking problems).
13418 Two example maildir mail sources:
13421 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
13422 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
13426 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
13431 Get mail from a @acronym{IMAP} server. If you don't want to use
13432 @acronym{IMAP} as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie
13433 with nnimap), for some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar
13434 to a @acronym{POP} server and fetches articles from a given
13435 @acronym{IMAP} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for more information.
13437 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} and STARTTLS support you
13438 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
13444 The name of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is taken from the
13445 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13448 The port number of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
13449 @samp{993} for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} connections.
13452 The user name to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is the login
13456 The password to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. If not specified, the user is
13460 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
13461 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
13462 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{tls},
13463 @samp{ssl}, @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
13465 @item :authentication
13466 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
13467 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
13468 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
13469 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
13472 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
13473 mapped into the @code{imap-shell-program} variable. This should be a
13474 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
13480 The valid format specifier characters are:
13484 The name of the server.
13487 User name from @code{imap-default-user}.
13490 The port number of the server.
13493 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13494 corresponding keywords.
13497 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
13498 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
13501 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
13502 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
13503 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @acronym{IMAP} client and mark some
13504 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
13505 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
13506 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
13509 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
13510 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
13511 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
13512 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
13515 If non-@code{nil}, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the
13516 mailbox after finishing the fetch.
13520 An example @acronym{IMAP} mail source:
13523 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
13525 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
13529 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{www.hotmail.com},
13530 @uref{webmail.netscape.com}, @uref{www.netaddress.com},
13531 @uref{mail.yahoo.com}.
13533 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
13534 required for url "4.0pre.46".
13536 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
13542 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
13543 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
13546 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
13550 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
13554 If non-@code{nil}, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to
13555 trash folder after finishing the fetch.
13559 An example webmail source:
13562 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
13564 :password "secret")
13569 @item Common Keywords
13570 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
13576 If non-@code{nil}, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you
13577 use directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this
13582 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
13587 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
13588 useful when you use local mail and news.
13593 @subsubsection Function Interface
13595 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
13596 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
13597 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
13598 consider the following mail-source setting:
13601 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
13602 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
13605 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
13606 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
13607 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
13608 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
13609 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
13611 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
13614 @node Mail Source Customization
13615 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
13617 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
13618 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
13622 @item mail-source-crash-box
13623 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
13624 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is@*
13625 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
13627 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
13628 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
13629 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them. If
13630 @code{t}, delete the files immediately, if @code{nil}, never delete any
13631 files. If a positive number, delete files older than number of days
13632 (This will only happen, when receiving new mail). You may also set
13633 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} to @code{nil} and call
13634 @code{mail-source-delete-old-incoming} from a hook or interactively.
13636 @item mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
13637 @vindex mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
13638 If non-@code{nil}, ask for for confirmation before deleting old incoming
13639 files. This variable only applies when
13640 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is a positive number.
13642 @item mail-source-ignore-errors
13643 @vindex mail-source-ignore-errors
13644 If non-@code{nil}, ignore errors when reading mail from a mail source.
13646 @item mail-source-directory
13647 @vindex mail-source-directory
13648 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
13649 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
13650 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
13653 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13654 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13655 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
13656 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
13657 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
13658 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
13660 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
13661 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
13662 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
13664 @item mail-source-movemail-program
13665 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
13666 If non-@code{nil}, name of program for fetching new mail. If
13667 @code{nil}, @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
13672 @node Fetching Mail
13673 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
13675 @vindex mail-sources
13676 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
13677 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
13678 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
13679 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
13681 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
13682 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
13685 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a
13686 @acronym{POP} mail server, you'd say something like:
13691 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13692 :password "secret")))
13695 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
13699 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
13700 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13703 :password "secret")))
13707 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
13708 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
13709 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
13710 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
13711 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
13712 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
13716 @node Mail Back End Variables
13717 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
13719 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
13723 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13724 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13725 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
13726 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
13728 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
13729 @item nnmail-split-hook
13730 @findex gnus-article-decode-encoded-words
13731 @cindex RFC 1522 decoding
13732 @cindex RFC 2047 decoding
13733 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
13734 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
13735 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
13736 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
13737 in the buffer will show up in any files.
13738 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
13741 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13742 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13743 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13744 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13745 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
13746 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
13747 starting to handle the new mail) and
13748 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
13749 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
13750 default file modes the new mail files get:
13753 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13754 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
13756 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13757 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
13760 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
13761 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
13762 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
13763 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
13764 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
13765 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
13766 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
13768 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
13769 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
13770 @findex delete-file
13771 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
13773 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13774 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13775 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
13776 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
13777 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
13779 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13780 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13781 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
13782 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
13783 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
13785 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
13786 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
13787 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
13792 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
13793 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
13794 @cindex mail splitting
13795 @cindex fancy mail splitting
13797 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
13798 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
13799 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
13800 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
13801 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
13802 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
13804 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
13807 ;; @r{Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of}
13808 ;; @r{the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group}
13809 ;; @r{from real errors.}
13810 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
13812 ;; @r{Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant}
13813 ;; @r{groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the}
13814 ;; @r{(ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.}
13815 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
13816 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
13817 ;; @r{Other mailing lists@dots{}}
13818 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
13819 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
13820 ;; @r{Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent}
13821 ;; @r{cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to}
13822 ;; @r{the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the}
13823 ;; @r{message was really cross-posted.}
13824 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
13825 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
13826 ;; @r{People@dots{}}
13827 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
13828 ;; @r{Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.}
13832 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
13833 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
13834 the five possible split syntaxes:
13839 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
13840 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
13844 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
13845 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
13846 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
13847 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
13848 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
13849 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
13850 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
13851 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
13854 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13855 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
13856 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
13857 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
13860 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13861 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
13864 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
13865 (i.e., delete) this message. Use with extreme caution.
13868 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
13869 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
13870 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
13871 function should return a @var{split}.
13874 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
13875 body of the messages:
13878 (defun split-on-body ()
13880 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
13881 (goto-char (point-min))
13882 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
13886 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
13887 when the @code{:} function is run.
13890 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the
13891 first element is @code{!}, then @var{split} will be processed, and
13892 @var{func} will be called as a function with the result of @var{split}
13893 as argument. @var{func} should return a split.
13896 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
13900 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
13901 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
13902 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
13903 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
13904 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
13906 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
13907 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be Lisp symbols, in that case they
13908 are expanded as specified by the variable
13909 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
13910 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
13913 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
13914 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
13915 when all this splitting is performed.
13917 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
13918 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
13919 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
13922 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
13925 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
13926 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
13928 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
13929 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
13930 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
13931 groupings 1 through 9.
13933 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
13934 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
13935 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
13936 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
13937 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
13938 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
13939 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
13940 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
13941 it once per thread.
13943 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates}
13944 and @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-@code{nil}
13945 value. And then you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}
13946 using the colon feature, like so:
13948 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; @r{or @code{delete}}
13949 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
13951 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
13952 ;; @r{other splits go here}
13956 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
13957 non-@code{nil}, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees
13958 in the file specified by the variable
13959 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, together with the group it is in
13960 (the group is omitted for non-mail messages). When mail splitting is
13961 invoked, the function @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks
13962 at the References (and In-Reply-To) header of each message to split
13963 and searches the file specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}
13964 for the message ids. When it has found a parent, it returns the
13965 corresponding group name unless the group name matches the regexp
13966 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is
13967 recommended that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a
13968 somewhat higher number than the default so that the message ids are
13969 still in the cache. (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some
13970 300 kBytes in size.)
13971 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13972 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
13973 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
13974 messages goes into the new group.
13976 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
13977 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
13978 outgoing messages are written to an `outgoing' group, you could set
13979 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
13980 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
13984 @node Group Mail Splitting
13985 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
13986 @cindex mail splitting
13987 @cindex group mail splitting
13989 @findex gnus-group-split
13990 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
13991 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
13992 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
13993 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
13994 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
13995 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
13996 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
13997 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
13999 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
14000 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
14001 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
14002 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
14004 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
14005 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
14006 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
14007 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
14008 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
14009 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
14010 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
14012 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
14013 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
14014 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
14015 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
14016 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
14017 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
14018 @code{gnus-group-split}.
14020 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
14021 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
14022 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
14023 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
14024 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
14025 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
14026 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
14027 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
14028 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
14029 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
14030 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
14031 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
14032 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
14034 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
14039 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
14040 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
14042 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
14043 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
14044 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
14045 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
14047 ((split-spec . catch-all))
14050 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
14051 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
14052 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
14055 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
14056 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
14057 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
14061 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
14062 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
14063 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
14067 (: gnus-group-split-fancy @var{groups} @var{no-crosspost} @var{catch-all})
14070 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
14071 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
14072 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
14073 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fall back
14074 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
14075 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
14076 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
14077 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
14078 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
14080 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
14081 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
14082 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
14083 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
14084 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
14085 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
14086 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
14087 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
14088 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
14090 @findex gnus-group-split-update
14091 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
14092 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
14093 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
14094 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
14095 you. For example, add to your @file{~/.gnus.el}:
14098 (gnus-group-split-setup @var{auto-update} @var{catch-all})
14101 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
14102 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
14103 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
14104 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
14105 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
14108 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
14109 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
14110 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
14111 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
14113 @node Incorporating Old Mail
14114 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
14115 @cindex incorporating old mail
14116 @cindex import old mail
14118 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
14119 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
14120 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
14123 Doing so can be quite easy.
14125 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
14126 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
14127 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
14128 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
14129 your @code{nnml} groups.
14135 Go to the group buffer.
14138 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
14139 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14142 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
14145 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
14146 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
14149 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
14150 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
14153 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
14154 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
14155 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
14156 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
14157 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
14159 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
14160 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
14161 using the new mail back end.
14164 @node Expiring Mail
14165 @subsection Expiring Mail
14166 @cindex article expiry
14168 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
14169 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
14170 different approach to mail reading.
14172 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
14173 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
14174 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
14175 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
14176 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
14177 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
14180 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
14181 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default key bindings, this means
14182 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
14183 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
14184 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
14185 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
14186 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
14187 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
14188 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
14190 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
14191 two features, called `auto-expire' and `total-expire', that can help you
14192 with this. In a nutshell, `auto-expire' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
14193 for you when you select an article. And `total-expire' means that Gnus
14194 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
14195 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
14196 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
14199 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
14200 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
14201 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
14202 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
14203 into its own group.)
14205 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
14206 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
14207 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
14208 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
14209 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
14210 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
14211 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring @pxref{Adaptive
14212 Scoring}. Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
14215 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
14216 Groups that match the regular expression
14217 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
14218 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
14219 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
14221 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
14222 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
14223 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
14224 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
14225 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
14227 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
14229 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
14230 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
14231 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
14234 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
14235 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
14236 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
14237 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
14238 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
14240 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
14241 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
14244 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
14245 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
14248 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
14249 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
14251 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
14252 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
14253 don't really mix very well.
14255 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
14256 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
14257 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
14258 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
14261 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
14262 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
14263 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
14264 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
14267 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
14269 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
14271 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
14273 ((string= group "mail.junk")
14275 ((string= group "important")
14281 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
14282 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
14284 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
14285 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
14286 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
14289 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
14290 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
14292 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
14293 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
14294 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
14295 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
14296 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
14297 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
14298 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
14299 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
14300 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
14301 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
14302 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
14303 from as its parameter) which should return a target---either a group
14304 name or @code{delete}.
14306 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
14308 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
14311 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14312 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14313 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
14314 expire mail to groups according to the variable
14315 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
14318 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14319 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14320 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
14321 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
14322 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
14325 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
14326 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
14327 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
14328 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
14329 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
14330 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
14332 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
14333 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
14334 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
14335 easier for procmail users.
14337 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
14338 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
14339 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
14340 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
14341 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
14342 caution. Even more dangerous is the
14343 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
14344 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
14345 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
14346 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
14347 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
14348 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
14349 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
14352 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
14354 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
14355 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
14356 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
14357 auto-expire turned on.
14361 @subsection Washing Mail
14362 @cindex mail washing
14363 @cindex list server brain damage
14364 @cindex incoming mail treatment
14366 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
14367 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
14368 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
14369 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
14370 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
14371 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
14373 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
14374 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
14375 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
14378 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
14379 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
14380 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
14381 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
14384 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14385 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14386 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
14387 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
14388 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
14391 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14392 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14393 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
14394 Emacs running on MS machines.
14398 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14399 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14400 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
14401 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
14404 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14405 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14406 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
14407 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
14409 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
14410 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
14411 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
14412 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
14413 into a feature by documenting it.)
14415 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14416 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14417 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
14418 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
14419 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
14420 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
14421 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
14424 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
14425 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
14428 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
14429 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
14432 This can also be done non-destructively with
14433 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
14435 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
14436 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
14437 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
14439 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14440 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14442 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
14443 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
14444 @code{References} headers.
14448 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14449 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14450 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
14454 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
14455 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
14456 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
14463 @subsection Duplicates
14465 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
14466 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
14467 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
14468 @cindex duplicate mails
14469 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
14470 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
14471 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
14472 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
14473 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
14474 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
14475 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
14476 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
14477 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
14478 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
14479 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
14480 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
14481 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
14483 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
14484 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
14485 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
14486 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
14488 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
14491 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
14492 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
14496 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
14497 '(| ;; @r{Messages duplicates go to a separate group.}
14498 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
14499 ;; @r{Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.}
14500 (any mail "mail.misc")
14501 ;; @r{Other rules.}
14507 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14508 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
14509 ;; @r{Other rules.}
14513 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
14514 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
14515 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
14516 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
14517 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
14520 @node Not Reading Mail
14521 @subsection Not Reading Mail
14523 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
14524 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
14525 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
14527 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
14528 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
14529 mail, which should help.
14531 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14532 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14533 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14534 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14535 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14536 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
14537 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old Rmail
14538 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
14539 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
14540 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
14541 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
14543 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
14544 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
14548 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
14549 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
14551 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
14552 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
14553 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
14555 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
14556 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
14557 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
14561 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
14562 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the Rmail Babyl format.
14563 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
14564 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
14565 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
14566 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
14567 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
14571 @node Unix Mail Box
14572 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
14574 @cindex unix mail box
14576 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14577 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14578 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
14579 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
14580 which group it belongs in.
14582 Virtual server settings:
14585 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
14586 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14587 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
14590 @item nnmbox-active-file
14591 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14592 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
14593 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
14595 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
14596 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14597 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
14598 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
14603 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
14607 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14608 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14609 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a Babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{Rmail
14610 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
14611 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
14613 Virtual server settings:
14616 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
14617 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14618 The name of the Rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
14620 @item nnbabyl-active-file
14621 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14622 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
14623 @file{~/.rmail-active}
14625 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14626 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14627 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
14633 @subsubsection Mail Spool
14635 @cindex mail @acronym{NOV} spool
14637 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
14638 format. It should be used with some caution.
14640 @vindex nnml-directory
14641 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
14642 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
14643 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
14644 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
14646 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
14649 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
14650 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
14651 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
14652 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
14653 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
14654 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
14655 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
14656 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
14658 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
14659 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
14660 @acronym{NOV} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
14661 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
14663 @cindex self contained nnml servers
14665 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
14666 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14667 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14668 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
14669 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
14670 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
14671 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
14672 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
14675 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
14676 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
14677 them next time it starts.
14679 Virtual server settings:
14682 @item nnml-directory
14683 @vindex nnml-directory
14684 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory. The
14685 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default value
14688 @item nnml-active-file
14689 @vindex nnml-active-file
14690 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
14691 @file{~/Mail/active}.
14693 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
14694 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
14695 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14696 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}.
14698 @item nnml-get-new-mail
14699 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14700 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
14703 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
14704 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
14705 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
14706 default is @code{nil}.
14708 @item nnml-nov-file-name
14709 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
14710 The name of the @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
14712 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14713 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14714 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
14716 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
14717 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
14718 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14719 default is @code{nil}.
14721 @item nnml-marks-file-name
14722 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
14723 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
14725 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
14726 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
14727 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
14732 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
14733 If your @code{nnml} groups and @acronym{NOV} files get totally out of whack,
14734 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
14735 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
14736 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
14737 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
14738 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
14743 @subsubsection MH Spool
14745 @cindex mh-e mail spool
14747 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
14748 @acronym{NOV} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks file.
14749 This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than @code{nnml},
14750 but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
14752 Virtual server settings:
14755 @item nnmh-directory
14756 @vindex nnmh-directory
14757 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
14758 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14761 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
14762 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14763 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
14767 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
14768 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
14769 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
14770 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
14771 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
14772 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
14773 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
14778 @subsubsection Maildir
14782 @code{nnmaildir} stores mail in the maildir format, with each maildir
14783 corresponding to a group in Gnus. This format is documented here:
14784 @uref{http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html} and here:
14785 @uref{http://www.qmail.org/man/man5/maildir.html}. nnmaildir also
14786 stores extra information in the @file{.nnmaildir/} directory within a
14789 Maildir format was designed to allow concurrent deliveries and
14790 reading, without needing locks. With other back ends, you would have
14791 your mail delivered to a spool of some kind, and then you would
14792 configure Gnus to split mail from that spool into your groups. You
14793 can still do that with nnmaildir, but the more common configuration is
14794 to have your mail delivered directly to the maildirs that appear as
14797 nnmaildir is designed to be perfectly reliable: @kbd{C-g} will never
14798 corrupt its data in memory, and @code{SIGKILL} will never corrupt its
14799 data in the filesystem.
14801 nnmaildir stores article marks and @acronym{NOV} data in each maildir. So you
14802 can copy a whole maildir from one Gnus setup to another, and you will
14805 Virtual server settings:
14809 For each of your nnmaildir servers (it's very unlikely that you'd need
14810 more than one), you need to create a directory and populate it with
14811 maildirs or symlinks to maildirs (and nothing else; do not choose a
14812 directory already used for other purposes). Each maildir will be
14813 represented in Gnus as a newsgroup on that server; the filename of the
14814 symlink will be the name of the group. Any filenames in the directory
14815 starting with `.' are ignored. The directory is scanned when you
14816 first start Gnus, and each time you type @kbd{g} in the group buffer;
14817 if any maildirs have been removed or added, nnmaildir notices at these
14820 The value of the @code{directory} parameter should be a Lisp form
14821 which is processed by @code{eval} and @code{expand-file-name} to get
14822 the path of the directory for this server. The form is @code{eval}ed
14823 only when the server is opened; the resulting string is used until the
14824 server is closed. (If you don't know about forms and @code{eval},
14825 don't worry---a simple string will work.) This parameter is not
14826 optional; you must specify it. I don't recommend using
14827 @code{"~/Mail"} or a subdirectory of it; several other parts of Gnus
14828 use that directory by default for various things, and may get confused
14829 if nnmaildir uses it too. @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} is a typical value.
14831 @item target-prefix
14832 This should be a Lisp form which is processed by @code{eval} and
14833 @code{expand-file-name}. The form is @code{eval}ed only when the
14834 server is opened; the resulting string is used until the server is
14837 When you create a group on an nnmaildir server, the maildir is created
14838 with @code{target-prefix} prepended to its name, and a symlink
14839 pointing to that maildir is created, named with the plain group name.
14840 So if @code{directory} is @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} and
14841 @code{target-prefix} is @code{"../maildirs/"}, then when you create
14842 the group @code{foo}, nnmaildir will create
14843 @file{~/.nnmaildir/../maildirs/foo} as a maildir, and will create
14844 @file{~/.nnmaildir/foo} as a symlink pointing to
14845 @file{../maildirs/foo}.
14847 You can set @code{target-prefix} to a string without any slashes to
14848 create both maildirs and symlinks in the same @code{directory}; in
14849 this case, any maildirs found in @code{directory} whose names start
14850 with @code{target-prefix} will not be listed as groups (but the
14851 symlinks pointing to them will be).
14853 As a special case, if @code{target-prefix} is @code{""} (the default),
14854 then when you create a group, the maildir will be created in
14855 @code{directory} without a corresponding symlink. Beware that you
14856 cannot use @code{gnus-group-delete-group} on such groups without the
14857 @code{force} argument.
14859 @item directory-files
14860 This should be a function with the same interface as
14861 @code{directory-files} (such as @code{directory-files} itself). It is
14862 used to scan the server's @code{directory} for maildirs. This
14863 parameter is optional; the default is
14864 @code{nnheader-directory-files-safe} if
14865 @code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is @code{nil}, and
14866 @code{directory-files} otherwise.
14867 (@code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is checked only once when the
14868 server is opened; if you want to check it each time the directory is
14869 scanned, you'll have to provide your own function that does that.)
14872 If non-@code{nil}, then after scanning for new mail in the group
14873 maildirs themselves as usual, this server will also incorporate mail
14874 the conventional Gnus way, from @code{mail-sources} according to
14875 @code{nnmail-split-methods} or @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. The default
14876 value is @code{nil}.
14878 Do @emph{not} use the same maildir both in @code{mail-sources} and as
14879 an nnmaildir group. The results might happen to be useful, but that
14880 would be by chance, not by design, and the results might be different
14881 in the future. If your split rules create new groups, remember to
14882 supply a @code{create-directory} server parameter.
14885 @subsubsection Group parameters
14887 nnmaildir uses several group parameters. It's safe to ignore all
14888 this; the default behavior for nnmaildir is the same as the default
14889 behavior for other mail back ends: articles are deleted after one week,
14890 etc. Except for the expiry parameters, all this functionality is
14891 unique to nnmaildir, so you can ignore it if you're just trying to
14892 duplicate the behavior you already have with another back end.
14894 If the value of any of these parameters is a vector, the first element
14895 is evaluated as a Lisp form and the result is used, rather than the
14896 original value. If the value is not a vector, the value itself is
14897 evaluated as a Lisp form. (This is why these parameters use names
14898 different from those of other, similar parameters supported by other
14899 back ends: they have different, though similar, meanings.) (For
14900 numbers, strings, @code{nil}, and @code{t}, you can ignore the
14901 @code{eval} business again; for other values, remember to use an extra
14902 quote and wrap the value in a vector when appropriate.)
14906 An integer specifying the minimum age, in seconds, of an article before
14907 it will be expired, or the symbol @code{never} to specify that
14908 articles should never be expired. If this parameter is not set,
14909 nnmaildir falls back to the usual
14910 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) variables (overrideable by
14911 the @code{expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) group parameters. If you
14912 wanted a value of 3 days, you could use something like @code{[(* 3 24
14913 60 60)]}; nnmaildir will evaluate the form and use the result. An
14914 article's age is measured starting from the article file's
14915 modification time. Normally, this is the same as the article's
14916 delivery time, but editing an article makes it younger. Moving an
14917 article (other than via expiry) may also make an article younger.
14920 If this is set to a string such as a full Gnus group name, like
14922 "backend+server.address.string:group.name"
14924 and if it is not the name of the same group that the parameter belongs
14925 to, then articles will be moved to the specified group during expiry
14926 before being deleted. @emph{If this is set to an nnmaildir group, the
14927 article will be just as old in the destination group as it was in the
14928 source group.} So be careful with @code{expire-age} in the
14929 destination group. If this is set to the name of the same group that
14930 the parameter belongs to, then the article is not expired at all. If
14931 you use the vector form, the first element is evaluated once for each
14932 article. So that form can refer to
14933 @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name}, etc., to decide where to put the
14934 article. @emph{If this parameter is not set, nnmaildir does not fall
14935 back to the @code{expiry-target} group parameter or the
14936 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} variable.}
14939 If this is set to @code{t}, nnmaildir will treat the articles in this
14940 maildir as read-only. This means: articles are not renamed from
14941 @file{new/} into @file{cur/}; articles are only found in @file{new/},
14942 not @file{cur/}; articles are never deleted; articles cannot be
14943 edited. @file{new/} is expected to be a symlink to the @file{new/}
14944 directory of another maildir---e.g., a system-wide mailbox containing
14945 a mailing list of common interest. Everything in the maildir outside
14946 @file{new/} is @emph{not} treated as read-only, so for a shared
14947 mailbox, you do still need to set up your own maildir (or have write
14948 permission to the shared mailbox); your maildir just won't contain
14949 extra copies of the articles.
14951 @item directory-files
14952 A function with the same interface as @code{directory-files}. It is
14953 used to scan the directories in the maildir corresponding to this
14954 group to find articles. The default is the function specified by the
14955 server's @code{directory-files} parameter.
14957 @item distrust-Lines:
14958 If non-@code{nil}, nnmaildir will always count the lines of an
14959 article, rather than use the @code{Lines:} header field. If
14960 @code{nil}, the header field will be used if present.
14963 A list of mark symbols, such as
14964 @code{['(read expire)]}. Whenever Gnus asks nnmaildir for
14965 article marks, nnmaildir will say that all articles have these
14966 marks, regardless of whether the marks stored in the filesystem
14967 say so. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will probably be
14968 removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
14969 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
14972 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(tick expire)]}. Whenever
14973 Gnus asks nnmaildir for article marks, nnmaildir will say that no
14974 articles have these marks, regardless of whether the marks stored in
14975 the filesystem say so. @code{never-marks} overrides
14976 @code{always-marks}. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will
14977 probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
14978 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
14980 @item nov-cache-size
14981 An integer specifying the size of the @acronym{NOV} memory cache. To speed
14982 things up, nnmaildir keeps @acronym{NOV} data in memory for a limited number of
14983 articles in each group. (This is probably not worthwhile, and will
14984 probably be removed in the future.) This parameter's value is noticed
14985 only the first time a group is seen after the server is opened---i.e.,
14986 when you first start Gnus, typically. The @acronym{NOV} cache is never resized
14987 until the server is closed and reopened. The default is an estimate
14988 of the number of articles that would be displayed in the summary
14989 buffer: a count of articles that are either marked with @code{tick} or
14990 not marked with @code{read}, plus a little extra.
14993 @subsubsection Article identification
14994 Articles are stored in the @file{cur/} subdirectory of each maildir.
14995 Each article file is named like @code{uniq:info}, where @code{uniq}
14996 contains no colons. nnmaildir ignores, but preserves, the
14997 @code{:info} part. (Other maildir readers typically use this part of
14998 the filename to store marks.) The @code{uniq} part uniquely
14999 identifies the article, and is used in various places in the
15000 @file{.nnmaildir/} subdirectory of the maildir to store information
15001 about the corresponding article. The full pathname of an article is
15002 available in the variable @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name} after you
15003 request the article in the summary buffer.
15005 @subsubsection NOV data
15006 An article identified by @code{uniq} has its @acronym{NOV} data (used to
15007 generate lines in the summary buffer) stored in
15008 @code{.nnmaildir/nov/uniq}. There is no
15009 @code{nnmaildir-generate-nov-databases} function. (There isn't much
15010 need for it---an article's @acronym{NOV} data is updated automatically when the
15011 article or @code{nnmail-extra-headers} has changed.) You can force
15012 nnmaildir to regenerate the @acronym{NOV} data for a single article simply by
15013 deleting the corresponding @acronym{NOV} file, but @emph{beware}: this will also
15014 cause nnmaildir to assign a new article number for this article, which
15015 may cause trouble with @code{seen} marks, the Agent, and the cache.
15017 @subsubsection Article marks
15018 An article identified by @code{uniq} is considered to have the mark
15019 @code{flag} when the file @file{.nnmaildir/marks/flag/uniq} exists.
15020 When Gnus asks nnmaildir for a group's marks, nnmaildir looks for such
15021 files and reports the set of marks it finds. When Gnus asks nnmaildir
15022 to store a new set of marks, nnmaildir creates and deletes the
15023 corresponding files as needed. (Actually, rather than create a new
15024 file for each mark, it just creates hard links to
15025 @file{.nnmaildir/markfile}, to save inodes.)
15027 You can invent new marks by creating a new directory in
15028 @file{.nnmaildir/marks/}. You can tar up a maildir and remove it from
15029 your server, untar it later, and keep your marks. You can add and
15030 remove marks yourself by creating and deleting mark files. If you do
15031 this while Gnus is running and your nnmaildir server is open, it's
15032 best to exit all summary buffers for nnmaildir groups and type @kbd{s}
15033 in the group buffer first, and to type @kbd{g} or @kbd{M-g} in the
15034 group buffer afterwards. Otherwise, Gnus might not pick up the
15035 changes, and might undo them.
15039 @subsubsection Mail Folders
15041 @cindex mbox folders
15042 @cindex mail folders
15044 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a separate
15045 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
15046 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
15049 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
15051 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
15052 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
15053 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
15054 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
15055 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
15056 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
15057 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder} directory.
15058 Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to backup, use
15059 @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the
15060 @code{nnfolder} directory).
15062 Virtual server settings:
15065 @item nnfolder-directory
15066 @vindex nnfolder-directory
15067 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
15068 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
15071 @item nnfolder-active-file
15072 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
15073 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
15075 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
15076 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
15077 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
15078 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}
15080 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
15081 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
15082 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
15085 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
15086 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
15087 @cindex backup files
15088 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
15089 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
15090 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
15091 your @file{.emacs} file:
15094 (defun turn-off-backup ()
15095 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
15097 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
15100 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
15101 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
15102 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
15103 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
15104 extract some information from it before removing it.
15106 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
15107 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
15108 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
15109 default is @code{nil}.
15111 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
15112 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
15113 The extension for @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
15115 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
15116 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
15117 The directory where the @acronym{NOV} files should be stored. If
15118 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
15120 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
15121 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
15122 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
15123 default is @code{nil}.
15125 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
15126 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
15127 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
15129 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
15130 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
15131 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If
15132 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
15137 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
15138 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
15139 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
15140 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
15141 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
15142 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
15145 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
15146 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
15148 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
15149 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
15150 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
15151 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
15152 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
15154 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
15155 typically done by @acronym{NNTP} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
15156 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
15157 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @acronym{NNTP} server), and
15158 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
15159 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
15160 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
15161 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
15164 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
15165 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
15166 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
15167 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
15172 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
15173 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
15174 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
15175 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
15176 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
15177 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
15178 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
15179 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
15180 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
15181 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
15182 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
15183 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
15184 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
15189 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
15190 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
15191 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
15192 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
15193 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
15194 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
15195 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
15196 Rmail was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
15197 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote Rmail
15198 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
15199 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
15200 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
15201 headers/status bits stuff. Rmail itself still exists as well, of
15202 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
15204 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
15205 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
15210 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
15211 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
15212 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
15213 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
15214 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
15215 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
15216 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
15217 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
15218 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
15219 @acronym{NNTP} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
15220 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
15221 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
15222 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
15223 provided by the active file and overviews.
15225 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
15226 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
15227 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
15228 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
15229 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
15232 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
15233 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
15238 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
15239 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
15240 individual files, but with little or no indexing support---@code{nnmh}
15241 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
15242 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
15243 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
15244 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
15248 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
15249 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
15250 itself puts @emph{all} one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
15251 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
15252 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
15253 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
15254 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
15255 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
15256 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
15258 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
15259 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
15260 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
15261 friendly mail back end all over.
15265 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses
15266 incompatible group parameters, slightly different from those of other
15269 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
15270 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
15271 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
15272 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
15273 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
15274 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
15275 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to
15276 @uref{http://www.namesys.com/, ReiserFS} or another non-block-structured
15279 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
15280 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
15281 This means you can skip Gnus's mail splitting if your mail is already
15282 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
15283 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
15284 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
15285 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
15286 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
15287 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
15288 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will not
15289 undergo treatment such as duplicate checking.
15291 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
15292 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
15293 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
15294 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
15295 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
15298 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
15299 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
15300 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
15301 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
15302 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
15303 would) to make it use less memory. This caching will probably be
15304 removed in the future.
15306 Startup is likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than with other
15307 back ends. Everything else is likely to be faster, depending in part
15308 on your file system.
15310 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
15311 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
15316 @node Browsing the Web
15317 @section Browsing the Web
15319 @cindex browsing the web
15323 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
15324 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
15325 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
15326 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
15327 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
15328 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
15329 even know what a news group is.
15331 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
15332 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
15333 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
15334 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
15335 you mad in the end.
15337 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
15340 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
15341 interfaces to these sources.
15345 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
15346 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
15347 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
15348 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
15349 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
15350 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
15353 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
15355 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
15356 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @acronym{HTML} data
15357 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
15358 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
15359 though, you should be ok.
15361 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
15362 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
15363 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
15364 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
15365 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
15367 @node Archiving Mail
15368 @subsection Archiving Mail
15369 @cindex archiving mail
15370 @cindex backup of mail
15372 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
15373 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
15374 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
15375 marks is fairly simple.
15377 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
15378 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
15381 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
15382 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
15383 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
15384 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
15385 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
15386 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
15387 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
15388 before you restore the data.
15390 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
15391 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
15392 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
15393 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
15394 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
15395 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
15396 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
15397 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
15398 is unnecessary in that case.
15401 @subsection Web Searches
15406 @cindex Usenet searches
15407 @cindex searching the Usenet
15409 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
15410 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
15411 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
15412 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
15413 searches without having to use a browser.
15415 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
15416 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
15417 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
15418 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
15419 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
15421 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
15422 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
15423 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
15424 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
15425 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
15426 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
15427 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
15428 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
15429 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
15430 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
15433 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
15434 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
15435 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
15436 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
15437 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
15438 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
15440 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
15441 to use @code{nnweb}.
15443 Virtual server variables:
15448 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
15449 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
15450 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
15453 @vindex nnweb-search
15454 The search string to feed to the search engine.
15456 @item nnweb-max-hits
15457 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
15458 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
15461 @item nnweb-type-definition
15462 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
15463 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
15464 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
15469 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
15473 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
15476 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
15479 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
15483 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
15490 @subsection Slashdot
15494 @uref{http://slashdot.org/, Slashdot} is a popular news site, with
15495 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
15496 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
15498 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
15499 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
15502 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15503 '((nnslashdot "")))
15506 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
15507 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
15508 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
15509 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
15510 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
15513 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
15514 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
15516 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
15517 comments), some light @acronym{HTML}izations will be performed. In
15518 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
15519 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
15520 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @acronym{HTML}
15521 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
15522 @acronym{HTML} forms.
15524 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
15527 @item nnslashdot-threaded
15528 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
15529 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
15530 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
15531 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
15532 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
15533 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
15535 @item nnslashdot-login-name
15536 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
15537 The login name to use when posting.
15539 @item nnslashdot-password
15540 @vindex nnslashdot-password
15541 The password to use when posting.
15543 @item nnslashdot-directory
15544 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
15545 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
15546 @file{~/News/slashdot/}.
15548 @item nnslashdot-active-url
15549 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
15550 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
15551 news articles and comments. The default is@*
15552 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
15554 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
15555 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
15556 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
15558 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
15560 @item nnslashdot-article-url
15561 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
15562 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
15564 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
15566 @item nnslashdot-threshold
15567 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
15568 The score threshold. The default is -1.
15570 @item nnslashdot-group-number
15571 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
15572 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
15573 updated. The default is 0.
15580 @subsection Ultimate
15582 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
15584 @uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/, The Ultimate Bulletin Board} is
15585 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
15586 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
15587 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
15589 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
15590 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
15591 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
15592 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
15593 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
15594 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
15595 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
15597 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
15600 @item nnultimate-directory
15601 @vindex nnultimate-directory
15602 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is@*
15603 @file{~/News/ultimate/}.
15608 @subsection Web Archive
15610 @cindex Web Archive
15612 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
15613 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
15614 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
15615 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15618 @findex gnus-group-make-warchive-group
15619 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
15620 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
15621 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET @var{an_egroup} RET egroups RET
15622 www.egroups.com RET @var{your@@email.address} RET}. (Substitute the
15623 @var{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
15624 @var{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
15625 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
15627 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
15630 @item nnwarchive-directory
15631 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
15632 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is@*
15633 @file{~/News/warchive/}.
15635 @item nnwarchive-login
15636 @vindex nnwarchive-login
15637 The account name on the web server.
15639 @item nnwarchive-passwd
15640 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
15641 The password for your account on the web server.
15649 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
15650 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
15651 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15654 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
15655 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
15658 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
15661 @item nnrss-directory
15662 @vindex nnrss-directory
15663 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
15664 @file{~/News/rss/}.
15668 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
15669 the summary buffer.
15672 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
15673 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
15675 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
15677 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
15678 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
15681 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
15684 (require 'browse-url)
15686 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
15688 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
15691 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
15692 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
15695 (browse-url (cdr url))
15696 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
15697 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
15699 (eval-after-load "gnus"
15700 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
15701 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
15702 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
15705 @node Customizing w3
15706 @subsection Customizing w3
15712 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
15713 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
15714 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
15716 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
15717 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
15718 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
15721 (eval-after-load "w3"
15723 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
15724 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
15725 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
15726 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
15728 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
15731 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
15732 @acronym{HTML} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
15739 @cindex @acronym{IMAP}
15741 @acronym{IMAP} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or @dots{}),
15742 think of it as a modernized @acronym{NNTP}. Connecting to a @acronym{IMAP}
15743 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
15744 specify the network address of the server.
15746 @acronym{IMAP} has two properties. First, @acronym{IMAP} can do
15747 everything that @acronym{POP} can, it can hence be viewed as a
15748 @acronym{POP++}. Secondly, @acronym{IMAP} is a mail storage protocol,
15749 similar to @acronym{NNTP} being a news storage protocol---however,
15750 @acronym{IMAP} offers more features than @acronym{NNTP} because news
15751 is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
15753 If you want to use @acronym{IMAP} as a @acronym{POP++}, use an imap
15754 entry in @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from
15755 the @acronym{IMAP} server and store them on the local disk. This is
15756 not the usage described in this section---@xref{Mail Sources}.
15758 If you want to use @acronym{IMAP} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
15759 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
15760 manipulate mails stored on the @acronym{IMAP} server. This is the kind of
15761 usage explained in this section.
15763 A server configuration in @file{~/.gnus.el} with a few @acronym{IMAP} servers
15764 might look something like the following. (Note that for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you
15765 need external programs and libraries, see below.)
15768 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15769 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; @r{no special configuration}
15770 ; @r{perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:}
15772 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15773 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
15774 ; @r{a UW server running on localhost}
15776 (nnimap-server-port 143)
15777 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15778 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
15779 ; @r{anonymous public cyrus server:}
15780 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
15781 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
15782 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
15783 (nnimap-stream network))
15784 ; @r{a ssl server on a non-standard port:}
15786 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
15787 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
15788 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
15791 After defining the new server, you can subscribe to groups on the
15792 server using normal Gnus commands such as @kbd{U} in the Group Buffer
15793 (@pxref{Subscription Commands}) or via the Server Buffer
15794 (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
15796 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
15801 @item nnimap-address
15802 @vindex nnimap-address
15804 The address of the remote @acronym{IMAP} server. Defaults to the virtual
15805 server name if not specified.
15807 @item nnimap-server-port
15808 @vindex nnimap-server-port
15809 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}.
15811 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
15814 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15815 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
15818 @item nnimap-list-pattern
15819 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
15820 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
15821 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
15822 interested in a few---some servers export your home directory via
15823 @acronym{IMAP}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
15824 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
15826 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
15827 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
15828 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
15831 Example server specification:
15834 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15835 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
15836 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
15839 @item nnimap-stream
15840 @vindex nnimap-stream
15841 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
15842 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
15843 of @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}. (@acronym{IMAP} over @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is being replaced by STARTTLS, which
15844 can be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
15846 Example server specification:
15849 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15850 (nnimap-stream ssl))
15853 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
15857 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
15858 @samp{gsasl} or @samp{imtest} program.
15860 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
15862 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
15863 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
15866 @dfn{tls:} Connect through @acronym{TLS}. Requires GNUTLS (the program
15867 @samp{gnutls-cli}).
15869 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through @acronym{SSL}. Requires OpenSSL (the program
15870 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
15872 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @acronym{IMAP} connection.
15874 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
15877 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
15878 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
15879 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
15880 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
15881 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
15882 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
15883 restrictions on @acronym{IMAP} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
15884 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
15885 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
15888 For @acronym{TLS} connection, the @code{gnutls-cli} program from GNUTLS is
15889 needed. It is available from
15890 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/}.
15892 @vindex imap-gssapi-program
15893 This parameter specifies a list of command lines that invoke a GSSAPI
15894 authenticated @acronym{IMAP} stream in a subshell. They are tried
15895 sequentially until a connection is made, or the list has been
15896 exhausted. By default, @samp{gsasl} from GNU SASL, available from
15897 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gsasl/}, and the @samp{imtest}
15898 program from Cyrus IMAPD (see @code{imap-kerberos4-program}), are
15901 @vindex imap-ssl-program
15902 For @acronym{SSL} connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
15903 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
15904 and nnimap support it too---although the most recent versions of
15905 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
15906 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
15907 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
15910 @vindex imap-shell-program
15911 @vindex imap-shell-host
15912 For @acronym{IMAP} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
15913 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
15915 @item nnimap-authenticator
15916 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
15918 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
15919 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
15921 Example server specification:
15924 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15925 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
15928 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
15932 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
15933 external program @code{gsasl} or @code{imtest}.
15935 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
15938 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
15939 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
15941 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
15943 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
15945 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your email address as password.
15948 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
15950 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
15951 Unlike Parmenides the @acronym{IMAP} designers has decided that things that
15952 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @acronym{IMAP} has
15953 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
15954 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
15955 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
15958 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
15959 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
15960 running in circles yet?
15962 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
15963 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
15966 The possible options are:
15971 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as ``Deleted'' when
15974 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
15975 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @acronym{IMAP} clients
15976 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
15977 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
15979 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
15984 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
15985 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
15987 If non-@code{nil} (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as
15988 well), for other @acronym{IMAP} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
15989 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
15990 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @acronym{IMAP}
15991 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @acronym{IMAP}
15994 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
15995 enable per-user persistent dormant flags, using something like:
15998 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
15999 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
16000 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
16001 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
16004 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
16005 as ticked for other users.
16007 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
16009 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
16011 This variable contain the @acronym{IMAP} search command sent to server when
16012 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
16013 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
16014 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
16016 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
16017 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
16018 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
16019 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
16021 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
16022 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
16024 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
16025 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
16026 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
16029 @item nnimap-need-unselect-to-notice-new-mail
16030 @vindex nnimap-need-unselect-to-notice-new-mail
16032 Unselect mailboxes before looking for new mail in them. Some servers
16033 seem to need this under some circumstances; it was reported that
16039 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
16040 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
16041 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
16042 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
16043 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use @acronym{IMAP} namespace in Gnus.
16048 @node Splitting in IMAP
16049 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
16050 @cindex splitting imap mail
16052 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
16053 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
16054 @acronym{IMAP} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
16055 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @acronym{IMAP}
16056 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
16060 Here are the variables of interest:
16064 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
16065 @cindex splitting, crosspost
16067 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
16069 If non-@code{nil}, do crossposting if several split methods match the
16070 mail. If @code{nil}, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule}
16071 found will be used.
16073 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
16075 @item nnimap-split-inbox
16076 @cindex splitting, inbox
16078 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
16080 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @acronym{IMAP}
16081 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to @code{nil}, which means that
16082 splitting is disabled!
16085 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
16086 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
16089 No nnmail equivalent.
16091 @item nnimap-split-rule
16092 @cindex splitting, rules
16093 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
16095 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
16098 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
16099 sublist gives the name of the @acronym{IMAP} mailbox to move articles
16100 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
16101 Neither did I, we need examples.
16104 (setq nnimap-split-rule
16106 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
16107 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
16108 ("INBOX.private" "")))
16111 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
16112 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
16113 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
16115 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
16116 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
16120 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
16123 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
16124 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
16126 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
16127 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
16128 containing the headers of the article. It should return a
16129 non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
16131 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
16132 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
16133 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
16134 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
16135 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
16136 them every time you fetch new mail.)
16138 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
16139 end. The first rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have
16140 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.
16142 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
16143 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
16144 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
16146 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
16148 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
16149 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
16150 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
16153 (setq nnimap-split-rule
16154 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
16155 ("junk" "From:.*Simon"))))
16156 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
16157 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
16158 ("junk" my-junk-func))))))
16161 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
16162 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
16163 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
16164 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
16165 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
16166 group/function elements.
16168 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
16170 @item nnimap-split-predicate
16172 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
16174 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
16175 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
16177 This might be useful if you use another @acronym{IMAP} client to read mail in
16178 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
16179 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
16182 @item nnimap-split-fancy
16183 @cindex splitting, fancy
16184 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
16185 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
16187 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
16188 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
16189 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
16191 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
16192 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
16193 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
16194 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
16199 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
16200 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
16203 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
16205 @item nnimap-split-download-body
16206 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
16207 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
16209 Set to non-@code{nil} to download entire articles during splitting.
16210 This is generally not required, and will slow things down
16211 considerably. You may need it if you want to use an advanced
16212 splitting function that analyses the body to split the article.
16216 @node Expiring in IMAP
16217 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
16218 @cindex expiring imap mail
16220 Even though @code{nnimap} is not a proper @code{nnmail} derived back
16221 end, it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring
16222 Mail}). Unlike splitting in @acronym{IMAP} (@pxref{Splitting in
16223 IMAP}) it does not clone the @code{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating
16224 @var{nnimap-expiry-wait}) but reuse the @code{nnmail} variables. What
16225 follows below are the variables used by the @code{nnimap} expiry
16228 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @acronym{IMAP} server is
16229 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
16230 @code{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
16231 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
16232 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
16233 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
16234 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
16235 messages. Most do, fortunately.
16239 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
16240 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
16242 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
16243 number, the symbol @code{immediate} or @code{never}.
16245 @item nnmail-expiry-target
16247 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
16248 @code{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
16249 that if the destination is a @acronym{IMAP} group on the same server, the
16250 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
16254 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
16255 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
16256 @cindex editing imap acls
16257 @cindex Access Control Lists
16258 @cindex Editing @acronym{IMAP} ACLs
16260 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
16262 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @acronym{IMAP} for
16263 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
16264 @acronym{IMAP} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
16267 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
16268 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
16269 editing window with detailed instructions.
16271 Some possible uses:
16275 Giving ``anyone'' the ``lrs'' rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
16276 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
16277 follow the list without subscribing to it.
16279 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
16280 ``anyone'' posting ("p") capabilities to have ``plussing'' work (that is,
16281 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @acronym{IMAP} mailbox
16285 @node Expunging mailboxes
16286 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
16290 @cindex manual expunging
16292 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
16294 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
16295 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
16296 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
16298 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
16301 @node A note on namespaces
16302 @subsection A note on namespaces
16303 @cindex IMAP namespace
16306 The @acronym{IMAP} protocol has a concept called namespaces, described
16307 by the following text in the RFC:
16310 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
16312 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
16313 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
16314 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
16315 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
16317 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
16318 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
16319 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
16320 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
16321 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
16322 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
16325 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the
16326 @acronym{IMAP} implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace
16327 prefixes in a way that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
16329 Specifically, University of Washington's @acronym{IMAP} server uses
16330 mailbox names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only
16331 in the @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is
16332 created (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed
16333 without the namespace prefix, i.e. @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do
16334 not make it possible for the user to guarantee that user entered
16335 mailbox names will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands,
16336 you should simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in
16339 See the UoW IMAPD documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
16340 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
16341 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
16343 @node Other Sources
16344 @section Other Sources
16346 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
16347 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
16351 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
16352 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
16353 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
16354 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
16355 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
16359 @node Directory Groups
16360 @subsection Directory Groups
16362 @cindex directory groups
16364 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
16365 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
16368 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
16369 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
16370 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
16371 back end to read directories. Big deal.
16373 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
16374 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
16375 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
16376 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
16377 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
16379 @code{nndir} will use @acronym{NOV} files if they are present.
16381 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
16382 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
16383 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
16384 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
16387 @node Anything Groups
16388 @subsection Anything Groups
16391 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
16392 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
16393 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
16396 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
16397 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
16398 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
16399 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
16400 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
16401 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
16402 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
16403 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
16404 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
16405 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
16408 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
16409 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
16410 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
16411 in the article buffer, just as usual.
16413 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
16414 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
16415 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
16416 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
16418 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
16419 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
16420 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
16421 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
16422 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
16423 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
16424 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
16425 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
16430 @item nneething-map-file-directory
16431 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
16432 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
16433 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
16435 @item nneething-exclude-files
16436 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
16437 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
16438 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
16440 @item nneething-include-files
16441 @vindex nneething-include-files
16442 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
16443 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
16445 @item nneething-map-file
16446 @vindex nneething-map-file
16447 Name of the map files.
16451 @node Document Groups
16452 @subsection Document Groups
16454 @cindex documentation group
16457 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
16458 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
16465 The Babyl (Rmail) mail box.
16470 The standard Unix mbox file.
16472 @cindex MMDF mail box
16474 The MMDF mail box format.
16477 Several news articles appended into a file.
16480 @cindex rnews batch files
16481 The rnews batch transport format.
16482 @cindex forwarded messages
16485 Forwarded articles.
16488 Netscape mail boxes.
16491 @acronym{MIME} multipart messages.
16493 @item standard-digest
16494 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
16497 A @acronym{MIME} digest of messages.
16499 @item lanl-gov-announce
16500 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
16502 @item rfc822-forward
16503 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
16506 The Outlook mail box.
16509 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
16512 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
16515 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
16518 An RFC934-forwarded message.
16524 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
16527 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
16533 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
16534 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
16535 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
16538 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
16539 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
16540 group. And that's it.
16542 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
16543 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
16544 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
16545 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
16546 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
16547 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
16548 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
16549 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
16550 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
16551 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
16553 Virtual server variables:
16556 @item nndoc-article-type
16557 @vindex nndoc-article-type
16558 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
16559 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
16560 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
16561 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
16562 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
16564 @item nndoc-post-type
16565 @vindex nndoc-post-type
16566 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
16567 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
16572 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
16576 @node Document Server Internals
16577 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
16579 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
16580 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
16581 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
16582 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
16584 First, here's an example document type definition:
16588 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
16589 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
16592 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
16593 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
16594 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
16595 types can be defined with very few settings:
16598 @item first-article
16599 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
16600 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
16603 @item article-begin
16604 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
16605 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
16607 @item head-begin-function
16608 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
16611 @item nndoc-head-begin
16612 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
16615 @item nndoc-head-end
16616 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
16617 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
16619 @item body-begin-function
16620 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
16624 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
16627 @item body-end-function
16628 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
16632 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
16635 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
16636 regexp will be totally ignored.
16640 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
16641 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
16642 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
16643 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
16644 something that's palatable for Gnus:
16647 @item prepare-body-function
16648 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
16649 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
16650 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
16652 @item article-transform-function
16653 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
16654 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
16655 body of the article.
16657 @item generate-head-function
16658 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
16659 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
16660 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
16661 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
16665 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
16670 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16671 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16672 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
16673 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
16674 (head-end . "^ ?$")
16675 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
16676 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
16677 (subtype digest guess))
16680 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
16681 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
16682 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
16683 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
16684 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
16686 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
16687 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first
16688 is the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says
16689 where in the document type definition alist to put this definition.
16690 The alist is traversed sequentially, and
16691 @code{nndoc-@var{type}-type-p} is called for a given type @var{type}.
16692 So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document is of
16693 @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
16694 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it
16695 is of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
16696 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number
16697 means low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
16705 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
16706 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
16707 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
16709 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
16710 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
16711 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
16714 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
16715 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
16716 that interested in doing things properly.
16718 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
16719 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
16722 First some terminology:
16727 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
16728 get news and/or mail from.
16731 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
16732 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
16735 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
16739 @item message packets
16740 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
16741 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
16742 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16744 @item response packets
16745 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
16746 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
16747 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16757 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
16758 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
16759 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
16760 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
16763 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
16766 You put the packet in your home directory.
16769 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
16770 the native or secondary server.
16773 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
16774 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
16777 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
16781 You transfer this packet to the server.
16784 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
16787 You then repeat until you die.
16791 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
16792 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
16795 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
16796 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
16797 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
16801 @node SOUP Commands
16802 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
16804 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
16808 @kindex G s b (Group)
16809 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
16810 Pack all unread articles in the current group
16811 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
16812 process/prefix convention.
16815 @kindex G s w (Group)
16816 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
16817 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
16820 @kindex G s s (Group)
16821 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
16822 Send all replies from the replies packet
16823 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
16826 @kindex G s p (Group)
16827 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
16828 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
16831 @kindex G s r (Group)
16832 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
16833 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
16836 @kindex O s (Summary)
16837 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
16838 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
16839 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
16840 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16845 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
16850 @item gnus-soup-directory
16851 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
16852 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
16853 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
16855 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
16856 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
16857 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
16858 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
16860 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
16861 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
16862 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
16863 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
16865 @item gnus-soup-packer
16866 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
16867 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16868 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
16870 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
16871 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
16872 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16873 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16875 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
16876 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
16877 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
16879 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16880 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16881 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
16882 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
16888 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
16891 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
16892 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
16893 you can read them at leisure.
16895 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
16899 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
16900 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
16901 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
16902 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
16904 @item nnsoup-directory
16905 @vindex nnsoup-directory
16906 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
16907 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
16909 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
16910 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
16911 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
16912 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/}.
16914 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
16915 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
16916 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
16917 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
16918 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
16920 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
16921 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
16922 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
16923 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
16925 @item nnsoup-active-file
16926 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
16927 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
16928 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
16929 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
16930 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
16932 @item nnsoup-packer
16933 @vindex nnsoup-packer
16934 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
16935 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
16937 @item nnsoup-unpacker
16938 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
16939 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
16940 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16942 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
16943 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
16944 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
16947 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
16948 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
16949 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
16952 @item nnsoup-always-save
16953 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
16954 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
16960 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
16962 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
16963 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
16964 more for that to happen.
16966 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
16967 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
16968 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
16971 In specific, this is what it does:
16974 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
16975 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
16978 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
16979 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
16980 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
16983 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
16984 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
16985 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
16988 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
16989 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
16990 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
16992 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
16998 @item nngateway-address
16999 @vindex nngateway-address
17000 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
17002 @item nngateway-header-transformation
17003 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
17004 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
17005 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
17006 transformation should be called, and defaults to
17007 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
17008 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
17011 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
17012 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
17013 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
17016 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
17019 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
17022 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
17025 The following pre-defined functions exist:
17027 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
17030 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
17031 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
17032 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
17034 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
17036 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
17037 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
17038 @code{nngateway-address}.
17046 (setq gnus-post-method
17048 "mail2news@@replay.com"
17049 (nngateway-header-transformation
17050 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
17053 So, to use this, simply say something like:
17056 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
17061 @node Combined Groups
17062 @section Combined Groups
17064 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
17068 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
17069 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
17073 @node Virtual Groups
17074 @subsection Virtual Groups
17076 @cindex virtual groups
17077 @cindex merging groups
17079 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
17082 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
17083 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
17084 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
17086 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
17087 regexp to match component groups.
17089 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
17090 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
17091 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
17092 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
17093 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
17094 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
17095 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
17096 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
17098 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
17099 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
17102 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
17105 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
17106 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
17108 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
17109 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
17110 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
17111 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
17114 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
17117 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
17118 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
17119 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
17121 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
17122 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
17123 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
17124 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
17125 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
17127 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
17128 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
17129 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
17131 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
17132 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
17133 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
17134 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
17135 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
17136 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
17137 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
17138 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
17139 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
17140 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
17141 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
17143 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
17144 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
17145 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
17146 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
17147 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
17148 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
17149 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
17151 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
17152 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
17154 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
17155 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
17159 @node Kibozed Groups
17160 @subsection Kibozed Groups
17164 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @acronym{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
17165 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will do this for
17166 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @acronym{NNTP} server down to a halt
17167 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
17169 @kindex G k (Group)
17170 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
17173 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
17174 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
17175 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between
17176 @code{nnkiboze} and @code{nnvirtual} end.
17178 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an
17179 @code{nnkiboze} group must have a score file to say what articles are
17180 to be included in the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
17182 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
17183 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
17184 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
17185 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time.
17186 Lots of time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the
17187 headers from all the articles in all the component groups and run them
17188 through the scoring process to determine if there are any articles in
17189 the groups that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
17191 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
17192 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
17193 @acronym{NNTP} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
17194 Stranger things have happened.
17196 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
17197 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
17199 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
17200 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
17201 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
17202 contains the @acronym{NOV} header lines for all the articles in the group,
17203 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
17204 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
17206 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
17207 their @acronym{NOV} lines removed from the @acronym{NOV} file.
17210 @node Gnus Unplugged
17211 @section Gnus Unplugged
17216 @cindex Gnus unplugged
17218 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
17219 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
17220 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
17221 read news. Believe it or not.
17223 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
17224 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
17225 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
17226 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
17227 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
17229 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
17230 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
17231 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
17232 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
17233 reading news on a machine.
17235 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
17236 fact, you don't even have to configure anything.
17238 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
17241 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
17242 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
17243 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
17244 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
17245 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
17246 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
17247 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
17248 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
17249 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
17250 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
17251 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
17252 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
17257 @subsection Agent Basics
17259 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
17261 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
17262 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
17263 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
17264 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
17266 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
17267 connected to the net continuously.
17269 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
17270 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
17272 You know that Gnus gives you all the opportunity you'd ever want for
17273 shooting yourself in the foot. Some people call it flexibility. Gnus
17274 is also customizable to a great extent, which means that the user has a
17275 say on how Gnus behaves. Other newsreaders might unconditionally shoot
17276 you in your foot, but with Gnus, you have a choice!
17278 Gnus is never really in plugged or unplugged state. Rather, it applies
17279 that state to each server individually. This means that some servers
17280 can be plugged while others can be unplugged. Additionally, some
17281 servers can be ignored by the Agent altogether (which means that
17282 they're kinda like plugged always).
17284 So when you unplug the Agent and then wonder why is Gnus opening a
17285 connection to the Net, the next step to do is to look whether all
17286 servers are agentized. If there is an unagentized server, you found
17289 Another thing is the @dfn{offline} state. Sometimes, servers aren't
17290 reachable. When Gnus notices this, it asks you whether you want the
17291 server to be switched to offline state. If you say yes, then the
17292 server will behave somewhat as if it was unplugged, except that Gnus
17293 will ask you whether you want to switch it back online again.
17295 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
17300 @findex gnus-unplugged
17301 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
17302 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
17303 already fetched while in this mode.
17306 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
17307 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
17308 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
17309 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
17310 Source Specifiers}).
17313 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
17314 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
17315 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
17316 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
17317 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
17320 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
17321 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
17322 then you read the news offline.
17325 And then you go to step 2.
17328 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
17334 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
17335 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
17336 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
17337 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
17338 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
17339 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
17340 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} servers in @code{gnus-select-method} and
17341 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
17344 Decide on download policy. It's fairly simple once you decide whether
17345 you are going to use agent categories, topic parameters, and/or group
17346 parameters to implement your policy. If you're new to gnus, it
17347 is probably best to start with a category @xref{Agent Categories}.
17349 Both topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) and agent categories
17350 (@pxref{Agent Categories}) provide for setting a policy that applies
17351 to multiple groups. Which you use is entirely up to you. Topic
17352 parameters do override categories so, if you mix the two, you'll have
17353 to take that into account. If you have a few groups that deviate from
17354 your policy, you can use group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to
17358 Uhm@dots{} that's it.
17362 @node Agent Categories
17363 @subsection Agent Categories
17365 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
17366 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
17367 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
17368 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
17369 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
17370 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
17371 you're interested in the articles anyway.
17373 One of the more effective methods for controlling what is to be
17374 downloaded is to create a @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all)
17375 groups to this category. Groups that do not belong in any other
17376 category belong to the @code{default} category. Gnus has its own
17377 buffer for creating and managing categories.
17379 If you prefer, you can also use group parameters (@pxref{Group
17380 Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) for an
17381 alternative approach to controlling the agent. The only real
17382 difference is that categories are specific to the agent (so there is
17383 less to learn) while group and topic parameters include the kitchen
17386 Since you can set agent parameters in several different places we have
17387 a rule to decide which source to believe. This rule specifies that
17388 the parameter sources are checked in the following order: group
17389 parameters, topic parameters, agent category, and finally customizable
17390 variables. So you can mix all of these sources to produce a wide range
17391 of behavior, just don't blame me if you don't remember where you put
17395 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
17396 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
17397 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
17401 @node Category Syntax
17402 @subsubsection Category Syntax
17404 A category consists of a name, the list of groups belonging to the
17405 category, and a number of optional parameters that override the
17406 customizable variables. The complete list of agent parameters are
17410 @item gnus-agent-cat-name
17411 The name of the category.
17413 @item gnus-agent-cat-groups
17414 The list of groups that are in this category.
17416 @item gnus-agent-cat-predicate
17417 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
17418 are eligible for downloading; and
17420 @item gnus-agent-cat-score-file
17421 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
17422 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
17423 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
17425 @item gnus-agent-cat-enable-expiration
17426 a boolean indicating whether the agent should expire old articles in
17427 this group. Most groups should be expired to conserve disk space. In
17428 fact, its probably safe to say that the gnus.* hierarchy contains the
17429 only groups that should not be expired.
17431 @item gnus-agent-cat-days-until-old
17432 an integer indicating the number of days that the agent should wait
17433 before deciding that a read article is safe to expire.
17435 @item gnus-agent-cat-low-score
17436 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-low-score}.
17438 @item gnus-agent-cat-high-score
17439 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-high-score}.
17441 @item gnus-agent-cat-length-when-short
17442 an integer that overrides the value of
17443 @code{gnus-agent-short-article}.
17445 @item gnus-agent-cat-length-when-long
17446 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-long-article}.
17449 The name of a category can not be changed once the category has been
17452 Each category maintains a list of groups that are exclusive members of
17453 that category. The exclusivity rule is automatically enforced, add a
17454 group to a new category and it is automatically removed from its old
17457 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
17458 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
17459 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
17460 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
17462 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
17463 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
17464 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
17466 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
17467 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
17468 operators sprinkled in between.
17470 Perhaps some examples are in order.
17472 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
17473 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
17479 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
17480 short (for some value of ``short'').
17482 Here's a more complex predicate:
17491 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
17492 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
17495 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
17496 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
17497 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
17499 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
17500 you want to do, you can write your own.
17502 When evaluating each of these predicates, the named constant will be
17503 bound to the value determined by calling
17504 @code{gnus-agent-find-parameter} on the appropriate parameter. For
17505 example, gnus-agent-short-article will be bound to
17506 @code{(gnus-agent-find-parameter group 'agent-short-article)}. This
17507 means that you can specify a predicate in your category then tune that
17508 predicate to individual groups.
17512 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
17513 lines; default 100.
17516 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
17517 lines; default 200.
17520 True iff the article has a download score less than
17521 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
17524 True iff the article has a download score greater than
17525 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
17528 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
17529 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
17530 checksum and sees whether articles match.
17539 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
17540 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
17541 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
17544 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
17545 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
17546 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
17547 something along the lines of the following:
17550 (defun my-article-old-p ()
17551 "Say whether an article is old."
17552 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
17553 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
17556 with the predicate then defined as:
17559 (not my-article-old-p)
17562 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
17563 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
17567 (require 'gnus-agent)
17568 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
17569 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
17570 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
17573 and simply specify your predicate as:
17579 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
17580 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
17581 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
17582 just don't give a damn.
17584 The above predicates apply to @emph{all} the groups which belong to the
17585 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
17586 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
17587 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
17588 parameters like so:
17591 (agent-predicate . short)
17594 This is the group/topic parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
17595 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
17596 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
17598 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
17601 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
17604 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
17605 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
17606 predicate is assumed to be a list.
17609 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
17610 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
17611 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
17612 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
17613 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
17614 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
17616 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
17617 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
17618 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
17619 if it's to be specific to that group.
17621 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
17628 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
17629 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
17635 Category specification
17639 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
17645 Group/Topic Parameter specification
17648 (agent-score ("from"
17649 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
17654 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
17660 These score files must @emph{only} contain the permitted scoring
17661 keywords stated above.
17667 Category specification
17670 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
17676 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
17680 Group Parameter specification
17683 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
17686 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
17691 Use @code{normal} score files
17693 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
17694 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
17695 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
17696 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
17698 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
17699 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
17700 files for a group, @emph{filtering out} those sections that do not
17701 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
17705 Category Specification
17712 Group Parameter specification
17715 (agent-score . file)
17720 @node Category Buffer
17721 @subsubsection Category Buffer
17723 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
17724 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
17725 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
17727 The following commands are available in this buffer:
17731 @kindex q (Category)
17732 @findex gnus-category-exit
17733 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
17736 @kindex e (Category)
17737 @findex gnus-category-customize-category
17738 Use a customization buffer to set all of the selected category's
17739 parameters at one time (@code{gnus-category-customize-category}).
17742 @kindex k (Category)
17743 @findex gnus-category-kill
17744 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
17747 @kindex c (Category)
17748 @findex gnus-category-copy
17749 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
17752 @kindex a (Category)
17753 @findex gnus-category-add
17754 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
17757 @kindex p (Category)
17758 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
17759 Edit the predicate of the current category
17760 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
17763 @kindex g (Category)
17764 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
17765 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
17766 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
17769 @kindex s (Category)
17770 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
17771 Edit the download score rule of the current category
17772 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
17775 @kindex l (Category)
17776 @findex gnus-category-list
17777 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
17781 @node Category Variables
17782 @subsubsection Category Variables
17785 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
17786 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
17787 Hook run in category buffers.
17789 @item gnus-category-line-format
17790 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
17791 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
17792 Variables}). Valid elements are:
17796 The name of the category.
17799 The number of groups in the category.
17802 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
17803 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
17804 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
17806 @item gnus-agent-short-article
17807 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
17808 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
17810 @item gnus-agent-long-article
17811 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
17812 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
17814 @item gnus-agent-low-score
17815 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
17816 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
17819 @item gnus-agent-high-score
17820 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
17821 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
17824 @item gnus-agent-expire-days
17825 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
17826 The number of days that a @samp{read} article must stay in the agent's
17827 local disk before becoming eligible for expiration (While the name is
17828 the same, this doesn't mean expiring the article on the server. It
17829 just means deleting the local copy of the article). What is also
17830 important to understand is that the counter starts with the time the
17831 article was written to the local disk and not the time the article was
17835 @item gnus-agent-enable-expiration
17836 @vindex gnus-agent-enable-expiration
17837 Determines whether articles in a group are, by default, expired or
17838 retained indefinitely. The default is @code{ENABLE} which means that
17839 you'll have to disable expiration when desired. On the other hand,
17840 you could set this to @code{DISABLE}. In that case, you would then
17841 have to enable expiration in selected groups.
17846 @node Agent Commands
17847 @subsection Agent Commands
17848 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-plugged
17849 @kindex J j (Agent)
17851 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
17852 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
17853 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
17857 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
17858 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
17859 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
17865 @node Group Agent Commands
17866 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
17870 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
17871 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
17872 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
17873 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
17876 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
17877 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
17878 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
17881 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
17882 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
17883 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
17884 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
17887 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
17888 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
17889 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
17890 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
17893 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
17894 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
17895 Add the current group to an Agent category
17896 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
17897 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17900 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
17901 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
17902 Remove the current group from its category, if any
17903 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
17904 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17907 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
17908 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17909 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
17915 @node Summary Agent Commands
17916 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
17920 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
17921 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
17922 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
17925 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
17926 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
17927 Remove the downloading mark from the article
17928 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
17932 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
17933 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
17934 Toggle whether to download the article
17935 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The download mark is @samp{%} by
17939 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
17940 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
17941 Mark all articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}) that are neither cached, downloaded, nor downloadable.
17944 @kindex J S (Agent Summary)
17945 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
17946 Download all eligible (See @pxref{Agent Categories}) articles in this group.
17947 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
17950 @kindex J s (Agent Summary)
17951 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-series
17952 Download all processable articles in this group.
17953 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-series}).
17956 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
17957 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
17958 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
17959 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
17964 @node Server Agent Commands
17965 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
17969 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
17970 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
17971 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
17972 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
17975 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
17976 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
17977 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
17978 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
17983 @node Agent as Cache
17984 @subsection Agent as Cache
17986 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
17987 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
17988 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
17989 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
17990 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
17991 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
17992 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
17993 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
17994 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
17996 If you so desire, you can configure the agent (see @code{gnus-agent-cache}
17997 @pxref{Agent Variables}) to always download headers and articles while
17998 plugged. Gnus will almost certainly be slower, but it will be kept
17999 synchronized with the server. That last point probably won't make any
18000 sense if you are using a nntp or nnimap back end.
18003 @subsection Agent Expiry
18005 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
18006 @findex gnus-agent-expire
18007 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
18008 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire-group
18009 @findex gnus-agent-expire-group
18010 @cindex agent expiry
18011 @cindex Gnus agent expiry
18014 The Agent back end, @code{nnagent}, doesn't handle expiry. Well, at
18015 least it doesn't handle it like other back ends. Instead, there are
18016 special @code{gnus-agent-expire} and @code{gnus-agent-expire-group}
18017 commands that will expire all read articles that are older than
18018 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. They can be run whenever you feel
18019 that you're running out of space. Neither are particularly fast or
18020 efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to interrupt them (with
18021 @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started one of them.
18023 Note that other functions, e.g. @code{gnus-request-expire-articles},
18024 might run @code{gnus-agent-expire} for you to keep the agent
18025 synchronized with the group.
18027 The agent parameter @code{agent-enable-expiration} may be used to
18028 prevent expiration in selected groups.
18030 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
18031 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, the agent
18032 expiration commands will expire all articles---unread, read, ticked
18033 and dormant. If @code{nil} (which is the default), only read articles
18034 are eligible for expiry, and unread, ticked and dormant articles will
18035 be kept indefinitely.
18037 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
18038 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's are special
18039 commands, @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} and
18040 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group}, to fix possible problems.
18042 @node Agent Regeneration
18043 @subsection Agent Regeneration
18045 @cindex agent regeneration
18046 @cindex Gnus agent regeneration
18047 @cindex regeneration
18049 The local data structures used by @code{nnagent} may become corrupted
18050 due to certain exceptional conditions. When this happens,
18051 @code{nnagent} functionality may degrade or even fail. The solution
18052 to this problem is to repair the local data structures by removing all
18053 internal inconsistencies.
18055 For example, if your connection to your server is lost while
18056 downloaded articles into the agent, the local data structures will not
18057 know about articles successfully downloaded prior to the connection
18058 failure. Running @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} or
18059 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} will update the data structures
18060 such that you don't need to download these articles a second time.
18062 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
18063 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate
18064 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} will perform
18065 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} on every agentized group. While
18066 you can run @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} in any buffer, it is strongly
18067 recommended that you first close all summary buffers.
18069 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate-group
18070 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate-group
18071 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} uses the local copies
18072 of individual articles to repair the local @acronym{NOV}(header) database. It
18073 then updates the internal data structures that document which articles
18074 are stored locally. An optional argument will mark articles in the
18077 @node Agent and IMAP
18078 @subsection Agent and IMAP
18080 The Agent works with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
18081 since there are some conceptual differences between @acronym{NNTP} and
18082 @acronym{IMAP}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
18083 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @acronym{IMAP} Disconnected Mode client.
18085 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
18086 are kept on the @acronym{IMAP} server, rather than in @file{.newsrc} as is the
18087 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
18088 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
18090 Gnus keeps track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
18091 Agent. When you plug back in, Gnus will check if you have any changed
18092 any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the server.
18093 The behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
18095 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
18096 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
18097 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
18098 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
18099 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
18100 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
18102 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
18103 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
18104 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
18105 in the group buffer.
18107 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
18108 expect from a disconnected @acronym{IMAP} client, including:
18113 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
18116 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
18120 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by ``pushing''
18121 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
18122 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
18123 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
18124 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
18125 removed from the server when you ``synchronize''. The queued flag
18126 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
18127 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
18130 @node Outgoing Messages
18131 @subsection Outgoing Messages
18133 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
18134 stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view
18135 them there after posting, and edit them at will.
18137 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
18138 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
18139 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
18140 messages in the draft group.
18144 @node Agent Variables
18145 @subsection Agent Variables
18148 @item gnus-agent-directory
18149 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
18150 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
18151 @file{~/News/agent/}.
18153 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
18154 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
18155 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
18156 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
18157 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
18160 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
18161 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
18162 Hook run when connecting to the network.
18164 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
18165 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
18166 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
18168 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
18169 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
18170 Hook run when finished fetching articles.
18172 @item gnus-agent-cache
18173 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
18174 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @acronym{NOV} and
18175 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
18176 The default is non-@code{nil}, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
18178 @item gnus-agent-go-online
18179 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
18180 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
18181 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
18182 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
18183 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
18184 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
18187 @item gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
18188 @vindex gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
18189 If @code{gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded} is non-@code{nil},
18190 mark articles as unread after downloading. This is usually a safe
18191 thing to do as the newly downloaded article has obviously not been
18192 read. The default is t.
18194 @item gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
18195 @vindex gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
18196 If @code{gnus-agent-consider-all-articles} is non-@code{nil}, the
18197 agent will fetch all missing headers. When @code{nil}, the agent will
18198 fetch only new headers. The default is @code{nil}.
18200 @item gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
18201 @vindex gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
18202 The agent fetches articles into a temporary buffer prior to parsing
18203 them into individual files. To avoid exceeding the max. buffer size,
18204 the agent alternates between fetching and parsing until all articles
18205 have been fetched. @code{gnus-agent-max-fetch-size} provides a size
18206 limit to control how often the cycling occurs. A large value improves
18207 performance. A small value minimizes the time lost should the
18208 connection be lost while fetching (You may need to run
18209 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} to update the group's state.
18210 However, all articles parsed prior to loosing the connection will be
18211 available while unplugged). The default is 10M so it is unusual to
18214 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
18215 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
18216 Perhaps not a Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
18217 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
18218 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
18219 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
18220 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
18221 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
18222 is only valid if the Agent is used.
18224 @item gnus-auto-goto-ignores
18225 @vindex gnus-auto-goto-ignores
18226 Another variable that isn't a Agent variable, yet so closely related
18227 that most will look for it here, this variable tells the summary
18228 buffer how to maneuver around undownloaded (only headers stored in the
18229 agent) and unfetched (neither article nor headers stored) articles.
18231 The legal values are @code{nil} (maneuver to any article),
18232 @code{undownloaded} (maneuvering while unplugged ignores articles that
18233 have not been fetched), @code{always-undownloaded} (maneuvering always
18234 ignores articles that have not been fetched), @code{unfetched}
18235 (maneuvering ignores articles whose headers have not been fetched).
18240 @node Example Setup
18241 @subsection Example Setup
18243 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
18244 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
18245 @file{~/.gnus.el} file to get started.
18248 ;;; @r{Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @acronym{NNTP}}
18249 ;;; @r{from your ISP's server.}
18250 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
18252 ;;; @r{Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from}
18253 ;;; @r{your ISP's @acronym{POP} server.}
18254 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
18256 ;;; @r{Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.}
18257 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
18259 ;;; @r{Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.}
18260 ;;; (gnus-agentize) ; @r{The obsolete setting.}
18261 ;;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; @r{Now the default.}
18264 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
18265 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
18268 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
18269 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
18270 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
18271 @acronym{NNTP} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
18272 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
18275 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
18276 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
18277 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
18278 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
18279 back all the killed groups.)
18281 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
18282 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
18283 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
18286 @node Batching Agents
18287 @subsection Batching Agents
18288 @findex gnus-agent-batch
18290 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
18291 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
18292 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
18294 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
18295 following incantation:
18299 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f -l ~/.gnus.el gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
18303 @node Agent Caveats
18304 @subsection Agent Caveats
18306 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
18307 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
18311 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
18313 @strong{No}. If you want this behaviour, add
18314 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
18315 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
18317 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in
18318 the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
18320 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is @code{nil}.
18324 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
18325 articles; when it's plugged, it talks to your ISP and may also use the
18326 locally stored articles.
18333 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
18334 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
18335 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
18338 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
18339 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
18340 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
18341 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
18342 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
18344 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
18345 before generating the summary buffer.
18347 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
18348 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
18349 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
18351 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
18352 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
18353 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
18354 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
18357 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
18358 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
18359 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
18360 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
18361 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
18362 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
18363 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
18364 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
18365 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
18366 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
18367 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
18368 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
18369 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
18370 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
18371 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
18372 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
18373 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
18377 @node Summary Score Commands
18378 @section Summary Score Commands
18379 @cindex score commands
18381 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
18382 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
18383 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
18384 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
18385 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
18387 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
18388 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
18389 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
18390 score file the current one.
18392 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
18397 @kindex V s (Summary)
18398 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
18399 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
18402 @kindex V S (Summary)
18403 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
18404 Display the score of the current article
18405 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
18408 @kindex V t (Summary)
18409 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
18410 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
18411 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}). In the @code{*Score Trace*} buffer, you
18412 can use @kbd{q} to quit. @kbd{e} edits the corresponding score file.
18413 When point is on a string within the match element, @kbd{e} will try to
18414 bring you to this string in the score file.
18417 @kindex V w (Summary)
18418 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
18419 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
18422 @kindex V R (Summary)
18423 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
18424 Run the current summary through the scoring process
18425 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
18426 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
18427 effect you're having.
18430 @kindex V c (Summary)
18431 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
18432 Make a different score file the current
18433 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
18436 @kindex V e (Summary)
18437 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
18438 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
18439 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
18443 @kindex V f (Summary)
18444 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
18445 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
18446 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
18449 @kindex V F (Summary)
18450 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
18451 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
18452 after editing score files.
18455 @kindex V C (Summary)
18456 @findex gnus-score-customize
18457 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
18458 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
18462 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
18467 @kindex V m (Summary)
18468 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
18469 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
18470 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
18473 @kindex V x (Summary)
18474 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
18475 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
18476 expunge all articles below this score
18477 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
18480 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
18481 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
18484 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
18485 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
18489 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
18490 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
18492 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
18493 keys are available:
18497 Score on the author name.
18500 Score on the subject line.
18503 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
18506 Score on the @code{References} line.
18512 Score on the number of lines.
18515 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
18518 Score on an ``extra'' header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
18519 if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
18522 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
18523 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
18524 @file{ADAPT} files.)
18533 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
18539 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
18540 what headers you are scoring on.
18552 Substring matching.
18555 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
18584 Greater than number.
18589 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
18590 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
18591 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
18596 Temporary score entry.
18599 Permanent score entry.
18602 Immediately scoring.
18606 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
18607 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
18608 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
18612 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
18613 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
18614 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
18615 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
18617 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
18618 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
18619 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
18620 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
18621 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
18623 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
18624 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
18625 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
18626 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
18627 current score file.
18629 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
18630 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
18631 pretend they are keymaps or not.
18634 @node Group Score Commands
18635 @section Group Score Commands
18636 @cindex group score commands
18638 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
18643 @kindex W f (Group)
18644 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
18645 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
18646 all the time. This command will flush the cache
18647 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
18651 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
18653 @findex gnus-batch-score
18654 @cindex batch scoring
18656 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
18660 @node Score Variables
18661 @section Score Variables
18662 @cindex score variables
18666 @item gnus-use-scoring
18667 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
18668 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
18669 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
18671 @item gnus-kill-killed
18672 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
18673 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
18674 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
18675 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
18676 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
18677 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
18678 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
18680 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
18681 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
18682 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
18683 initialized from the @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
18684 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
18686 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
18687 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
18688 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
18689 (@file{SCORE} by default.)
18691 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
18692 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
18693 @cindex score cache
18694 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
18695 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
18696 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely
18697 to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
18698 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
18699 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
18700 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
18703 @item gnus-save-score
18704 @vindex gnus-save-score
18705 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
18706 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
18707 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
18709 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
18710 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
18711 across group visits.
18713 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
18714 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
18715 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
18716 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
18717 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
18718 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
18719 manually entered data.
18721 @item gnus-summary-default-score
18722 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
18723 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
18725 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
18726 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
18727 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
18728 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
18729 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
18730 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
18732 @item gnus-score-over-mark
18733 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
18734 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
18735 default. Default is @samp{+}.
18737 @item gnus-score-below-mark
18738 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
18739 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
18740 default. Default is @samp{-}.
18742 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
18743 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
18744 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
18745 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
18747 Predefined functions available are:
18750 @item gnus-score-find-single
18751 @findex gnus-score-find-single
18752 Only apply the group's own score file.
18754 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
18755 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
18756 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
18757 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
18758 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
18759 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
18760 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
18761 then a regexp match is done.
18763 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
18764 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
18766 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
18767 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
18768 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
18769 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
18771 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
18772 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
18773 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
18774 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
18775 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
18779 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
18780 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
18781 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
18782 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
18783 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
18784 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
18785 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
18788 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
18789 overall score file, you could use the value
18791 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
18792 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
18795 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
18796 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
18797 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
18798 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
18799 are expired. It's 7 by default.
18801 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
18802 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
18803 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
18804 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
18805 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
18806 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
18807 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
18808 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
18810 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
18811 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
18812 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
18814 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
18815 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
18816 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be
18817 simplified for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
18818 threading---according to the current value of
18819 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions}. If the scoring entry uses
18820 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
18821 simplified in this manner.
18826 @node Score File Format
18827 @section Score File Format
18828 @cindex score file format
18830 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
18831 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
18832 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
18834 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
18838 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
18840 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
18842 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
18844 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
18849 (mark-and-expunge -10)
18853 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
18854 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
18855 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
18856 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
18860 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
18861 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
18863 Even though this looks much like Lisp code, nothing here is actually
18864 @code{eval}ed. The Lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
18865 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
18867 Six keys are supported by this alist:
18872 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
18873 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
18874 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
18875 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
18876 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
18877 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
18878 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
18879 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
18880 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
18881 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
18882 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
18883 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
18884 to articles that matches these score entries.
18886 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
18887 score entry has one to four elements.
18891 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
18892 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
18896 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
18897 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
18898 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
18899 is successful. If this element is not present, the
18900 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
18901 instead. This is 1000 by default.
18904 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
18905 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
18906 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
18907 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
18908 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
18911 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
18912 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
18913 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
18914 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
18917 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
18918 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
18919 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
18920 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
18921 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
18922 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
18923 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
18924 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
18925 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
18926 instead, if you feel like.
18929 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
18930 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
18931 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
18932 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
18933 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin host,
18934 if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks NNTP-Posting-Host in overviews:
18937 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s "NNTP-Posting-Host")
18941 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
18942 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
18944 These predicates are true if
18947 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
18950 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
18951 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
18958 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
18959 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
18960 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
18961 it's not. I think.)
18963 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
18964 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
18965 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
18966 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
18969 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
18970 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
18971 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
18972 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
18973 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
18974 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
18975 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
18979 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
18980 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
18981 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
18982 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
18983 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
18984 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
18985 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
18986 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
18989 @item Head, Body, All
18990 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
18994 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
18995 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
18996 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
18997 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
18998 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
18999 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
19000 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
19004 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
19005 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
19006 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
19007 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
19008 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
19009 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
19010 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
19011 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
19012 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
19013 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
19014 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
19018 @cindex score file atoms
19020 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
19021 lower than this number will be marked as read.
19024 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
19025 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
19027 @item mark-and-expunge
19028 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
19029 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
19032 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
19033 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
19034 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
19035 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
19036 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
19039 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
19040 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
19043 @item exclude-files
19044 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
19045 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
19049 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
19050 ignored when handling global score files.
19053 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
19054 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
19055 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
19056 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
19059 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
19060 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
19061 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
19062 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
19064 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
19068 (mark-and-expunge -100)
19071 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
19072 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
19073 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
19074 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
19075 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
19077 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
19078 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
19079 scoring rules exist.
19082 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
19083 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
19084 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
19085 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
19086 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
19087 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
19088 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
19089 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
19090 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
19091 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
19092 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
19096 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
19097 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
19098 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
19099 file for a number of groups.
19102 @cindex local variables
19103 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(@var{var}
19104 @var{value})} pairs. Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the
19105 current summary buffer, and set to the value specified. This is a
19106 convenient, if somewhat strange, way of setting variables in some
19107 groups if you don't like hooks much. Note that the @var{value} won't
19112 @node Score File Editing
19113 @section Score File Editing
19115 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
19116 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
19117 with a mode for that.
19119 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
19120 additional commands:
19125 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
19126 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
19127 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
19128 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
19131 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
19132 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
19133 Insert the current date in numerical format
19134 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
19135 you were wondering.
19138 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
19139 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
19140 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
19141 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
19142 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
19147 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
19149 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
19150 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
19152 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
19153 e} to begin editing score files.
19156 @node Adaptive Scoring
19157 @section Adaptive Scoring
19158 @cindex adaptive scoring
19160 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
19161 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
19162 stupidity, to be precise.
19164 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
19165 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
19166 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
19167 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
19168 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
19169 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
19170 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
19171 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
19172 variable to @code{(word line)}.
19174 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
19175 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
19176 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
19177 might look something like this:
19180 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
19181 '((gnus-unread-mark)
19182 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
19183 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
19184 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
19185 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
19186 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
19187 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
19188 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
19189 (gnus-ancient-mark)
19190 (gnus-low-score-mark)
19191 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
19194 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
19195 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
19196 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
19197 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
19198 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
19199 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
19202 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
19203 will be applied to each article.
19205 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
19206 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{e}) will have a
19207 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
19208 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
19210 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
19211 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
19212 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
19213 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
19215 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
19216 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
19217 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
19218 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
19220 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
19221 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
19222 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
19223 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
19224 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
19225 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
19227 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
19228 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
19229 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
19231 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
19232 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
19233 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
19235 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
19236 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
19237 let you use different rules in different groups.
19239 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
19240 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
19241 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
19244 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
19245 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
19246 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
19247 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
19248 the length of the match is less than
19249 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
19250 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
19253 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
19254 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
19255 headers. If you adapt on words, the
19256 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
19257 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
19260 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
19261 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
19262 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
19263 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
19264 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
19267 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
19268 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
19269 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
19270 score with 30 points.
19272 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
19273 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
19274 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
19275 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
19276 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
19278 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
19279 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
19280 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
19281 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
19282 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
19284 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
19285 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
19286 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
19287 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
19289 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
19290 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
19291 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
19292 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
19294 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
19295 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
19296 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
19297 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
19298 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
19300 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
19301 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
19302 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
19304 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
19305 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
19306 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
19307 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
19310 @node Home Score File
19311 @section Home Score File
19313 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
19314 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
19315 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
19316 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
19318 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
19319 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
19320 could perhaps use the same home score file.
19322 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
19323 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
19328 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
19332 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
19333 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
19337 A list. The elements in this list can be:
19341 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
19342 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
19345 A function. If the function returns non-@code{nil}, the result will
19346 be used as the home score file.
19349 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
19352 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
19357 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
19360 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19361 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
19364 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
19365 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
19367 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
19369 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19370 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
19373 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
19374 Other functions include
19377 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
19378 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
19379 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
19380 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
19384 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
19385 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
19386 their own home score files:
19389 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19390 ;; @r{All groups that match the regexp @code{"\\.emacs"}}
19391 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
19392 ;; @r{All the comp groups in one score file}
19393 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
19396 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
19397 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
19398 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
19399 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
19400 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
19402 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
19403 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
19404 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
19405 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
19406 precedence over this variable.
19409 @node Followups To Yourself
19410 @section Followups To Yourself
19412 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
19413 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
19414 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
19415 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
19416 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
19417 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
19421 @item gnus-score-followup-article
19422 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
19423 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
19426 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
19427 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
19428 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
19432 @vindex message-sent-hook
19433 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
19434 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
19436 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
19440 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
19441 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
19445 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
19446 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
19449 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
19450 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
19455 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
19459 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
19460 is system-dependent.
19463 @node Scoring On Other Headers
19464 @section Scoring On Other Headers
19465 @cindex scoring on other headers
19467 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
19468 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
19469 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
19470 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
19471 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
19473 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
19474 mail groups, you have greater control. In the @pxref{To From
19475 Newsgroups} section of the manual, it's explained in greater detail what
19476 this mechanism does, but here's a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on
19477 how to allow scoring on the @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
19479 Put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
19482 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
19483 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
19486 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
19487 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
19488 time if you have much mail.
19490 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
19491 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
19497 @section Scoring Tips
19498 @cindex scoring tips
19504 @cindex scoring crossposts
19505 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
19506 the @code{Xref} header.
19508 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
19511 @item Multiple crossposts
19512 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
19513 more than, say, 3 groups:
19516 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
19520 @item Matching on the body
19521 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
19522 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
19523 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
19524 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
19525 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
19526 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
19527 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
19530 @item Marking as read
19531 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
19532 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
19533 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
19537 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
19539 @item Negated character classes
19540 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
19541 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
19542 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
19546 @node Reverse Scoring
19547 @section Reverse Scoring
19548 @cindex reverse scoring
19550 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
19551 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
19552 like this in your score file:
19556 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
19561 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
19562 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
19565 @node Global Score Files
19566 @section Global Score Files
19567 @cindex global score files
19569 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
19570 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
19571 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
19573 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
19574 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
19575 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
19577 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
19578 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
19579 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
19580 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
19581 files are applicable to which group.
19583 To use the score file
19584 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
19585 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
19589 (setq gnus-global-score-files
19590 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
19591 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
19594 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
19596 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
19597 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
19598 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
19599 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
19601 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
19602 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
19604 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
19605 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
19606 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
19607 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
19608 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
19609 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
19611 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
19617 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
19619 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
19621 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
19623 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
19624 lowered out of existence.
19626 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
19627 articles completely.
19630 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
19631 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
19632 old articles for a long time.
19635 @dots{} I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
19636 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
19637 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
19638 holding our breath yet?
19642 @section Kill Files
19645 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
19646 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
19647 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
19649 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
19650 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
19651 files into score files.
19653 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
19654 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
19655 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
19656 that isn't a very good idea.
19658 Normal kill files look like this:
19661 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19662 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
19666 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
19667 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
19669 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
19670 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
19673 Two summary functions for editing a @sc{gnus} kill file:
19678 @kindex M-k (Summary)
19679 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
19680 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
19683 @kindex M-K (Summary)
19684 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
19685 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
19688 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
19693 @kindex M-k (Group)
19694 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
19695 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
19698 @kindex M-K (Group)
19699 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
19700 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
19703 Kill file variables:
19706 @item gnus-kill-file-name
19707 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
19708 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
19709 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
19710 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
19711 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
19712 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
19714 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
19715 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
19716 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
19717 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
19720 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
19721 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
19722 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
19723 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
19724 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
19725 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
19726 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
19727 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
19728 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
19730 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
19731 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
19732 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
19737 @node Converting Kill Files
19738 @section Converting Kill Files
19740 @cindex converting kill files
19742 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
19743 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
19744 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
19747 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
19748 You can fetch it from
19749 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
19751 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
19752 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
19753 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
19761 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/, GroupLens} is a
19762 collaborative filtering system that helps you work together with other
19763 people to find the quality news articles out of the huge volume of
19764 news articles generated every day.
19766 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
19767 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
19768 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
19769 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
19770 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
19771 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
19772 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
19773 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
19776 @sc{Note:} Unfortunately the GroupLens system seems to have shut down,
19777 so this section is mostly of historical interest.
19780 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
19781 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
19782 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
19783 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
19787 @node Using GroupLens
19788 @subsection Using GroupLens
19790 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local
19791 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html, Better Bit
19792 Bureau (BBB)} is the only better bit in town at the moment.
19794 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
19798 @item gnus-use-grouplens
19799 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
19800 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
19801 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
19803 @item grouplens-pseudonym
19804 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
19805 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
19806 with the Better Bit Bureau.
19808 @item grouplens-newsgroups
19809 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
19810 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
19814 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
19815 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
19816 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
19817 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
19818 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
19819 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
19822 @node Rating Articles
19823 @subsection Rating Articles
19825 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
19826 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
19827 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
19828 yourself is, ``on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
19831 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
19836 @kindex r (GroupLens)
19837 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
19838 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
19841 @kindex k (GroupLens)
19842 @findex grouplens-score-thread
19843 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
19844 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
19845 threads in rec.humor.
19849 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
19850 the score of the article you're reading.
19855 @kindex n (GroupLens)
19856 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
19857 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
19860 @kindex , (GroupLens)
19861 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
19862 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
19866 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
19867 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
19870 @node Displaying Predictions
19871 @subsection Displaying Predictions
19873 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
19874 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
19875 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
19876 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
19877 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
19879 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
19880 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
19881 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
19882 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
19883 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
19884 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
19885 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
19886 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
19887 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
19888 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
19889 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
19890 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
19891 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
19893 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
19894 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
19895 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
19896 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
19898 The following are valid values for that variable.
19901 @item prediction-spot
19902 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
19905 @item confidence-interval
19906 A numeric confidence interval.
19908 @item prediction-bar
19909 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
19911 @item confidence-bar
19912 Numerical confidence.
19914 @item confidence-spot
19915 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
19917 @item prediction-num
19918 Plain-old numeric value.
19920 @item confidence-plus-minus
19921 Prediction +/- confidence.
19926 @node GroupLens Variables
19927 @subsection GroupLens Variables
19931 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
19932 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
19933 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
19934 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
19937 @item grouplens-bbb-host
19938 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
19941 @item grouplens-bbb-port
19942 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
19944 @item grouplens-score-offset
19945 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
19946 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
19949 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
19950 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
19951 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
19956 @node Advanced Scoring
19957 @section Advanced Scoring
19959 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
19960 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
19961 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
19962 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
19963 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
19965 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
19969 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
19970 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
19971 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
19975 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
19976 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
19978 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
19979 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
19980 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
19981 non-@code{nil} value.
19983 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
19984 operator, and various match operators.
19991 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19992 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
19993 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
19998 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19999 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
20000 then this operator will return @code{false}.
20005 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
20006 logical negation of the value of its argument.
20010 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
20011 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
20012 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
20013 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
20014 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
20015 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
20016 the ancestry you want to go.
20018 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
20019 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
20020 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
20021 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
20022 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
20025 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
20026 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
20028 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
20029 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
20032 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
20033 when he's talking about Gnus:
20038 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20039 ("subject" "Gnus"))
20046 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
20050 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20057 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
20058 really don't want to read what he's written:
20062 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20063 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
20067 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
20068 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
20069 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
20076 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
20077 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
20078 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
20079 ("body" "white.*socks"))
20083 The possibilities are endless.
20086 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
20087 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
20089 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
20090 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
20091 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
20092 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
20093 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
20094 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
20095 @samp{subject}) first.
20097 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
20098 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
20109 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
20110 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
20116 ("subject" "Gnus")))
20123 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
20124 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
20129 @section Score Decays
20130 @cindex score decays
20133 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
20134 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
20135 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
20136 use them in any sensible way.
20138 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
20139 @findex gnus-decay-score
20140 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
20141 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
20142 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
20143 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
20144 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
20145 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
20146 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
20147 definition of that function:
20150 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
20152 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
20153 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
20156 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
20158 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
20160 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
20163 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
20164 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
20165 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
20166 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
20170 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
20173 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
20176 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
20180 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
20181 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
20182 the new score, which should be an integer.
20184 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
20185 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
20190 @include message.texi
20191 @chapter Emacs MIME
20192 @include emacs-mime.texi
20194 @include sieve.texi
20196 @c @include pgg.texi
20204 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
20205 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
20206 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
20207 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
20208 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
20209 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
20210 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
20211 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
20212 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
20213 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
20214 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
20215 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
20216 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
20217 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
20218 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
20219 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
20220 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
20221 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
20222 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
20226 @node Process/Prefix
20227 @section Process/Prefix
20228 @cindex process/prefix convention
20230 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
20231 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
20233 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
20234 command to be performed on.
20238 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
20239 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
20240 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
20241 with the current one.
20243 @vindex transient-mark-mode
20244 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
20245 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
20247 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
20248 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
20251 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
20252 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
20254 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
20257 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
20258 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
20259 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
20260 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
20262 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
20263 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
20264 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
20265 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
20266 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
20267 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
20268 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
20269 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
20271 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
20272 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
20273 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
20274 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
20275 expirable, you could say @kbd{M P b M-& E}.
20279 @section Interactive
20280 @cindex interaction
20284 @item gnus-novice-user
20285 @vindex gnus-novice-user
20286 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
20287 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
20288 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
20289 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
20292 @item gnus-expert-user
20293 @vindex gnus-expert-user
20294 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
20295 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
20296 matter how strange.
20298 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
20299 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
20300 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
20301 is @code{t} by default.
20303 @item gnus-interactive-exit
20304 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
20305 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20310 @node Symbolic Prefixes
20311 @section Symbolic Prefixes
20312 @cindex symbolic prefixes
20314 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
20315 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
20316 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
20317 rule of 900 to the current article.
20319 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
20320 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
20321 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
20322 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
20323 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
20324 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
20325 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
20327 @kindex M-i (Summary)
20328 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
20329 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
20330 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
20331 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
20332 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
20333 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
20334 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
20335 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
20337 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
20338 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
20339 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
20341 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
20345 @node Formatting Variables
20346 @section Formatting Variables
20347 @cindex formatting variables
20349 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
20350 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
20351 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
20352 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
20353 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
20356 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
20357 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
20358 lots of percentages everywhere.
20361 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
20362 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
20363 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
20364 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
20365 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
20366 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
20367 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
20368 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
20371 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
20372 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
20373 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
20374 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
20375 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
20376 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
20377 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
20378 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
20380 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
20381 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
20383 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
20384 @findex gnus-update-format
20385 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
20386 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
20387 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
20388 examine the resulting Lisp code to be run to generate the line.
20392 @node Formatting Basics
20393 @subsection Formatting Basics
20395 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
20396 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
20397 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
20399 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
20400 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
20401 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
20402 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
20403 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
20406 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
20407 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
20408 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
20409 less than 4 characters wide.
20411 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
20412 @samp{%&user-date;}.
20415 @node Mode Line Formatting
20416 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
20418 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
20419 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
20420 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
20421 with the following two differences:
20426 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
20429 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
20430 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
20431 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
20432 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
20433 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
20434 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
20435 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
20440 @node Advanced Formatting
20441 @subsection Advanced Formatting
20443 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
20444 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
20445 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
20446 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
20448 These are the valid modifiers:
20453 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
20457 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
20462 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
20465 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
20470 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
20473 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
20476 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
20479 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
20485 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
20490 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
20491 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
20492 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
20493 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
20494 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
20495 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
20496 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
20498 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
20499 last operation, padding.
20501 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
20502 If @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} is set to @code{nil} (@code{t} by
20503 default) with your strong personality, and use a lots of these advanced
20504 thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets quite slow. This can be helped
20505 enormously by running @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with
20506 the look of your lines.
20507 @xref{Compilation}.
20510 @node User-Defined Specs
20511 @subsection User-Defined Specs
20513 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
20514 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
20515 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
20516 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
20517 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
20518 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
20519 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
20520 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
20521 should protect against that.
20523 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
20524 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
20526 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
20527 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
20528 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
20529 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
20533 @node Formatting Fonts
20534 @subsection Formatting Fonts
20536 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
20537 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
20538 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
20539 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
20542 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
20543 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
20544 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
20545 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
20546 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
20547 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
20549 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
20550 special @code{balloon-help} property set to
20551 @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get
20552 @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*}
20553 variables should be either strings or symbols naming functions that
20554 return a string. When the mouse passes over text with this property
20555 set, a balloon window will appear and display the string. Please
20556 refer to @ref{Tooltips, ,Tooltips, emacs, The Emacs Manual},
20557 (in GNU Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in
20558 XEmacs) for more information on this. (For technical reasons, the
20559 guillemets have been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this
20562 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
20565 ;; @r{Create three face types.}
20566 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
20567 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
20569 ;; @r{We want the article count to be in}
20570 ;; @r{a bold and green face. So we create}
20571 ;; @r{a new face called @code{my-green-bold}.}
20572 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
20573 ;; @r{Set the color.}
20574 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
20575 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
20577 ;; @r{Set the new & fancy format.}
20578 (setq gnus-group-line-format
20579 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
20582 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
20583 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
20585 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
20586 mode-line variables.
20588 @node Positioning Point
20589 @subsection Positioning Point
20591 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
20592 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
20593 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
20595 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
20597 @findex gnus-goto-colon
20598 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
20599 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
20601 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
20602 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
20603 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
20608 @subsection Tabulation
20610 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
20611 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
20612 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
20613 about lining up the following text afterwards.
20615 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs---@samp{%=}. There are two
20616 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
20618 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
20619 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
20620 This is the soft tabulator.
20622 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
20623 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
20624 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
20627 @node Wide Characters
20628 @subsection Wide Characters
20630 Fixed width fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
20631 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
20632 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
20634 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
20635 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
20636 these countries, that's not true.
20638 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
20639 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
20640 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
20641 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
20645 @node Window Layout
20646 @section Window Layout
20647 @cindex window layout
20649 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
20651 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
20652 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
20653 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
20654 @code{t} by default.
20656 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
20657 glitches. Use at your own peril.
20659 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
20660 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
20661 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
20664 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
20665 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
20666 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
20670 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
20671 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
20672 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
20673 possible names is listed below.
20675 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
20676 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
20679 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
20683 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
20684 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
20685 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
20686 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
20687 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
20688 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
20689 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
20690 size spec per split.
20692 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
20693 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
20694 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
20695 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
20696 present) gets focus.
20698 Here's a more complicated example:
20701 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
20702 (summary 0.25 point)
20703 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
20707 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
20708 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
20709 occupy, not a percentage.
20711 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
20712 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
20713 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
20714 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
20715 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
20718 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
20721 (article (horizontal 1.0
20726 (summary 0.25 point)
20731 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
20732 @code{horizontal} thingie?
20734 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
20735 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
20736 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
20737 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
20738 the screen is to be given to this strip.
20740 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
20741 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
20742 lines from the splits.
20744 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
20749 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
20750 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
20751 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
20752 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
20753 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
20754 size = number | frame-params
20755 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
20759 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
20760 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
20761 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
20762 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
20764 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
20765 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
20766 @cindex window height
20767 @cindex window width
20768 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
20769 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
20770 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
20771 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
20772 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
20773 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
20775 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
20776 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
20777 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
20778 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
20780 @findex gnus-configure-frame
20781 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
20782 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
20783 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
20784 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
20785 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
20786 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
20787 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
20788 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
20789 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
20790 configuration list.
20793 (gnus-configure-frame
20797 (article 0.3 point))
20805 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
20806 @code{frame} split:
20809 (gnus-configure-frame
20812 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
20814 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
20815 (user-position . t)
20816 (left . -1) (top . 1))
20821 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
20822 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
20823 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
20824 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
20825 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
20826 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
20827 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
20828 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
20830 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
20831 be found in its default value.
20833 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
20834 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
20835 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
20839 (message (horizontal 1.0
20840 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
20842 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
20847 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
20848 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
20849 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
20854 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
20855 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
20856 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
20857 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
20858 (name . "Message"))
20859 (message 1.0 point))))
20862 @findex gnus-add-configuration
20863 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
20864 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
20865 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
20866 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
20869 (gnus-add-configuration
20870 '(article (vertical 1.0
20872 (summary .25 point)
20876 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
20877 @file{~/.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
20878 Gnus has been loaded.
20880 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
20881 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
20882 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
20883 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
20884 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
20886 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
20887 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
20888 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
20891 @subsection Example Window Configurations
20895 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
20896 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
20911 (gnus-add-configuration
20914 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20916 (summary 0.16 point)
20919 (gnus-add-configuration
20922 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20923 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
20929 @node Faces and Fonts
20930 @section Faces and Fonts
20935 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
20936 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
20937 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
20942 @section Compilation
20943 @cindex compilation
20944 @cindex byte-compilation
20946 @findex gnus-compile
20948 Remember all those line format specification variables?
20949 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
20950 on. By default, T-gnus will use the byte-compiled codes of these
20951 variables and we can keep a slow-down to a minimum. However, if you set
20952 @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} to @code{nil} (@code{t} by default),
20953 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
20954 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
20955 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
20958 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
20959 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
20960 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
20961 you'll get top speed again. Note that T-gnus will not save these
20962 compiled specs in the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
20965 @item gnus-compile-user-specs
20966 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
20967 If it is non-nil, the user-defined format specs will be byte-compiled
20968 automatically. The default value of this variable is @code{t}. It has
20969 an effect on the values of @code{gnus-*-line-format-spec}.
20974 @section Mode Lines
20977 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
20978 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
20979 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
20980 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
20981 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
20982 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
20983 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
20986 @cindex display-time
20988 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
20989 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
20990 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
20991 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
20992 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
20993 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
20994 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
20995 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
20998 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
21000 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
21001 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
21003 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
21004 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
21005 (length display-time-string)))))
21008 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
21009 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
21010 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
21011 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
21012 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
21015 @node Highlighting and Menus
21016 @section Highlighting and Menus
21018 @cindex highlighting
21021 @vindex gnus-visual
21022 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
21023 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
21024 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
21027 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
21028 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
21031 @item group-highlight
21032 Do highlights in the group buffer.
21033 @item summary-highlight
21034 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
21035 @item article-highlight
21036 Do highlights in the article buffer.
21038 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
21040 Create menus in the group buffer.
21042 Create menus in the summary buffers.
21044 Create menus in the article buffer.
21046 Create menus in the browse buffer.
21048 Create menus in the server buffer.
21050 Create menus in the score buffers.
21052 Create menus in all buffers.
21055 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
21056 buffers, you could say something like:
21059 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
21062 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
21065 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
21068 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
21069 in all Gnus buffers.
21071 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
21074 @item gnus-mouse-face
21075 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
21076 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
21077 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
21081 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
21085 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
21086 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
21087 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
21089 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
21090 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
21091 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
21093 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
21094 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
21095 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
21097 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
21098 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
21099 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
21101 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
21102 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
21103 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
21105 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
21106 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
21107 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
21118 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
21119 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
21120 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
21121 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
21122 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
21126 @vindex gnus-carpal
21127 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
21128 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
21129 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
21134 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
21135 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
21136 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
21138 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
21139 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
21140 Face used on buttons.
21142 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
21143 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
21144 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
21146 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
21147 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
21148 Buttons in the group buffer.
21150 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
21151 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
21152 Buttons in the summary buffer.
21154 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
21155 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
21156 Buttons in the server buffer.
21158 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
21159 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
21160 Buttons in the browse buffer.
21163 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
21164 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
21165 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
21173 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
21174 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
21175 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
21176 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
21177 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
21179 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
21180 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
21181 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
21183 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
21184 been idle for thirty minutes:
21187 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
21190 Here's a handler that scans for @acronym{PGP} headers every hour when
21194 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
21197 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
21198 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
21199 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
21201 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
21202 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
21203 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
21204 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
21206 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
21207 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
21208 @var{idle} minutes.
21210 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
21211 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
21214 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
21215 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
21216 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
21218 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
21219 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
21220 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
21221 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
21223 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
21224 your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21226 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
21228 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
21231 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
21232 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
21233 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
21234 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
21235 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
21236 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
21237 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
21238 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
21239 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
21240 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
21241 @file{~/.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
21243 @findex gnus-demon-init
21244 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
21245 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
21246 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
21247 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
21248 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
21250 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
21251 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
21252 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
21261 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
21262 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
21264 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
21265 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
21266 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
21267 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
21270 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
21271 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
21272 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
21273 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
21275 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
21276 this will make spam disappear.
21278 There are some variables to customize, of course:
21281 @item gnus-use-nocem
21282 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
21283 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
21286 @item gnus-nocem-groups
21287 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
21288 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
21291 ("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
21292 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")
21295 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
21296 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
21297 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
21298 people you want to listen to. The default is
21300 ("Automoose-1" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
21301 "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo" "hweede@@snafu.de")
21303 fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
21305 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at@*
21306 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
21308 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
21309 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
21310 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
21311 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
21312 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
21313 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
21314 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
21315 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
21316 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
21317 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
21319 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
21320 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
21323 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
21326 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
21327 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
21330 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
21333 The specs are applied left-to-right.
21336 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
21337 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
21339 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
21340 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
21341 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
21342 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
21344 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
21345 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
21348 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
21350 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
21358 This might be dangerous, though.
21360 @item gnus-nocem-directory
21361 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
21362 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is@*
21363 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
21365 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
21366 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
21367 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
21368 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
21369 might then see old spam.
21371 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
21372 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
21373 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
21374 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
21375 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
21378 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
21379 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
21380 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
21381 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
21385 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
21386 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
21387 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
21388 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
21395 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
21396 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
21397 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
21399 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
21400 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
21401 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
21402 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
21403 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
21404 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
21405 @code{undo} function.
21407 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
21408 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
21409 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
21410 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
21411 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
21412 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
21413 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
21414 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
21415 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
21416 never be totally undoable.
21418 @findex gnus-undo-mode
21419 @vindex gnus-use-undo
21421 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
21422 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
21423 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
21424 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
21428 @node Predicate Specifiers
21429 @section Predicate Specifiers
21430 @cindex predicate specifiers
21432 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
21433 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
21434 to type all that much.
21436 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
21441 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
21442 gnus-article-unread-p)
21445 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
21446 functions all take one parameter.
21448 @findex gnus-make-predicate
21449 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
21450 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
21451 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
21456 @section Moderation
21459 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
21460 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
21461 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
21464 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
21468 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
21471 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
21473 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
21478 You split your incoming mail by matching on
21479 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
21480 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
21483 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
21484 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
21487 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
21488 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
21492 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
21495 (setq gnus-moderated-list
21496 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
21500 @node Image Enhancements
21501 @section Image Enhancements
21503 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21@footnote{Emacs 21 on MS Windows doesn't
21504 support images yet.}, is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has
21505 taken advantage of that.
21508 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
21509 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
21510 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
21511 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
21524 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
21525 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
21526 over your shoulder as you read news.
21528 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
21537 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
21538 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
21539 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
21540 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
21541 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
21542 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
21543 @code{GIF} formats.
21546 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
21547 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases,
21548 point your Web browser at
21549 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
21551 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
21552 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
21554 To enable displaying picons, simply make sure that
21555 @code{gnus-picon-databases} points to the directory containing the
21558 The following variables offer control over where things are located.
21562 @item gnus-picon-databases
21563 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
21564 The location of the picons database. This is a list of directories
21565 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
21566 subdirectories. Defaults to @code{("/usr/lib/picon"
21567 "/usr/local/faces")}.
21569 @item gnus-picon-news-directories
21570 @vindex gnus-picon-news-directories
21571 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
21572 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
21574 @item gnus-picon-user-directories
21575 @vindex gnus-picon-user-directories
21576 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for user
21577 faces. @code{("users" "usenix" "local" "misc")} is the default.
21579 @item gnus-picon-domain-directories
21580 @vindex gnus-picon-domain-directories
21581 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
21582 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
21583 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
21585 @item gnus-picon-file-types
21586 @vindex gnus-picon-file-types
21587 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
21588 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not built-in your Emacs.
21593 @subsection Smileys
21598 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
21603 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
21604 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
21606 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
21607 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21610 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
21613 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{8-)}, @samp{:-(} and
21614 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
21615 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
21616 text and maps that to file names.
21618 @vindex smiley-regexp-alist
21619 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist}
21620 variable. The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched;
21621 the second element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by
21622 the picture; and the third element is the name of the file to be
21625 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
21630 @item smiley-data-directory
21631 @vindex smiley-data-directory
21632 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
21634 @item gnus-smiley-file-types
21635 @vindex gnus-smiley-file-types
21636 List of suffixes on smiley file names to try.
21645 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
21646 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
21647 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
21651 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
21652 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
21653 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
21654 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
21662 Decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
21663 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
21664 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
21665 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
21667 The variable that controls this is the
21668 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
21669 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
21670 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
21671 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
21672 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
21674 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
21675 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
21676 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
21677 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
21680 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
21681 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
21682 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
21683 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
21684 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
21685 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
21686 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
21687 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
21689 (Note: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
21692 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
21693 easier insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages.
21695 @findex gnus-random-x-face
21696 @vindex gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command
21697 @vindex gnus-x-face-directory
21698 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
21699 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
21700 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
21701 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
21702 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
21703 header data as a string.
21705 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
21706 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
21707 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
21708 randomly generated data.
21710 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
21711 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command
21712 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
21713 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
21714 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
21716 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
21717 like the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21720 (setq message-required-news-headers
21721 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21722 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
21725 Using the last function would be something like this:
21728 (setq message-required-news-headers
21729 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21730 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
21731 (gnus-x-face-from-file
21732 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
21737 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
21740 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21741 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21742 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
21743 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
21744 unusual directory structure.
21746 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21747 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21748 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
21749 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
21751 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21752 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21753 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
21754 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
21755 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
21756 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
21758 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21759 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21760 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
21765 @subsubsection Toolbar
21769 @item gnus-use-toolbar
21770 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
21771 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
21772 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
21773 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
21775 @item gnus-group-toolbar
21776 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
21777 The toolbar in the group buffer.
21779 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
21780 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
21781 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
21783 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21784 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21785 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
21796 @node Fuzzy Matching
21797 @section Fuzzy Matching
21798 @cindex fuzzy matching
21800 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
21801 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
21803 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
21804 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
21805 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
21807 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
21808 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
21809 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
21810 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
21811 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
21814 @node Thwarting Email Spam
21815 @section Thwarting Email Spam
21819 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21821 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
21822 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
21823 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
21824 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
21825 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
21826 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
21827 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
21828 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
21831 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
21832 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
21833 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
21834 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
21835 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
21836 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
21838 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
21841 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
21842 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
21843 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
21844 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
21845 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
21846 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
21849 @node The problem of spam
21850 @subsection The problem of spam
21852 @cindex spam filtering approaches
21853 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
21855 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21857 First, some background on spam.
21859 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
21860 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it exists
21861 because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail, so only
21862 a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to make it
21863 worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most common
21864 spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for further
21865 spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers}, but terms like
21866 @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, and @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
21868 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
21869 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
21870 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
21871 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
21872 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
21873 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
21874 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
21875 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
21876 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
21879 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering. If you get 200
21880 spam messages per day from @samp{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you
21881 block @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about
21882 @samp{VIAGRA}, you discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the
21883 message. This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate
21884 e-mail. For instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest
21885 has been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it
21886 @strong{contained} words that were common in spam messages.
21887 Nevertheless, in isolated cases, with great care, direct filtering of
21888 mail can be useful.
21890 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
21891 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
21892 @code{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @samp{X} in
21893 China, Ghana, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
21894 @code{N} systems enter @samp{X} or the spam e-mail from @samp{X} into
21895 a database. The criteria for spam detection vary---it may be the
21896 number of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When
21897 a user of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a
21898 message is spam, he consults one of those @code{N} systems.
21900 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
21901 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
21902 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
21903 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
21904 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
21905 sending spam, and their web sites have been shut down for some time
21906 because of the incident.
21908 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
21909 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
21910 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
21911 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
21912 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
21913 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
21914 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
21915 to store the database of spam analyses.
21917 @node Anti-Spam Basics
21918 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
21922 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21924 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
21925 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
21927 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
21928 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
21929 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
21930 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
21931 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
21932 part of the mail address.)
21935 (setq message-default-news-headers
21936 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
21939 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
21940 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21945 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
21946 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
21947 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
21953 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
21954 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
21955 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
21956 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
21958 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @acronym{SMTP} server
21959 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
21960 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
21961 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
21962 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
21963 your fancy split rule in this way:
21968 (to "larsi" "misc")
21972 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
21973 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
21974 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
21975 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
21976 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
21978 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
21979 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
21980 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
21981 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
21982 cosmic balance somewhat.
21984 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
21985 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
21986 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
21987 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
21992 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
21993 @cindex SpamAssassin
21994 @cindex Vipul's Razor
21997 The days where the hints in the previous section was sufficient in
21998 avoiding spam is coming to an end. There are many tools out there
21999 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
22000 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
22001 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
22002 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
22003 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
22005 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
22006 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
22007 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
22008 Specifiers}) follows.
22012 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
22015 :postscript "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
22018 Once you managed to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
22019 the mail contain e.g. a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
22020 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
22023 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
22027 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
22030 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
22031 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
22035 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
22036 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
22037 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
22038 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
22041 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
22043 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
22045 (let ((buf (or (get-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
22046 (get-buffer " *nnml move*"))))
22048 (progn (message "Oops, cannot find message buffer") nil)
22050 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
22051 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
22055 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
22056 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
22057 spam. And here is the nifty function:
22060 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
22061 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
22063 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
22064 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
22065 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
22069 @subsection Hashcash
22072 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
22073 costly for each message they send. This has the obvious drawback that
22074 you cannot rely on that everyone in the world uses this technique,
22075 since it is not part of the Internet standards, but it may be useful
22076 in smaller communities.
22078 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
22079 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
22080 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
22081 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
22082 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
22083 instead requires that everyone you communicate with supports the
22084 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
22085 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
22086 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
22087 one of them separately.
22090 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
22091 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
22092 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:}
22093 header. For more details, and for the external application
22094 @code{hashcash} you need to install to use this feature, see
22095 @uref{http://www.cypherspace.org/~adam/hashcash/}. Even more
22096 information can be found at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
22098 If you wish to call hashcash for each message you send, say something
22102 (require 'hashcash)
22103 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'mail-add-payment)
22106 The @code{hashcash.el} library can be found in the Gnus development
22107 contrib directory. or at
22108 @uref{http://users.actrix.gen.nz/mycroft/hashcash.el}.
22110 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
22114 @item hashcash-default-payment
22115 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
22116 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
22117 should consist of. By default this is 0, meaning nothing will be
22118 done. Suggested useful values include 17 to 29.
22120 @item hashcash-payment-alist
22121 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
22122 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
22123 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(@var{addr}
22124 @var{amount})} cells, where @var{addr} is the receiver (email address
22125 or newsgroup) and @var{amount} is the number of bits in the collision
22126 that is needed. It can also contain @samp{(@var{addr} @var{string}
22127 @var{amount})} cells, where the @var{string} is the string to use
22128 (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
22132 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed.
22136 Currently there is no built in functionality in Gnus to verify
22137 hashcash cookies, it is expected that this is performed by your hand
22138 customized mail filtering scripts. Improvements in this area would be
22139 a useful contribution, however.
22141 @node Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
22142 @subsection Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
22143 @cindex spam filtering
22146 The idea behind @code{spam.el} is to have a control center for spam detection
22147 and filtering in Gnus. To that end, @code{spam.el} does two things: it
22148 filters incoming mail, and it analyzes mail known to be spam or ham.
22149 @emph{Ham} is the name used throughout @code{spam.el} to indicate
22152 So, what happens when you load @code{spam.el}? First of all, you get
22153 the following keyboard commands:
22163 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
22164 @code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}.
22166 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{$} mark.
22167 Whenever you see a spam article, make sure to mark its summary line
22168 with @kbd{M-d} before leaving the group. This is done automatically
22169 for unread articles in @emph{spam} groups.
22175 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
22176 @code{spam-bogofilter-score}.
22178 You must have Bogofilter installed for that command to work properly.
22184 Also, when you load @code{spam.el}, you will be able to customize its
22185 variables. Try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{spam} variable
22188 @vindex gnus-spam-process-newsgroups
22189 The concepts of ham processors and spam processors are very important.
22190 Ham processors and spam processors for a group can be set with the
22191 @code{spam-process} group parameter, or the
22192 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. Ham processors take
22193 mail known to be non-spam (@emph{ham}) and process it in some way so
22194 that later similar mail will also be considered non-spam. Spam
22195 processors take mail known to be spam and process it so similar spam
22196 will be detected later.
22198 @vindex gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
22199 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
22200 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
22201 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
22202 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
22203 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
22204 by customizing the corresponding variable
22205 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
22206 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
22207 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
22208 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
22209 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
22210 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
22211 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
22214 @vindex gnus-spam-mark
22216 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
22217 they get the @samp{$} mark (@code{gnus-spam-mark}) when you enter the
22218 group. If you have seen a message, had it marked as spam, then
22219 unmarked it, it won't be marked as spam when you enter the group
22220 thereafter. You can disable that behavior, so all unread messages
22221 will get the @samp{$} mark, if you set the
22222 @code{spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam} parameter to nil. You should
22223 remove the @samp{$} mark when you are in the group summary buffer for
22224 every message that is not spam after all. To remove the @samp{$}
22225 mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to ``unread'' the article, or @kbd{d} for
22226 declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a group, all
22227 spam-marked (@samp{$}) articles are sent to a spam processor which
22228 will study them as spam samples.
22230 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
22231 @code{ham-marks} group parameter gets overridden below, marks @samp{R}
22232 and @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
22233 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
22234 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
22235 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
22236 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
22237 should then adjust the @code{ham-marks} group parameter.
22240 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
22241 marks you want to consider ham. By default, the list contains the
22242 deleted, read, killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks.
22246 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
22247 marks you want to consider spam. By default, the list contains only
22251 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
22252 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
22253 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
22254 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
22255 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
22256 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{$},
22259 @vindex gnus-ham-process-destinations
22260 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
22261 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
22262 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
22263 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
22264 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
22265 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
22266 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
22267 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with
22268 @code{customize-variable gnus-ham-process-destinations}). The ultimate
22269 location is a group name. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
22270 parameter is not set, ham articles are left in place. If the
22271 @code{spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group} parameter is
22272 set, the ham articles are marked as unread before being moved.
22274 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
22275 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
22277 @vindex gnus-spam-process-destinations
22278 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
22279 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
22280 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
22281 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
22282 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
22283 customize this variable with @code{customize-variable
22284 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). The ultimate location is a group
22285 name. If the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set,
22286 the spam articles are only expired.
22288 To use the @code{spam.el} facilities for incoming mail filtering, you
22289 must add the following to your fancy split list
22290 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}:
22296 Note that the fancy split may be called @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
22297 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on whether you use the nnmail or
22298 nnimap back ends to retrieve your mail.
22300 The @code{spam-split} function will process incoming mail and send the
22301 mail considered to be spam into the group name given by the variable
22302 @code{spam-split-group}. By default that group name is @samp{spam},
22303 but you can customize @code{spam-split-group}.
22305 You can also give @code{spam-split} a parameter,
22306 e.g. @samp{'spam-use-regex-headers}. Why is this useful?
22308 Take these split rules (with @code{spam-use-regex-headers} and
22309 @code{spam-use-blackholes} set):
22312 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
22313 (any "ding" "ding")
22319 Now, the problem is that you want all ding messages to make it to the
22320 ding folder. But that will let obvious spam (for example, spam
22321 detected by SpamAssassin, and @code{spam-use-regex-headers}) through,
22322 when it's sent to the ding list. On the other hand, some messages to
22323 the ding list are from a mail server in the blackhole list, so the
22324 invocation of @code{spam-split} can't be before the ding rule.
22326 You can let SpamAssassin headers supercede ding rules, but all other
22327 @code{spam-split} rules (including a second invocation of the
22328 regex-headers check) will be after the ding rule:
22331 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
22332 (: spam-split 'spam-use-regex-headers)
22333 (any "ding" "ding")
22339 Basically, this lets you invoke specific @code{spam-split} checks
22340 depending on your particular needs. You don't have to throw all mail
22341 into all the spam tests. Another reason why this is nice is that
22342 messages to mailing lists you have rules for don't have to have
22343 resource-intensive blackhole checks performed on them. You could also
22344 specify different spam checks for your nnmail split vs. your nnimap
22347 You still have to have specific checks such as
22348 @code{spam-use-regex-headers} set to t, even if you specifically
22349 invoke @code{spam-split} with the check. The reason is that when
22350 loading @code{spam.el}, some conditional loading is done depending on
22351 what @code{spam-use-xyz} variables you have set.
22353 @emph{Note for IMAP users}
22355 The boolean variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body} needs to be
22356 set, if you want to split based on the whole message instead of just
22357 the headers. By default, the nnimap back end will only retrieve the
22358 message headers. If you use @code{spam-check-bogofilter},
22359 @code{spam-check-ifile}, or @code{spam-check-stat} (the splitters that
22360 can benefit from the full message body), you should set this variable.
22361 It is not set by default because it will slow @acronym{IMAP} down, and
22362 that is not an appropriate decision to make on behalf of the user.
22364 @xref{Splitting in IMAP}.
22366 @emph{TODO: Currently, spam.el only supports insertion of articles
22367 into a back end. There is no way to tell spam.el that an article is no
22368 longer spam or ham.}
22370 @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
22371 statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
22374 The following are the methods you can use to control the behavior of
22375 @code{spam-split} and their corresponding spam and ham processors:
22378 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
22379 * BBDB Whitelists::
22380 * Gmane Spam Reporting::
22381 * Anti-spam Hashcash Payments::
22383 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
22385 * ifile spam filtering::
22386 * spam-stat spam filtering::
22387 * Extending the spam elisp package::
22390 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
22391 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
22392 @cindex spam filtering
22393 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
22394 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
22397 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
22399 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
22400 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
22401 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
22402 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
22407 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
22409 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
22410 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
22411 whitelist will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
22412 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the whitelist, their
22413 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
22417 @defvar spam-use-whitelist-exclusive
22419 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists as an
22420 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
22421 unless the sender is in the whitelist. Use with care.
22425 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
22427 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22428 customizing the group parameters or the
22429 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22430 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
22431 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
22435 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
22437 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22438 customizing the group parameters or the
22439 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22440 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
22441 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
22442 whitelist. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
22443 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22447 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
22448 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
22449 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
22450 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
22451 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
22453 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
22454 legitimate. All messages from whitelisted addresses are considered
22455 non-spam. Also see @ref{BBDB Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the
22456 Emacs regular expression syntax.
22458 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
22459 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
22460 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
22461 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
22462 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
22463 @file{blacklist} respectively.
22465 @node BBDB Whitelists
22466 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
22467 @cindex spam filtering
22468 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
22469 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
22472 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
22474 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
22475 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted
22476 addresses, without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded
22477 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Messages whose senders are
22478 not in the BBDB will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
22479 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the BBDB, their
22480 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
22484 @defvar spam-use-BBDB-exclusive
22486 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use the BBDB as an
22487 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
22488 unless the sender is in the BBDB. Use with care. Only sender
22489 addresses in the BBDB will be allowed through; all others will be
22490 classified as spammers.
22494 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
22496 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22497 customizing the group parameters or the
22498 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22499 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
22500 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
22501 BBDB. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
22502 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22506 @node Gmane Spam Reporting
22507 @subsubsection Gmane Spam Reporting
22508 @cindex spam reporting
22509 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
22510 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
22513 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane
22515 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22516 customizing the group parameters or the
22517 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22518 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
22519 articles groups will be reported to the Gmane administrators.
22523 @node Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
22524 @subsubsection Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
22525 @cindex spam filtering
22526 @cindex hashcash, spam filtering
22529 @defvar spam-use-hashcash
22531 Similar to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
22532 Whitelists}), but uses hashcash tokens for whitelisting messages
22533 instead of the sender address. You must have the @code{hashcash.el}
22534 package loaded for @code{spam-use-hashcash} to work properly.
22535 Messages without a hashcash payment token will be sent to the next
22536 spam-split rule. This is an explicit filter, meaning that unless a
22537 hashcash token is found, the messages are not assumed to be spam or
22543 @subsubsection Blackholes
22544 @cindex spam filtering
22545 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
22548 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
22550 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
22551 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
22552 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
22553 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
22554 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
22555 contains outdated servers.
22557 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
22558 @code{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
22559 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil}. It is not recommended at
22560 this time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil} despite the
22561 possible performance improvements, because some users may be unable to
22562 use it, but you can try it and see if it works for you.
22566 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
22568 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
22572 @defvar spam-blackhole-good-server-regex
22574 A regular expression for IPs that should not be checked against the
22575 blackhole server list. When set to @code{nil}, it has no effect.
22579 @defvar spam-use-dig
22581 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
22582 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
22586 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
22587 ham processor for blackholes.
22589 @node Regular Expressions Header Matching
22590 @subsubsection Regular Expressions Header Matching
22591 @cindex spam filtering
22592 @cindex regular expressions header matching, spam filtering
22595 @defvar spam-use-regex-headers
22597 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus check the
22598 message headers against lists of regular expressions when you set this
22599 option. The variables @code{spam-regex-headers-spam} and
22600 @code{spam-regex-headers-ham} hold the list of regular expressions.
22601 Gnus will check against the message headers to determine if the
22602 message is spam or ham, respectively.
22606 @defvar spam-regex-headers-spam
22608 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
22609 the message, positively identify it as spam.
22613 @defvar spam-regex-headers-ham
22615 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
22616 the message, positively identify it as ham.
22620 Regular expression header checks are done only on incoming mail.
22621 There is no specific spam or ham processor for regular expressions.
22624 @subsubsection Bogofilter
22625 @cindex spam filtering
22626 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
22629 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
22631 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
22634 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{$} mark for spam
22635 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
22636 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
22637 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
22638 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
22639 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
22641 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on an internal
22642 threshold, set at compilation time. That threshold can't be
22645 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
22646 processing will be turned off.
22648 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
22652 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
22654 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
22655 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
22656 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
22657 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
22658 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
22659 installation documents for details.
22661 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
22665 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
22666 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22667 customizing the group parameters or the
22668 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22669 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
22670 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
22673 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
22674 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22675 customizing the group parameters or the
22676 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22677 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
22678 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
22679 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
22680 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22683 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
22685 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
22686 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
22687 database directory.
22691 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to ifile in intent and
22692 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
22693 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
22694 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
22695 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
22696 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
22698 @node ifile spam filtering
22699 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
22700 @cindex spam filtering
22701 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
22704 @defvar spam-use-ifile
22706 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use ifile, a
22707 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
22711 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
22713 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
22714 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
22715 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
22719 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
22721 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
22722 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
22723 the default value of @samp{spam}.
22726 @defvar spam-ifile-database-path
22728 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
22729 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
22733 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
22734 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
22735 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
22736 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
22739 @node spam-stat spam filtering
22740 @subsubsection spam-stat spam filtering
22741 @cindex spam filtering
22742 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
22746 @xref{Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat}.
22748 @defvar spam-use-stat
22750 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use
22751 spam-stat.el, an Emacs Lisp statistical analyzer.
22755 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
22756 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22757 customizing the group parameters or the
22758 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22759 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
22760 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
22763 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
22764 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22765 customizing the group parameters or the
22766 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22767 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
22768 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
22769 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
22770 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22773 This enables spam.el to cooperate with spam-stat.el. spam-stat.el
22774 provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database, which unlike ifile or
22775 Bogofilter does not require external programs. A spam and a ham
22776 processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for @code{spam-split}
22779 @node Extending the spam elisp package
22780 @subsubsection Extending the spam elisp package
22781 @cindex spam filtering
22782 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
22783 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
22785 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
22786 incoming mail, provide the following:
22794 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
22795 "True if blackbox should be used.")
22800 (spam-use-blackbox . spam-check-blackbox)
22802 to @code{spam-list-of-checks}.
22807 Write the @code{spam-check-blackbox} function. It should return
22808 @samp{nil} or @code{spam-split-group}. See the existing
22809 @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can do.
22811 Make sure to add @code{spam-use-blackbox} to
22812 @code{spam-list-of-statistical-checks} if Blackbox is a statistical
22813 mail analyzer that needs the full message body to operate.
22817 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
22824 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
22825 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
22828 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
22829 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
22830 Only applicable to spam groups.")
22832 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
22833 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
22834 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
22842 (defun spam-blackbox-register-spam-routine ()
22843 (spam-generic-register-routine
22844 ;; @r{the spam function}
22846 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
22847 (when (stringp from)
22848 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer from))))
22849 ;; @r{the ham function}
22852 (defun spam-blackbox-register-ham-routine ()
22853 (spam-generic-register-routine
22854 ;; @r{the spam function}
22856 ;; @r{the ham function}
22858 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
22859 (when (stringp from)
22860 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender from))))))
22863 Write the @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender} and
22864 @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer} functions. You can add
22865 more complex code than fetching the message sender, but keep in mind
22866 that retrieving the whole message takes significantly longer than the
22867 sender through @code{spam-fetch-field-from-fast}, because the message
22868 senders are kept in memory by Gnus.
22873 @node Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
22874 @subsection Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
22875 @cindex Paul Graham
22876 @cindex Graham, Paul
22877 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
22878 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
22879 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
22881 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
22882 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
22883 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
22884 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
22885 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
22886 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
22887 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
22888 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
22889 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
22892 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
22893 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
22894 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
22895 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
22896 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
22897 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
22898 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
22899 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
22901 Gnus supports this kind of filtering. But it needs some setting up.
22902 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
22903 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
22904 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
22905 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
22908 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
22909 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
22910 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
22913 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22914 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22916 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
22917 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
22918 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
22919 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
22920 need several hundred emails in both collections.
22922 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
22923 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
22924 per mail. Use the following:
22926 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
22927 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
22928 is treated as one spam mail.
22931 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
22932 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
22933 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
22936 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
22937 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds
22938 the the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
22939 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
22940 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds the the group
22941 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
22943 When you are using @acronym{IMAP}, you won't have the mails available
22944 locally, so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent
22945 to cache the articles. Then you can use directories such as
22946 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
22947 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
22950 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics---the
22951 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
22952 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
22953 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
22956 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
22957 reset the dictionary.
22959 @defun spam-stat-reset
22960 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
22963 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
22964 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
22965 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
22966 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
22967 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
22968 only non-spam mails.
22970 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
22971 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
22972 to update the dictionary incrementally.
22975 @defun spam-stat-save
22976 Save the dictionary.
22979 @defvar spam-stat-file
22980 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
22981 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
22984 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
22985 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
22987 In order to use @code{spam-stat} to split your mail, you need to add the
22988 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
22991 (require 'spam-stat)
22995 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
22998 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
22999 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
23000 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
23001 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
23003 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
23004 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
23005 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
23006 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
23009 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
23010 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
23014 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
23015 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
23018 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
23019 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
23020 expression are considered potential spam.
23023 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
23024 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
23025 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
23029 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
23030 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
23031 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
23032 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
23033 mails, when creating the dictionary!
23036 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
23037 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
23038 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
23042 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
23043 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
23044 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
23045 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
23046 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
23050 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
23051 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
23052 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
23053 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
23058 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
23059 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
23061 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
23063 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
23064 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
23065 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
23068 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
23069 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
23070 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
23073 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
23074 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
23075 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
23076 already been processed as non-spam.
23079 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
23080 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
23081 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
23082 been processed as spam.
23085 @defun spam-stat-save
23086 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
23087 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
23090 @defun spam-stat-load
23091 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
23092 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
23095 @defun spam-stat-score-word
23096 Return the spam score for a word.
23099 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
23100 Return the spam score for a buffer.
23103 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
23104 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
23105 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
23108 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
23109 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23112 (require 'spam-stat)
23116 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
23119 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
23120 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
23121 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
23122 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
23123 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
23124 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
23125 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
23126 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
23127 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
23128 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
23129 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
23130 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
23131 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
23132 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
23135 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
23138 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
23139 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
23140 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
23141 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
23142 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
23143 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
23146 @node Various Various
23147 @section Various Various
23153 @item gnus-home-directory
23154 @vindex gnus-home-directory
23155 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
23156 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
23158 @item gnus-directory
23159 @vindex gnus-directory
23160 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
23161 this variable, which defaults to the @env{SAVEDIR} environment
23162 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
23164 Note that gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
23165 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
23166 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
23167 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
23169 @item gnus-default-directory
23170 @vindex gnus-default-directory
23171 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
23172 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
23173 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
23174 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
23175 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
23176 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
23179 @vindex gnus-verbose
23180 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
23181 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
23182 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
23183 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
23184 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
23186 @item gnus-verbose-backends
23187 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
23188 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
23189 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
23191 @item nnheader-max-head-length
23192 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
23193 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
23194 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
23195 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
23196 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
23197 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
23198 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
23199 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
23200 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
23202 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
23203 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
23204 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
23205 read when doing the operation described above.
23207 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
23208 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
23210 @cindex invalid characters in file names
23211 @cindex characters in file names
23212 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
23213 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
23214 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
23218 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
23223 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
23224 Windows (phooey) systems.
23226 @item gnus-hidden-properties
23227 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
23228 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
23229 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
23230 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
23232 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
23233 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
23234 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
23235 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
23236 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
23238 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
23239 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
23240 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
23242 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
23243 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
23245 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
23246 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
23247 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
23248 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
23251 @acronym{IMAP} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
23259 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
23260 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
23262 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
23264 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
23270 Not because of victories @*
23273 but for the common sunshine,@*
23275 the largess of the spring.
23279 but for the day's work done@*
23280 as well as I was able;@*
23281 not for a seat upon the dais@*
23282 but at the common table.@*
23287 @chapter Appendices
23290 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
23291 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
23292 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
23293 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
23294 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
23295 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
23296 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
23297 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
23298 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
23305 @cindex installing under XEmacs
23307 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
23308 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
23309 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{w3}, @samp{mh-e},
23310 @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{rmail}, @samp{eterm}, @samp{mail-lib},
23311 @samp{xemacs-base}, @samp{sh-script} and @samp{fsf-compat}. The
23312 @samp{misc-games} package is required for Morse decoding.
23319 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
23320 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
23322 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
23323 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
23324 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
23325 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
23326 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
23328 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
23329 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
23330 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
23331 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
23332 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
23333 appropriate name, don't you think?)
23335 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
23336 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
23337 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
23338 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
23341 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
23342 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
23343 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
23344 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
23345 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
23346 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
23347 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
23348 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
23349 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
23353 @node Gnus Versions
23354 @subsection Gnus Versions
23356 @cindex September Gnus
23358 @cindex Quassia Gnus
23359 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
23362 @cindex Gnus versions
23364 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
23365 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
23366 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
23368 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
23369 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
23371 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
23372 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
23374 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
23375 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
23377 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
23378 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
23381 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
23383 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
23384 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
23385 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
23386 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
23387 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
23388 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
23391 @node Other Gnus Versions
23392 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
23395 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
23396 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
23397 Japan. It's based on a library called @acronym{SEMI}, which provides
23398 @acronym{MIME} capabilities.
23400 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
23401 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
23402 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
23403 @acronym{MIME} and multilingualization things, especially important for
23410 What's the point of Gnus?
23412 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
23413 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
23414 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
23415 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
23416 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
23417 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
23418 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
23419 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
23420 keep track of millions of people who post?
23422 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
23423 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
23424 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
23425 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
23426 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
23427 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
23428 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
23429 every one of you to explore and invent.
23431 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
23432 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
23435 @node Compatibility
23436 @subsection Compatibility
23438 @cindex compatibility
23439 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
23440 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
23441 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
23446 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
23450 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
23453 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
23456 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
23457 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
23458 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
23459 important variables have their values copied into their global
23460 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
23461 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
23463 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
23464 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
23465 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
23466 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
23467 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
23471 @cindex highlighting
23472 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
23473 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
23474 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
23475 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
23476 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
23477 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
23480 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
23481 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
23482 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
23483 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
23485 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
23486 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
23487 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
23488 to stop doing it the old way.
23490 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
23492 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
23494 @cindex reporting bugs
23496 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
23497 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
23498 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
23500 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
23501 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
23502 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
23503 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
23508 @subsection Conformity
23510 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
23511 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
23519 There are no known breaches of this standard.
23523 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
23525 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
23526 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
23527 We do have some breaches to this one.
23533 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
23534 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
23535 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
23536 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
23537 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
23542 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
23543 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
23544 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
23545 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
23547 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
23548 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
23549 All the various @acronym{MIME} RFCs are supported.
23551 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
23552 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
23554 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
23557 RFC 1991 is the original @acronym{PGP} message specification,
23558 published as a Information RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now
23559 called Open PGP, and put on the Standards Track. Both document a
23560 non-@acronym{MIME} aware @acronym{PGP} format. Gnus supports both
23561 encoding (signing and encryption) and decoding (verification and
23564 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
23565 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
23566 1991) describes the @acronym{MIME}-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
23567 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
23569 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
23570 RFC 2633 describes the @acronym{S/MIME} format.
23572 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
23573 RFC 1730 is @acronym{IMAP} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060
23574 (@acronym{IMAP} 4 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5
23575 authentication for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2086 describes access control
23576 lists (ACLs) for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2359 describes a @acronym{IMAP}
23577 protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper @acronym{TLS}
23578 integration (STARTTLS) with @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 1731 describes the
23579 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @acronym{IMAP}.
23583 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
23584 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
23589 @subsection Emacsen
23595 Gnus should work on :
23603 XEmacs 21.1.1 and up.
23607 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
23608 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
23609 Emacs versions. However, T-gnus does support ``Mule 2.3 based on Emacs
23610 19.34'' and possibly the versions of XEmacs prior to 21.1.1, e.g. 20.4.
23611 See the file ``README'' in the T-gnus distribution for more details.
23613 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
23614 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
23615 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
23619 @node Gnus Development
23620 @subsection Gnus Development
23622 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
23623 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
23624 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
23625 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
23626 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
23627 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
23628 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
23629 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
23631 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
23632 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
23633 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
23634 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
23635 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
23638 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
23639 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
23640 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
23641 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
23642 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
23644 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
23645 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
23646 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
23647 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
23648 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
23649 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
23650 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
23651 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
23652 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
23653 can't be assumed to do so.
23658 @subsection Contributors
23659 @cindex contributors
23661 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
23662 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
23663 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
23664 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
23665 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
23666 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
23667 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
23668 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
23669 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
23670 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
23672 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for@dots{} oops,
23678 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
23681 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
23682 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @acronym{MIME} and
23683 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
23684 functionality and stuff.
23687 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
23688 well as numerous other things).
23691 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
23694 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
23697 Justin Sheehy--the @acronym{FAQ} maintainer.
23700 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
23703 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
23704 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
23707 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
23710 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
23711 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
23714 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
23717 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
23720 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
23723 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
23726 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
23727 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
23730 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
23733 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
23736 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
23739 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
23743 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
23746 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
23749 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
23752 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
23753 well as autoconf support.
23757 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
23758 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
23760 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
23775 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
23777 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka
23781 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
23791 Alexei V. Barantsev,
23806 Massimo Campostrini,
23811 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
23812 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
23816 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
23819 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
23825 Michael Welsh Duggan,
23830 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
23834 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
23842 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
23844 Michelangelo Grigni,
23848 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
23850 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c Hayashi
23852 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
23859 François Felix Ingrand,
23860 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c Ichikawa
23861 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
23863 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
23873 Peter Skov Knudsen,
23874 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
23876 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
23877 Thor Kristoffersen,
23880 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
23898 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
23899 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
23906 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
23911 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
23915 John McClary Prevost,
23921 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
23926 Christian von Roques,
23929 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
23936 Philippe Schnoebelen,
23938 Randal L. Schwartz,
23952 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
23957 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
23977 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
23978 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
23979 (550kB and counting).
23981 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
23984 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
23985 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
23989 @subsection New Features
23990 @cindex new features
23993 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
23994 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
23995 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
23996 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
23997 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
23998 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10.
24001 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
24002 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
24003 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
24006 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
24008 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
24013 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
24014 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
24017 Local spool and several @acronym{NNTP} servers can be used at once
24018 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
24021 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
24024 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
24025 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
24026 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
24029 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
24030 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
24031 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
24032 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
24035 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
24036 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
24039 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
24040 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
24041 (@pxref{The Active File}).
24044 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
24045 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
24048 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
24049 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
24050 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
24053 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
24054 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
24055 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
24058 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{~/.gnus.el}) to avoid
24059 cluttering up the @file{.emacs} file.
24062 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
24063 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
24066 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
24067 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
24070 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
24071 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
24074 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
24075 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
24078 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
24079 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
24082 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
24085 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
24086 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
24089 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
24090 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
24093 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
24094 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
24097 Gnus can fetch @acronym{FAQ}s and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
24100 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
24101 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
24104 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
24108 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
24112 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
24113 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
24116 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
24122 @node September Gnus
24123 @subsubsection September Gnus
24127 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
24131 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
24136 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
24137 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
24141 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
24142 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
24146 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
24150 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
24151 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
24154 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
24158 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
24161 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
24164 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
24167 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
24171 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
24172 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
24175 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
24179 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
24183 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
24187 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
24191 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
24194 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
24195 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
24198 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
24202 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
24203 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
24206 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
24209 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
24210 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
24211 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
24214 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
24218 The Gnus cache is much faster.
24221 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
24225 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
24226 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
24229 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
24230 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
24233 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
24234 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
24237 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
24238 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
24239 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
24242 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
24243 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
24246 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
24249 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
24252 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
24255 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
24258 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
24259 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
24262 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
24266 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
24269 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
24274 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
24277 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
24281 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
24284 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
24288 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
24291 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
24294 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
24295 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
24298 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
24299 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
24303 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
24304 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
24307 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
24311 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
24312 buffer to allow easier treatment.
24315 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
24318 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
24322 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
24326 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
24327 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
24330 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
24334 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
24335 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
24338 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
24339 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
24342 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
24346 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
24349 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
24352 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
24358 @subsubsection Red Gnus
24360 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
24364 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
24371 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
24374 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
24375 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
24378 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
24379 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
24383 Article washing status can be displayed in the
24384 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
24387 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
24390 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
24391 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
24394 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
24398 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
24399 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
24403 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
24404 Server Internals}).
24407 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
24411 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
24414 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
24415 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
24418 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
24419 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
24420 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
24423 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
24424 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
24427 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
24428 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
24431 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
24435 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
24436 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
24439 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
24440 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
24443 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
24447 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
24450 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
24454 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
24455 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
24458 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
24459 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
24462 A new command for reading collections of documents
24463 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
24464 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
24467 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
24471 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @acronym{NNTP}
24472 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
24475 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
24476 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
24477 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
24480 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
24481 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
24485 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
24489 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
24493 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
24498 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
24502 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
24506 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
24507 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
24510 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
24516 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
24518 New features in Gnus 5.6:
24523 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
24524 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
24525 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
24528 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
24529 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
24530 group, which is created automatically.
24533 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
24537 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
24540 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
24541 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
24544 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
24548 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
24551 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
24552 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
24555 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
24558 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section ``Symbolic
24559 Prefixes'' in the Gnus manual for details.
24562 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
24563 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the @file{all.SCORE} file.
24566 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
24567 control over simplification.
24570 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
24573 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
24577 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
24580 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
24583 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
24584 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
24585 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
24588 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
24589 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
24592 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
24596 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
24597 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
24600 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
24601 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @acronym{NNTP} servers.
24604 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
24608 A history of where mails have been split is available.
24611 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
24614 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
24615 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
24618 A new function for citing in Message has been
24619 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
24622 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
24625 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
24629 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
24630 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
24633 The ``lapsed date'' article header can be kept continually
24634 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
24637 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
24640 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
24644 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
24645 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
24647 New features in Gnus 5.8:
24652 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
24653 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
24655 If you used procmail like in
24658 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
24659 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
24660 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
24661 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
24664 this now has changed to
24668 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
24672 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}.
24675 Gnus is now a @acronym{MIME}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
24676 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
24679 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
24680 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
24683 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
24684 called to position point.
24687 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
24688 summary buffers and @acronym{NOV} files.
24691 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
24692 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
24695 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
24696 subtly different manner.
24699 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
24700 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
24701 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
24704 Gnus can now read @acronym{IMAP} mail via @code{nnimap}.
24709 @subsubsection Oort Gnus
24712 New features in Gnus 5.10:
24717 The revised Gnus @acronym{FAQ} is included in the manual,
24718 @xref{Frequently Asked Questions}.
24721 Upgrading from previous (stable) version if you have used Oort.
24723 If you have tried Oort (the unstable Gnus branch leading to this
24724 release) but went back to a stable version, be careful when upgrading to
24725 this version. In particular, you will probably want to remove all
24726 @file{.marks} (nnml) and @file{.mrk} (nnfolder) files, so that flags are
24727 read from your @file{.newsrc.eld} instead of from the
24728 @file{.marks}/@file{.mrk} file where this release store flags. See a
24729 later entry for more information about marks. Note that downgrading
24730 isn't save in general.
24735 More buttons for URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man
24736 pages and Emacs or Gnus related references. @xref{Article Buttons}. The
24737 variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} can be used to control the
24738 appearance of all article buttons. @xref{Article Button Levels}.
24743 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} installs key bindings in dired buffers to send
24744 a file as an attachment (@kbd{C-c C-a}), open a file using the appropriate
24745 mailcap entry (@kbd{C-c C-l}), and print a file using the mailcap entry
24746 (@kbd{C-c P}). It is enabled with
24748 (add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-dired-mode)
24752 Gnus can display RSS newsfeeds as a newsgroup. @xref{RSS}.
24755 Single-part yenc encoded attachments can be decoded.
24760 The picons code has been reimplemented to work in GNU Emacs---some of
24761 the previous options have been removed or renamed.
24763 Picons are small ``personal icons'' representing users, domain and
24764 newsgroups, which can be displayed in the Article buffer.
24768 If the new option @code{gnus-treat-body-boundary} is non-@code{nil}, a
24769 boundary line is drawn at the end of the headers.
24772 Retrieval of charters and control messages
24774 There are new commands for fetching newsgroup charters (@kbd{H c}) and
24775 control messages (@kbd{H C}).
24780 You can delay the sending of a message with @kbd{C-c C-j} in the Message
24781 buffer. The messages are delivered at specified time. This is useful
24782 for sending yourself reminders. @xref{Delayed Articles}.
24785 If @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled, attachments are automatically
24786 decompressed when activated.
24789 If the new option @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is non-@code{nil},
24790 the nnml back end allows compressed message files.
24793 Signed article headers (X-PGP-Sig) can be verified with @kbd{W p}.
24796 The Summary Buffer uses an arrow in the fringe to indicate the current
24797 article. Use @code{(setq gnus-summary-display-arrow nil)} to disable it.
24800 Warn about email replies to news
24802 Do you often find yourself replying to news by email by mistake? Then
24803 the new option @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} is just the thing for
24807 If the new option @code{gnus-summary-display-while-building} is
24808 non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer is shown and updated as it's being
24812 The new @code{recent} mark @samp{.} indicates newly arrived messages (as
24813 opposed to old but unread messages).
24816 The new option @code{gnus-gcc-mark-as-read} automatically marks
24817 Gcc articles as read.
24820 The nndoc back end now supports mailman digests and exim bounces.
24823 Gnus supports RFC 2369 mailing list headers, and adds a number of
24824 related commands in mailing list groups. @xref{Mailing List}.
24827 The Date header can be displayed in a format that can be read aloud
24828 in English. @xref{Article Date}.
24831 The envelope sender address can be customized when using Sendmail.
24832 @xref{Mail Variables, Mail Variables,, message, Message Manual}.
24835 diffs are automatically highlighted in groups matching
24836 @code{mm-uu-diff-groups-regexp}
24839 @acronym{TLS} wrapper shipped with Gnus
24841 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is now supported in @acronym{IMAP} and
24842 @acronym{NNTP} via @file{tls.el} and GNUTLS. The old
24843 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} support via (external third party)
24844 @file{ssl.el} and OpenSSL still works.
24847 New @file{make.bat} for compiling and installing Gnus under MS Windows
24849 Use @file{make.bat} if you want to install Gnus under MS Windows, the
24850 first argument to the batch-program should be the directory where
24851 @file{xemacs.exe} respectively @file{emacs.exe} is located, iff you want
24852 to install Gnus after compiling it, give @file{make.bat} @code{/copy} as
24853 the second parameter.
24855 @file{make.bat} has been rewritten from scratch, it now features
24856 automatic recognition of XEmacs and GNU Emacs, generates
24857 @file{gnus-load.el}, checks if errors occur while compilation and
24858 generation of info files and reports them at the end of the build
24859 process. It now uses @code{makeinfo} if it is available and falls
24860 back to @file{infohack.el} otherwise. @file{make.bat} should now
24861 install all files which are necessary to run Gnus and be generally a
24862 complete replacement for the @code{configure; make; make install}
24863 cycle used under Unix systems.
24865 The new @file{make.bat} makes @file{make-x.bat} superfluous, so it has
24869 Support for non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names
24871 Message supports non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To: and
24872 Cc: and will query you whether to perform encoding when you try to
24873 send a message. The variable @code{message-use-idna} controls this.
24874 Gnus will also decode non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To:
24875 and Cc: when you view a message. The variable @code{gnus-use-idna}
24879 Better handling of Microsoft citation styles
24881 Gnus now tries to recognize the mangled header block that some Microsoft
24882 mailers use to indicate that the rest of the message is a citation, even
24883 though it is not quoted in any way. The variable
24884 @code{gnus-cite-unsightly-citation-regexp} matches the start of these
24888 @code{gnus-article-skip-boring}
24890 If you set @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} to @code{t}, then Gnus will
24891 not scroll down to show you a page that contains only boring text,
24892 which by default means cited text and signature. You can customize
24893 what is skippable using @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}.
24895 This feature is especially useful if you read many articles that
24896 consist of a little new content at the top with a long, untrimmed
24897 message cited below.
24900 The format spec @code{%C} for positioning point has changed to @code{%*}.
24903 The new variable @code{gnus-parameters} can be used to set group parameters.
24905 Earlier this was done only via @kbd{G p} (or @kbd{G c}), which stored
24906 the parameters in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, but via this variable you can
24907 enjoy the powers of customize, and simplified backups since you set the
24908 variable in @file{~/.emacs} instead of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. The
24909 variable maps regular expressions matching group names to group
24912 (setq gnus-parameters
24914 (gnus-show-threads nil)
24915 (gnus-use-scoring nil))
24916 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
24917 (to-group . "\\1"))))
24921 Smileys (@samp{:-)}, @samp{;-)} etc) are now iconized for Emacs too.
24923 Put @code{(setq gnus-treat-display-smileys nil)} in @file{~/.emacs} to
24927 Gnus no longer generate the Sender: header automatically.
24929 Earlier it was generated iff the user configurable email address was
24930 different from the Gnus guessed default user address. As the guessing
24931 algorithm is rarely correct these days, and (more controversially) the
24932 only use of the Sender: header was to check if you are entitled to
24933 cancel/supersede news (which is now solved by Cancel Locks instead,
24934 see another entry), generation of the header has been disabled by
24935 default. See the variables @code{message-required-headers},
24936 @code{message-required-news-headers}, and
24937 @code{message-required-mail-headers}.
24940 Features from third party @file{message-utils.el} added to @file{message.el}.
24942 Message now asks if you wish to remove @samp{(was: <old subject>)} from
24943 subject lines (see @code{message-subject-trailing-was-query}). @kbd{C-c
24944 M-m} and @kbd{C-c M-f} inserts markers indicating included text.
24945 @kbd{C-c C-f a} adds a X-No-Archive: header. @kbd{C-c C-f x} inserts
24946 appropriate headers and a note in the body for cross-postings and
24947 followups (see the variables @code{message-cross-post-@var{*}}).
24950 References and X-Draft-Headers are no longer generated when you start
24951 composing messages and @code{message-generate-headers-first} is
24955 Improved anti-spam features.
24957 Gnus is now able to take out spam from your mail and news streams
24958 using a wide variety of programs and filter rules. Among the supported
24959 methods are RBL blocklists, bogofilter and white/blacklists. Hooks
24960 for easy use of external packages such as SpamAssassin and Hashcash
24961 are also new. @xref{Thwarting Email Spam}.
24964 Easy inclusion of X-Faces headers.
24967 In the summary buffer, the new command @kbd{/ N} inserts new messages
24968 and @kbd{/ o} inserts old messages.
24971 Gnus decodes morse encoded messages if you press @kbd{W m}.
24974 Unread count correct in nnimap groups.
24976 The estimated number of unread articles in the group buffer should now
24977 be correct for nnimap groups. This is achieved by calling
24978 @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} from the
24979 @code{gnus-setup-news-hook} (called on startup) and
24980 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook}. (called after getting new
24981 mail). If you have modified those variables from the default, you may
24982 want to add @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} again. If
24983 you were happy with the estimate and want to save some (minimal) time
24984 when getting new mail, remove the function.
24987 Group Carbon Copy (GCC) quoting
24989 To support groups that contains SPC and other weird characters, groups
24990 are quoted before they are placed in the Gcc: header. This means
24991 variables such as @code{gnus-message-archive-group} should no longer
24992 contain quote characters to make groups containing SPC work. Also, if
24993 you are using the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar} (indicating Gcc
24994 into two groups) you must change it to return the list
24995 @code{("nnml:foo" "nnml:bar")}, otherwise the Gcc: line will be quoted
24996 incorrectly. Note that returning the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar}
24997 was incorrect earlier, it just didn't generate any problems since it
24998 was inserted directly.
25001 @file{~/News/overview/} not used.
25003 As a result of the following change, the @file{~/News/overview/}
25004 directory is not used any more. You can safely delete the entire
25010 The Gnus Agent has seen a major updated and is now enabled by default,
25011 and all nntp and nnimap servers from @code{gnus-select-method} and
25012 @code{gnus-secondary-select-method} are agentized by default. Earlier
25013 only the server in @code{gnus-select-method} was agentized by the
25014 default, and the agent was disabled by default. When the agent is
25015 enabled, headers are now also retrieved from the Agent cache instead
25016 of the back ends when possible. Earlier this only happened in the
25017 unplugged state. You can enroll or remove servers with @kbd{J a} and
25018 @kbd{J r} in the server buffer. Gnus will not download articles into
25019 the Agent cache, unless you instruct it to do so, though, by using
25020 @kbd{J u} or @kbd{J s} from the Group buffer. You revert to the old
25021 behaviour of having the Agent disabled with @code{(setq gnus-agent
25022 nil)}. Note that putting @code{(gnus-agentize)} in @file{~/.gnus.el}
25023 is not needed any more.
25026 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}
25028 The default value changed to @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%)
25029 %s\n}. Moreover @code{gnus-extra-headers},
25030 @code{nnmail-extra-headers} and @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses}
25031 changed their default so that the users name will be replaced by the
25032 recipient's name or the group name posting to for @acronym{NNTP}
25036 @file{deuglify.el} (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article})
25038 A new file from Raymond Scholz @email{rscholz@@zonix.de} for deuglifying
25039 broken Outlook (Express) articles.
25042 @code{(require 'gnus-load)}
25044 If you use a stand-alone Gnus distribution, you'd better add
25045 @code{(require 'gnus-load)} into your @file{~/.emacs} after adding the Gnus
25046 lisp directory into load-path.
25048 File @file{gnus-load.el} contains autoload commands, functions and variables,
25049 some of which may not be included in distributions of Emacsen.
25052 @code{gnus-slave-unplugged}
25054 A new command which starts Gnus offline in slave mode.
25057 @code{message-insinuate-rmail}
25059 Adding @code{(message-insinuate-rmail)} and @code{(setq
25060 mail-user-agent 'gnus-user-agent)} in @file{.emacs} convinces Rmail to
25061 compose, reply and forward messages in message-mode, where you can
25062 enjoy the power of @acronym{MML}.
25065 @code{message-minibuffer-local-map}
25067 The line below enables BBDB in resending a message:
25069 (define-key message-minibuffer-local-map [(tab)]
25070 'bbdb-complete-name)
25074 Externalizing and deleting of attachments.
25076 If @code{gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments} or
25077 @code{message-fcc-externalize-attachments} is non-@code{nil}, attach
25078 local files as external parts.
25080 The command @code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip} (bound to @kbd{C-o}
25081 on @acronym{MIME} buttons) saves a part and replaces the part with an
25082 external one. @code{gnus-mime-delete-part} (bound to @kbd{d} on
25083 @acronym{MIME} buttons) removes a part. It works only on back ends
25084 that support editing.
25087 @code{gnus-default-charset}
25089 The default value is determined from the
25090 @code{current-language-environment} variable, instead of
25091 @code{iso-8859-1}. Also the @samp{.*} item in
25092 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} is removed.
25095 @code{gnus-posting-styles}
25097 Add a new format of match like
25099 ((header "to" "larsi.*org")
25100 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
25102 The old format like the lines below is obsolete, but still accepted.
25104 (header "to" "larsi.*org"
25105 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
25109 @code{message-ignored-news-headers} and @code{message-ignored-mail-headers}
25111 @samp{X-Draft-From} and @samp{X-Gnus-Agent-Meta-Information} have been
25112 added into these two variables. If you customized those, perhaps you
25113 need add those two headers too.
25116 Gnus reads the @acronym{NOV} and articles in the Agent if plugged.
25118 If one reads an article while plugged, and the article already exists
25119 in the Agent, it won't get downloaded once more. @code{(setq
25120 gnus-agent-cache nil)} reverts to the old behavior.
25123 Gnus supports the ``format=flowed'' (RFC 2646) parameter. On
25124 composing messages, it is enabled by @code{use-hard-newlines}.
25125 Decoding format=flowed was present but not documented in earlier
25129 Gnus supports the generation of RFC 2298 Disposition Notification requests.
25131 This is invoked with the @kbd{C-c M-n} key binding from message mode.
25134 Gnus supports Maildir groups.
25136 Gnus includes a new back end @file{nnmaildir.el}. @xref{Maildir}.
25139 Printing capabilities are enhanced.
25141 Gnus supports Muttprint natively with @kbd{O P} from the Summary and
25142 Article buffers. Also, each individual @acronym{MIME} part can be
25143 printed using @kbd{p} on the @acronym{MIME} button.
25146 Message supports the Importance: (RFC 2156) header.
25148 In the message buffer, @kbd{C-c C-f C-i} or @kbd{C-c C-u} cycles through
25152 Gnus supports Cancel Locks in News.
25154 This means a header @samp{Cancel-Lock} is inserted in news posting. It is
25155 used to determine if you wrote a article or not (for cancelling and
25156 superseding). Gnus generates a random password string the first time
25157 you post a message, and saves it in your @file{~/.emacs} using the Custom
25158 system. While the variable is called @code{canlock-password}, it is not
25159 security sensitive data. Publishing your canlock string on the web
25160 will not allow anyone to be able to anything she could not already do.
25161 The behaviour can be changed by customizing @code{message-insert-canlock}.
25164 Gnus supports server-side mail filtering using Sieve.
25166 Sieve rules can be added as Group Parameters for groups, and the
25167 complete Sieve script is generated using @kbd{D g} from the Group
25168 buffer, and then uploaded to the server using @kbd{C-c C-l} in the
25169 generated Sieve buffer. @xref{Sieve Commands}, and the new Sieve
25170 manual @ref{Top, , Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
25173 Extended format specs.
25175 Format spec @samp{%&user-date;} is added into
25176 @code{gnus-summary-line-format-alist}. Also, user defined extended
25177 format specs are supported. The extended format specs look like
25178 @samp{%u&foo;}, which invokes function
25179 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{foo}}. Because @samp{&} is used as the
25180 escape character, old user defined format @samp{%u&} is no longer supported.
25183 @kbd{/ *} (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}) is rewritten.
25185 It was aliased to @kbd{Y c}
25186 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}). The new function filters
25187 out other articles.
25189 @item Some limiting commands accept a @kbd{C-u} prefix to negate the match.
25191 If @kbd{C-u} is used on subject, author or extra headers, i.e., @kbd{/
25192 s}, @kbd{/ a}, and @kbd{/ x}
25193 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-@{subject,author,extra@}}) respectively, the
25194 result will be to display all articles that do not match the expression.
25197 Group names are treated as UTF-8 by default.
25199 This is supposedly what USEFOR wanted to migrate to. See
25200 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist} and
25201 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist} for customization.
25204 The nnml and nnfolder back ends store marks for each groups.
25206 This makes it possible to take backup of nnml/nnfolder servers/groups
25207 separately of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, while preserving marks. It also
25208 makes it possible to share articles and marks between users (without
25209 sharing the @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file) within e.g. a department. It
25210 works by storing the marks stored in @file{~/.newsrc.eld} in a per-group
25211 file @file{.marks} (for nnml) and @file{@var{groupname}.mrk} (for
25212 nnfolder, named @var{groupname}). If the nnml/nnfolder is moved to
25213 another machine, Gnus will automatically use the @file{.marks} or
25214 @file{.mrk} file instead of the information in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
25215 The new server variables @code{nnml-marks-is-evil} and
25216 @code{nnfolder-marks-is-evil} can be used to disable this feature.
25219 The menu bar item (in Group and Summary buffer) named ``Misc'' has
25220 been renamed to ``Gnus''.
25223 The menu bar item (in Message mode) named ``@acronym{MML}'' has been
25224 renamed to ``Attachments''. Note that this menu also contains security
25225 related stuff, like signing and encryption (@pxref{Security, Security,,
25226 message, Message Manual}).
25229 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} and
25230 @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
25232 The regexps in these variables are compared with full group names
25233 instead of real group names in 5.8. Users who customize these
25234 variables should change those regexps accordingly. For example:
25236 ("^han\\>" euc-kr) -> ("\\(^\\|:\\)han\\>" euc-kr)
25240 Gnus supports @acronym{PGP} (RFC 1991/2440), @acronym{PGP/MIME} (RFC
25241 2015/3156) and @acronym{S/MIME} (RFC 2630-2633).
25243 It needs an external @acronym{S/MIME} and OpenPGP implementation, but no
25244 additional Lisp libraries. This add several menu items to the
25245 Attachments menu, and @kbd{C-c RET} key bindings, when composing
25246 messages. This also obsoletes @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook}.
25249 Gnus inlines external parts (message/external).
25252 @acronym{MML} (Mime compose) prefix changed from @kbd{M-m} to @kbd{C-c
25255 This change was made to avoid conflict with the standard binding of
25256 @code{back-to-indentation}, which is also useful in message mode.
25263 @section The Manual
25267 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
25268 either @code{texi2dvi}
25270 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
25271 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
25273 to get what you hold in your hands now.
25275 The following conventions have been used:
25280 This is a @samp{string}
25283 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
25286 This is a @file{file}
25289 This is a @code{symbol}
25293 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
25297 (setq flargnoze "yes")
25300 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
25303 (setq flumphel 'yes)
25306 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
25307 ever get them confused.
25311 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
25312 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
25313 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
25314 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
25315 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
25316 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
25317 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
25323 @node On Writing Manuals
25324 @section On Writing Manuals
25326 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
25327 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
25328 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
25329 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
25330 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
25331 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
25334 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
25335 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
25336 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
25339 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
25340 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
25345 @section Terminology
25347 @cindex terminology
25352 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
25353 News is generally fetched from a nearby @acronym{NNTP} server, and is
25354 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
25355 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
25356 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
25360 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
25361 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
25362 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
25363 not posting, and replying is not following up.
25367 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
25371 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
25376 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
25377 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
25378 commonly fetched via the protocol @acronym{NNTP}, whereas mail
25379 messages could be read from a file on the local disk. The internal
25380 architecture of Gnus thus comprises a `front end' and a number of
25381 `back ends'. Internally, when you enter a group (by hitting
25382 @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke a function in the front end in
25383 Gnus. The front end then `talks' to a back end and says things like
25384 ``Give me the list of articles in the foo group'' or ``Show me article
25387 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back
25388 end accesses news via @acronym{NNTP}, the @code{nnimap} back end
25389 accesses mail via @acronym{IMAP}) or a file format and directory
25390 layout (the @code{nnspool} back end accesses news via the common
25391 `spool directory' format, the @code{nnml} back end access mail via a
25392 file format and directory layout that's quite similar).
25394 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
25395 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
25396 access the articles.
25398 However, sometimes the term `back end' is also used where `server'
25399 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term `select
25400 method' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
25405 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
25406 default, way of getting news.
25410 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
25411 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
25416 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
25417 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
25421 A message that has been posted as news.
25424 @cindex mail message
25425 A message that has been mailed.
25429 A mail message or news article
25433 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
25438 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
25443 A line from the head of an article.
25447 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
25448 collection of @acronym{NOV} lines.
25450 @item @acronym{NOV}
25451 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
25452 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
25453 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
25454 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
25455 normal @sc{head} format.
25459 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
25460 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
25461 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
25462 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
25463 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
25464 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
25466 @item killed groups
25467 @cindex killed groups
25468 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
25469 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
25471 @item zombie groups
25472 @cindex zombie groups
25473 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
25476 @cindex active file
25477 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
25478 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
25479 is rather large, as you might surmise.
25482 @cindex bogus groups
25483 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
25484 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
25485 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
25488 @cindex activating groups
25489 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
25490 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
25491 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
25495 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
25497 @item select method
25498 @cindex select method
25499 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
25502 @item virtual server
25503 @cindex virtual server
25504 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
25505 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
25506 whole is a virtual server.
25510 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
25511 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
25514 @item ephemeral groups
25515 @cindex ephemeral groups
25516 @cindex temporary groups
25517 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
25518 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
25519 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
25522 @cindex solid groups
25523 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
25524 group buffer are solid groups.
25526 @item sparse articles
25527 @cindex sparse articles
25528 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
25529 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
25533 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
25534 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
25538 @cindex thread root
25539 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
25540 articles in the thread.
25544 An article that has responses.
25548 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
25552 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
25553 specified by RFC 1153.
25559 @node Customization
25560 @section Customization
25561 @cindex general customization
25563 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
25564 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
25565 for some quite common situations.
25568 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
25569 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
25570 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
25571 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
25575 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
25576 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
25578 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
25579 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
25580 Gnus has to get from the @acronym{NNTP} server.
25584 @item gnus-read-active-file
25585 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
25586 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
25587 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
25588 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
25589 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
25591 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
25592 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
25593 the @acronym{NNTP} server will not be very fast. Not all @acronym{NNTP} servers
25594 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
25598 @node Slow Terminal Connection
25599 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
25601 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
25602 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
25603 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
25607 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
25608 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
25609 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
25610 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
25611 horizontal and vertical recentering.
25613 @item gnus-visible-headers
25614 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
25615 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
25616 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
25617 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
25619 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
25621 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
25622 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
25623 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
25626 @item gnus-use-full-window
25627 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
25628 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
25629 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
25630 want to read them anyway.
25632 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
25633 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
25637 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
25638 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
25639 lines, which might save some time.
25643 @node Little Disk Space
25644 @subsection Little Disk Space
25647 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
25648 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
25652 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
25653 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
25654 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
25655 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
25658 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
25659 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
25660 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
25661 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
25664 @item gnus-save-killed-list
25665 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
25666 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
25667 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
25668 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
25674 @subsection Slow Machine
25675 @cindex slow machine
25677 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
25678 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
25680 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
25681 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
25683 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
25684 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
25685 summary buffer faster.
25689 @node Troubleshooting
25690 @section Troubleshooting
25691 @cindex troubleshooting
25693 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
25701 Make sure your computer is switched on.
25704 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
25705 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
25709 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
25710 like @samp{T-gnus 6.16.* (based on Gnus v5.10.*; for SEMI 1.1*, FLIM
25711 1.1*)} you have the right files loaded. If, on the other hand, you get
25712 something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp flee}, you have some old
25713 @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
25716 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a
25717 @acronym{FAQ} and a how-to.
25720 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
25721 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
25722 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
25723 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
25724 something like that.
25727 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
25730 @cindex reporting bugs
25732 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
25734 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
25735 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
25736 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
25737 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
25739 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
25740 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
25741 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
25742 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
25745 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
25746 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
25747 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
25748 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
25749 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
25750 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
25752 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
25753 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
25754 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
25758 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
25759 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
25762 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
25763 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
25764 edebug. Debugging Lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
25765 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
25766 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
25767 you discover some weird behaviour when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
25768 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
25769 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
25770 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
25771 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
25772 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
25773 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
25774 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
25775 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
25780 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate a elisp error but
25781 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
25782 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press @kbd{C-g} when things are
25783 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
25784 helps isolating the real problem areas).
25786 A fancier approach is to use the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is
25787 (or should be) fully documented elsewhere, but to get you started
25788 there are a few steps that need to be followed. First, instrument the
25789 part of Gnus you are interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x
25790 elp-instrument-package RET gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package
25791 RET message}. Then perform the operation that is slow and press
25792 @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will then see which operations that takes
25793 time, and can debug them further. If the entire operation takes much
25794 longer than the time spent in the slowest function in the profiler
25795 output, you probably profiled the wrong part of Gnus. To reset
25796 profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x
25797 elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove profiling, but given the
25798 complexities and dynamic code generation in Gnus, it might not always
25801 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
25802 @cindex ding mailing list
25803 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
25804 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful. You can also ask on
25805 @email{ding@@gnus.org, the ding mailing list}. Write to
25806 @email{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
25810 @node Gnus Reference Guide
25811 @section Gnus Reference Guide
25813 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
25814 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
25815 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
25816 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
25819 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
25820 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
25821 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
25822 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
25823 and general methods of operation.
25826 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
25827 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
25828 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
25829 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
25830 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
25831 * Group Info:: The group info format.
25832 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
25833 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
25834 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
25838 @node Gnus Utility Functions
25839 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
25840 @cindex Gnus utility functions
25841 @cindex utility functions
25843 @cindex internal variables
25845 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
25846 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
25847 Below is a list of the most common ones.
25851 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
25852 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
25853 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
25855 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
25856 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
25857 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
25859 @item gnus-group-real-name
25860 @findex gnus-group-real-name
25861 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
25864 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
25865 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
25866 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
25867 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
25869 @item gnus-get-info
25870 @findex gnus-get-info
25871 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
25873 @item gnus-group-unread
25874 @findex gnus-group-unread
25875 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
25879 @findex gnus-active
25880 The active entry for @var{group}.
25882 @item gnus-set-active
25883 @findex gnus-set-active
25884 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
25886 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
25887 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
25888 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
25891 @item gnus-continuum-version
25892 @findex gnus-continuum-version
25893 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
25894 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
25897 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
25898 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
25899 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
25901 @item gnus-news-group-p
25902 @findex gnus-news-group-p
25903 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
25905 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
25906 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
25907 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
25909 @item gnus-server-to-method
25910 @findex gnus-server-to-method
25911 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
25913 @item gnus-server-equal
25914 @findex gnus-server-equal
25915 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
25917 @item gnus-group-native-p
25918 @findex gnus-group-native-p
25919 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
25921 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
25922 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
25923 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
25925 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
25926 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
25927 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
25929 @item gnus-group-find-parameter
25930 @findex gnus-group-find-parameter
25931 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
25932 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
25934 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
25935 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
25936 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
25938 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
25939 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
25940 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
25942 @item gnus-check-backend-function
25943 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
25944 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
25945 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
25948 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
25952 @item gnus-read-method
25953 @findex gnus-read-method
25954 Prompts the user for a select method.
25959 @node Back End Interface
25960 @subsection Back End Interface
25962 Gnus doesn't know anything about @acronym{NNTP}, spools, mail or virtual
25963 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
25964 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
25965 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
25966 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
25967 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
25969 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
25970 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
25971 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
25972 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
25973 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
25974 been opened, the function should fail.
25976 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
25977 name. Take this example:
25981 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
25982 (nntp-port-number 4324))
25985 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
25986 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
25988 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
25989 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
25990 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
25992 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
25993 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
25994 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
25996 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
25997 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
25998 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
25999 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
26000 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
26001 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
26004 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
26005 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
26006 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
26007 ---they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
26010 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
26011 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
26012 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
26013 possible for later articles to `re-use' older article numbers without
26014 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
26015 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
26016 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
26017 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
26018 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
26019 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
26021 The previous paragraph already mentions all the `hard' restrictions that
26022 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
26023 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
26024 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
26025 the `no-reuse' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
26026 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
26027 of numbers as long as possible.
26029 Note that by convention, backends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
26030 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
26031 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
26033 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
26036 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
26039 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
26040 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
26041 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
26042 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
26043 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
26044 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
26048 @node Required Back End Functions
26049 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
26053 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
26055 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
26056 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
26057 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
26058 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
26060 The result data should either be HEADs or @acronym{NOV} lines, and the result
26061 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
26062 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
26063 of HEADs and @acronym{NOV} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
26065 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching ``extra
26066 headers'', in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
26067 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
26068 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
26069 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
26070 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
26071 number, do maximum fetches.
26073 Here's an example HEAD:
26076 221 1056 Article retrieved.
26077 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
26078 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
26079 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
26080 Subject: Re: Something very droll
26081 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
26082 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
26084 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
26085 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
26086 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
26090 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
26091 these in the data buffer.
26093 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
26097 head = error / valid-head
26098 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
26099 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
26100 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
26101 header = <text> eol
26105 (The version of BNF used here is the one used in RFC822.)
26107 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
26108 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
26112 nov-buffer = *nov-line
26113 nov-line = field 7*8[ <TAB> field ] eol
26114 field = <text except TAB>
26117 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
26121 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
26123 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
26124 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
26126 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
26127 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
26128 server. In fact, it should do so.
26130 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
26131 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
26134 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
26136 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
26137 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
26140 There should be no data returned.
26143 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
26145 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
26146 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
26147 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
26148 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
26150 There should be no data returned.
26153 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
26155 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
26156 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
26157 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
26158 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
26160 There should be no data returned.
26163 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
26165 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
26167 There should be no data returned.
26170 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
26172 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
26173 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
26174 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
26175 it would be nice if that were possible.
26177 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
26178 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
26179 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
26180 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
26181 into its article buffer.
26183 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
26184 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
26185 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
26186 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
26187 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
26188 on successful article retrieval.
26191 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
26193 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
26194 making @var{group} the current group.
26196 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
26199 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
26202 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
26205 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
26206 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
26207 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
26208 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
26209 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
26210 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
26211 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
26212 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
26213 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
26217 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
26218 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
26219 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
26223 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
26225 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
26226 a no-op on most back ends.
26228 There should be no data returned.
26231 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
26233 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
26236 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
26239 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
26240 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
26243 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
26244 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
26245 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
26246 and the highest as 0.
26249 active-file = *active-line
26250 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
26252 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
26255 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
26256 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
26257 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
26260 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
26262 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
26263 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
26264 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
26265 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
26266 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
26267 clear if the posting could not be completed.
26269 There should be no result data from this function.
26274 @node Optional Back End Functions
26275 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
26279 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
26281 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
26282 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
26283 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
26285 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
26286 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
26287 former is in the same format as the data from
26288 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
26289 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
26292 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
26296 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
26298 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
26299 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all
26300 the information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
26301 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
26302 should return a non-@code{nil} value.
26304 There should be no result data from this function.
26307 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
26309 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
26310 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
26311 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
26312 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
26313 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
26314 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
26315 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
26316 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
26318 There should be no result data from this function.
26321 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
26323 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
26324 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
26325 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @acronym{IMAP}) however carry
26326 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
26327 propagate the mark information to the server.
26329 @var{action} is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
26332 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
26335 @var{range} is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.
26336 @var{action} is @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove
26337 marks (preserving all marks not mentioned). @var{mark} is a list of
26338 marks; where each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are
26339 @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
26340 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
26341 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
26342 possible, not limit itself to these.
26344 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
26345 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
26346 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
26347 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
26349 An example action list:
26352 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
26353 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
26354 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
26357 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
26358 mark on (currently not used for anything).
26360 There should be no result data from this function.
26362 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
26364 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
26365 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
26366 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
26367 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
26368 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
26370 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
26371 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
26372 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
26375 There should be no result data from this function.
26378 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
26380 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
26381 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
26382 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query
26383 the @acronym{POP} server when this function is invoked. The
26384 @var{group} doesn't have to be heeded---if the back end decides that
26385 it is too much work just scanning for a single group, it may do a
26386 total scan of all groups. It would be nice, however, to keep things
26387 local if that's practical.
26389 There should be no result data from this function.
26392 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
26394 The result data from this function should be a description of
26398 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
26400 description = <text>
26403 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
26405 The result data from this function should be the description of all
26406 groups available on the server.
26409 description-buffer = *description-line
26413 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
26415 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
26416 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
26417 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
26418 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
26419 in the active buffer format.
26421 It is okay for this function to return `too many' groups; some back ends
26422 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
26423 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
26424 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
26425 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
26426 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
26427 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
26430 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
26432 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
26434 There should be no return data.
26437 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
26439 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
26440 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
26441 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
26442 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
26443 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
26446 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
26449 There should be no result data returned.
26452 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM &optional LAST)
26454 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
26455 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
26457 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
26458 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
26459 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
26460 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
26461 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
26462 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
26464 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
26465 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
26468 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
26469 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
26471 The group should exist before the backend is asked to accept the
26472 article for that group.
26474 There should be no data returned.
26477 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
26479 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
26480 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
26481 this function in short order.
26483 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
26484 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
26486 There should be no data returned.
26489 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
26491 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
26492 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
26494 There should be no data returned.
26497 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
26499 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
26500 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
26501 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
26503 There should be no data returned.
26506 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
26508 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
26509 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
26511 There should be no data returned.
26516 @node Error Messaging
26517 @subsubsection Error Messaging
26519 @findex nnheader-report
26520 @findex nnheader-get-report
26521 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
26522 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
26523 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
26524 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
26525 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
26526 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
26529 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
26531 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
26534 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
26535 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
26536 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
26537 takes one argument---the server symbol.
26539 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
26540 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
26541 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
26544 @node Writing New Back Ends
26545 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
26547 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
26548 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
26549 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
26550 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
26551 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
26554 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
26555 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
26556 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
26558 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
26559 package called @code{nnoo}.
26561 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
26562 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
26568 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
26569 parameters. For instance:
26572 (nnoo-declare nndir
26576 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
26577 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
26580 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
26581 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
26582 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
26584 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
26585 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
26586 a function in those back ends.
26589 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
26590 "Where nndir will look for groups."
26591 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
26594 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
26595 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
26596 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
26598 @item nnoo-define-basics
26599 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
26603 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
26607 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
26608 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
26609 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
26611 @item nnoo-map-functions
26612 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
26613 functions from the parent back ends.
26616 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
26617 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
26618 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
26621 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
26622 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
26623 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
26624 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
26627 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
26628 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
26629 haven't already been defined.
26635 nnmh-request-newgroups)
26639 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
26640 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
26641 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
26646 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
26649 ;;; @r{nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus}
26650 ;; @r{Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.}
26654 (require 'nnheader)
26658 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
26660 (nnoo-declare nndir
26663 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
26664 "Where nndir will look for groups."
26665 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
26667 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
26668 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
26671 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
26673 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
26674 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
26675 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
26677 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
26678 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
26680 ;;; @r{Interface functions.}
26682 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
26684 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
26685 (setq nndir-directory
26686 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
26688 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
26689 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
26690 (push `(nndir-current-group
26691 ,(file-name-nondirectory
26692 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
26694 (push `(nndir-top-directory
26695 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
26697 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
26699 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
26700 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
26701 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
26702 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
26703 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
26707 nnmh-status-message
26709 nnmh-request-newgroups))
26715 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
26716 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
26718 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
26719 @findex gnus-declare-backend
26720 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
26721 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
26722 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
26724 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
26725 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
26730 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
26733 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
26735 The abilities can be:
26739 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
26741 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
26743 This back end supports both mail and news.
26745 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
26748 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
26749 articles and groups.
26751 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
26752 true for almost all back ends.
26753 @item prompt-address
26754 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
26755 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
26756 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
26760 @node Mail-like Back Ends
26761 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
26763 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
26764 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
26765 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
26766 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
26769 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
26770 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
26771 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
26774 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
26775 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
26778 This function takes four parameters.
26782 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
26785 @item exit-function
26786 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
26788 @item temp-directory
26789 Where the temporary files should be stored.
26792 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
26793 performed for one group only.
26796 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
26797 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
26798 find the article number assigned to this article.
26800 The function also uses the following variables:
26801 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
26802 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
26803 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
26804 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
26808 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
26809 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
26813 @node Score File Syntax
26814 @subsection Score File Syntax
26816 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
26817 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
26818 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
26820 Here's a typical score file:
26824 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
26831 BNF definition of a score file:
26834 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
26835 element = rule / atom
26836 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
26837 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
26838 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
26839 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
26841 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
26842 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
26843 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
26844 date-header = "date"
26845 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
26846 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
26847 score = "nil" / <integer>
26848 date = "nil" / <natural number>
26849 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
26850 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
26851 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
26852 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
26853 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
26854 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
26855 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
26856 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
26857 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
26858 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
26859 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
26860 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
26861 exclude-files / read-only / touched
26862 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
26863 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
26864 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
26865 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
26866 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
26867 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
26868 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
26869 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
26870 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
26871 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
26872 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
26873 eval = "eval" space <form>
26874 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
26877 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
26880 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
26881 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
26882 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
26883 one looong line, then that's ok.
26885 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
26886 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
26890 @subsection Headers
26892 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
26893 corresponds to the @acronym{NOV} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
26894 almost suspect that the author looked at the @acronym{NOV} specification and
26895 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
26897 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
26898 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
26899 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
26900 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
26901 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
26902 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
26903 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
26905 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
26906 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
26907 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
26908 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
26909 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
26911 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
26912 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
26918 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
26919 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
26921 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
26922 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
26923 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
26924 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
26926 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
26930 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
26933 is transformed into
26936 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
26939 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
26940 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
26943 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
26946 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
26947 is slightly tricky:
26950 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
26956 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
26959 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
26965 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
26972 and is equal to the previous range.
26974 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
26975 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
26976 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
26980 range = simple-range / normal-range
26981 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
26982 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
26983 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
26984 number *[ " " contents ]
26987 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
26988 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
26989 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
26990 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
26991 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
26996 @subsection Group Info
26998 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
26999 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
27000 describes the group.
27002 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
27003 second is a more complex one:
27006 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
27008 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
27009 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
27011 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
27014 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
27015 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
27016 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
27017 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
27018 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
27019 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
27020 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
27021 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
27022 this section is about.
27024 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
27025 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
27026 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
27028 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
27031 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
27032 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
27033 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
27034 group = quote <string> quote
27035 ralevel = rank / level
27036 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
27037 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
27038 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
27040 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
27041 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
27042 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
27043 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
27046 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
27047 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
27050 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
27051 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
27054 @item gnus-info-group
27055 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
27056 @findex gnus-info-group
27057 @findex gnus-info-set-group
27058 Get/set the group name.
27060 @item gnus-info-rank
27061 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
27062 @findex gnus-info-rank
27063 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
27064 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
27066 @item gnus-info-level
27067 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
27068 @findex gnus-info-level
27069 @findex gnus-info-set-level
27070 Get/set the group level.
27072 @item gnus-info-score
27073 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
27074 @findex gnus-info-score
27075 @findex gnus-info-set-score
27076 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
27078 @item gnus-info-read
27079 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
27080 @findex gnus-info-read
27081 @findex gnus-info-set-read
27082 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
27084 @item gnus-info-marks
27085 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
27086 @findex gnus-info-marks
27087 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
27088 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
27090 @item gnus-info-method
27091 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
27092 @findex gnus-info-method
27093 @findex gnus-info-set-method
27094 Get/set the group select method.
27096 @item gnus-info-params
27097 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
27098 @findex gnus-info-params
27099 @findex gnus-info-set-params
27100 Get/set the group parameters.
27103 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
27104 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
27106 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
27107 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
27108 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
27109 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
27112 @node Extended Interactive
27113 @subsection Extended Interactive
27114 @cindex interactive
27115 @findex gnus-interactive
27117 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
27118 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
27119 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
27122 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
27123 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
27128 The best thing to do would have been to implement
27129 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
27130 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
27131 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
27132 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
27133 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
27134 @code{interactive}.
27136 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
27141 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
27142 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
27146 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
27147 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
27148 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
27151 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
27155 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
27159 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
27165 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
27166 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
27170 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
27171 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
27172 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
27174 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
27175 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
27176 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
27177 Gnus, that's very useful.
27179 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
27180 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
27181 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
27182 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
27183 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
27184 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
27185 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
27186 following function:
27189 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
27193 (,function ,@@args))
27197 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
27198 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
27199 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
27202 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
27203 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
27204 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
27206 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
27207 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
27208 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
27211 @node Various File Formats
27212 @subsection Various File Formats
27215 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
27216 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
27220 @node Active File Format
27221 @subsubsection Active File Format
27223 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
27224 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
27227 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
27230 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
27231 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
27232 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
27233 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
27234 no.general 1000 900 y
27237 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
27240 active = *group-line
27241 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
27242 group = <non-white-space string>
27244 high-number = <non-negative integer>
27245 low-number = <positive integer>
27246 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
27249 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
27250 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
27253 @node Newsgroups File Format
27254 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
27256 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
27257 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
27258 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
27261 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
27262 Here's the definition:
27266 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
27267 group = <non-white-space string>
27269 description = <string>
27274 @node Emacs for Heathens
27275 @section Emacs for Heathens
27277 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
27278 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
27279 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
27280 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
27281 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
27282 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
27283 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
27287 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
27288 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
27293 @subsection Keystrokes
27297 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
27300 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
27303 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
27304 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
27305 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
27306 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
27307 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
27308 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
27310 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
27311 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
27312 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
27313 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
27314 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
27315 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
27316 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
27318 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
27319 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
27320 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
27321 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
27322 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
27323 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
27324 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
27326 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
27327 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
27328 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
27329 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
27330 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
27336 @subsection Emacs Lisp
27338 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
27339 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
27340 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
27341 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
27343 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
27344 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
27345 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
27346 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
27347 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
27348 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
27349 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
27352 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
27353 write the following:
27356 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
27359 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
27360 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
27361 you can go and fill your @file{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
27364 If you have put that thing in your @file{.emacs} file, it will be read
27365 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
27366 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
27367 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
27368 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
27370 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
27371 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
27372 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
27376 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
27380 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
27383 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
27384 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
27387 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
27390 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
27391 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
27394 @include gnus-faq.texi
27414 @c Local Variables:
27416 @c coding: iso-8859-1