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4 @settitle T-gnus 6.15 Manual
10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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266 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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275 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
276 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
279 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
280 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
281 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
282 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
283 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
284 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
285 License'' in the Emacs manual.
287 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
288 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
289 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
291 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
292 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
293 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
294 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
302 This file documents gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
304 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
306 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
307 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
308 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
309 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
310 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
311 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
312 License'' in the Emacs manual.
314 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
315 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
316 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
318 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
319 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
320 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
321 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
327 @title T-gnus 6.15 Manual
329 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
332 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
333 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
335 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
336 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
337 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
338 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
339 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
340 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
341 License'' in the Emacs manual.
343 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
344 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
345 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
347 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
348 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
349 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
350 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
359 @top The gnus Newsreader
363 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using gnus. The news
364 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
365 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
368 T-gnus provides MIME features based on SEMI API. So T-gnus supports
369 your right to read strange messages including big images or other
370 various kinds of formats. T-gnus also supports
371 internationalization/localization and multiscript features based on MULE
372 API. So T-gnus does not discriminate various language communities.
373 Oh, if you are a Klingon, please wait Unicode Next Generation.
375 This manual corresponds to T-gnus 6.15.
386 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
387 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
389 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
390 being accused of plagiarism:
392 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
393 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
394 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
395 can even read news with it!
397 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
398 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
399 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend gnus to make it behave
400 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
401 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
407 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
408 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
409 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
410 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
411 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
412 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
413 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
414 * Various:: General purpose settings.
415 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
416 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
417 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
418 * Key Index:: Key Index.
421 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
425 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
426 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
427 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
428 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
429 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
430 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
431 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
432 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
433 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
434 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
435 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
439 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
440 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
441 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
445 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
446 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
447 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
448 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
449 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
450 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
451 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
452 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
453 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
454 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
455 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
456 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
457 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
458 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
459 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
460 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
461 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
465 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
466 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
467 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
471 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
472 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
473 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
474 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
475 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
479 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
480 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
481 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
482 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
486 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
487 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
488 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
489 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
490 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
491 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
492 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
493 * Threading:: How threads are made.
494 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
495 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
496 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
497 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
498 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
499 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
500 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
501 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
502 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
503 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
504 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
505 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
506 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
507 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
508 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
509 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
510 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
511 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
512 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
513 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
514 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
516 Summary Buffer Format
518 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
519 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
520 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
521 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
525 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
526 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
528 Reply, Followup and Post
530 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
531 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
532 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
533 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
537 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
538 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
539 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
540 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
541 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
542 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
546 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
547 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
549 Customizing Threading
551 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
552 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
553 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
554 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
558 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
559 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
560 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
561 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
562 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
563 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
567 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
568 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
569 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
573 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
574 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
575 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
576 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
577 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
578 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
579 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
580 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
582 Alternative Approaches
584 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
585 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
587 Various Summary Stuff
589 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
590 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
591 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
592 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
596 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
597 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
598 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
599 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
600 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
604 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
605 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
606 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
607 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
608 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
609 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
610 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
611 * Using GPG:: How to use GPG and MML to sign and encrypt messages
615 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
616 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
617 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
618 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
619 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
620 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
621 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
625 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
626 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
627 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
628 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
629 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
630 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
631 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
635 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
636 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
640 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
641 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
642 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
643 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
644 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
645 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
646 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
647 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
648 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
649 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
650 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
651 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
652 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
656 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
657 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
658 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
660 Choosing a Mail Backend
662 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
663 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
664 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
665 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
666 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
667 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
671 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
672 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
673 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
674 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
678 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
679 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
680 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
681 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
682 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
683 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
687 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
691 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
692 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
693 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
697 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
698 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
699 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
703 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
704 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
708 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
709 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
710 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
711 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
712 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
713 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
714 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
715 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
716 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
717 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
721 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
722 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
723 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
727 * Group Agent Commands::
728 * Summary Agent Commands::
729 * Server Agent Commands::
733 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
734 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
735 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
736 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
737 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
738 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
739 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
740 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
741 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
742 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
743 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
744 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
745 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
746 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
747 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
748 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
752 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
753 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
754 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
755 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
759 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
760 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
761 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
765 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
766 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
767 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
768 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
769 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
770 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
771 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
772 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
773 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
774 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
775 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
776 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
777 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
778 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
779 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
780 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
781 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
782 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
786 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
787 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
788 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
789 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
790 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
794 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
795 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
796 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
797 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
801 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
802 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
803 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
804 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
805 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
809 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
810 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
811 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
812 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
813 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
814 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
815 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
816 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
820 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
821 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
822 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
823 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
824 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
825 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
826 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
827 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
828 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
832 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
833 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
834 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
835 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
836 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
840 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
841 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
842 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
843 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
847 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
848 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
849 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
850 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
851 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
852 * Group Info:: The group info format.
853 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
854 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
855 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
859 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
860 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
861 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
862 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
863 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
864 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
868 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
869 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
873 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
874 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
880 @chapter Starting gnus
885 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting gnus
886 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
889 @findex gnus-other-frame
890 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
891 If you want to start gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
892 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
894 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
895 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
896 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
898 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
899 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
902 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
903 * The First Time:: What does gnus do the first time you start it?
904 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
905 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one gnus active at a time.
906 * Fetching a Group:: Starting gnus just to read a group.
907 * New Groups:: What is gnus supposed to do with new groups?
908 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
909 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
910 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
911 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
912 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
916 @node Finding the News
917 @section Finding the News
920 @vindex gnus-select-method
922 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where gnus should look for
923 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
924 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
925 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
928 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
929 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
932 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
935 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
938 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
941 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
942 certainly be much faster.
944 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
946 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
947 If this variable is not set, gnus will take a look at the
948 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
949 gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
950 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
951 that fails as well, gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
953 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
954 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
955 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
956 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
958 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
959 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
960 You can also make gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
961 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
962 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), gnus will let you choose between the servers
963 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
964 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
965 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
966 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
969 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
971 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
972 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
973 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
974 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
975 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
976 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
978 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
980 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
981 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
982 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
983 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
984 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
985 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
988 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
989 would typically set this variable to
992 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
997 @section The First Time
998 @cindex first time usage
1000 If no startup files exist, gnus will try to determine what groups should
1001 be subscribed by default.
1003 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1004 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, gnus
1005 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1006 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1009 Since she hasn't, gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1010 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1011 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1013 You'll also be subscribed to the gnus documentation group, which should
1014 help you with most common problems.
1016 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, gnus will just
1017 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1021 @node The Server is Down
1022 @section The Server is Down
1023 @cindex server errors
1025 If the default server is down, gnus will understandably have some
1026 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1027 the news groups, you may want to start gnus anyway.
1029 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1030 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1031 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1032 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1033 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1034 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1035 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1037 @findex gnus-no-server
1038 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1040 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1041 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1042 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start gnus. That might come in handy
1043 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1044 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1045 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1046 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1050 @section Slave Gnusae
1053 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one gnus at the
1054 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1055 are using the two different gnusae to read from two different servers),
1056 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1058 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1059 @code{.newsrc} file.
1061 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the gnus
1062 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1063 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1064 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1065 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1066 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1067 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1069 Anyway, you start one gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1070 however you do it). Each subsequent slave gnusae should be started with
1071 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1072 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1073 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master gnus
1074 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1075 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1076 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1078 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1079 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1082 @node Fetching a Group
1083 @section Fetching a Group
1084 @cindex fetching a group
1086 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1087 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1088 group and I don't care whether gnus has been started or not''. This is
1089 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1090 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1091 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1097 @cindex subscription
1099 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1100 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1101 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1102 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1103 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1104 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1105 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1106 @code{always}, then gnus will query the backends for new groups even
1107 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1110 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1111 * Subscription Methods:: What gnus should do with new groups.
1112 * Filtering New Groups:: Making gnus ignore certain new groups.
1116 @node Checking New Groups
1117 @subsection Checking New Groups
1119 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1120 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1121 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1122 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, gnus will ask the
1123 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1124 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1125 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1126 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1127 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1128 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1130 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1131 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1132 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1133 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1134 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1135 work. I could write a function to make gnus guess whether the server
1136 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1137 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1138 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1139 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1140 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1142 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, gnus will
1143 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1144 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1145 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1146 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1147 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1150 @node Subscription Methods
1151 @subsection Subscription Methods
1153 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1154 What gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1155 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1157 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1158 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1160 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1164 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1165 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1166 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1167 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1168 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1170 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1171 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1172 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1173 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1175 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1176 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1177 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1179 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1180 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1181 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1182 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1183 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1184 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1185 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1186 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1187 up. Or something like that.
1189 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1190 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1191 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that gnus will ask
1192 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1193 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1195 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1196 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1197 Kill all new groups.
1199 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1200 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1201 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1202 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1203 topic parameter that looks like
1209 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1212 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1217 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1218 A closely related variable is
1219 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1220 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will ask you in a
1221 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1222 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1225 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1226 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1227 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1228 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1231 @node Filtering New Groups
1232 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1234 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1235 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1236 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1239 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1242 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1243 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1244 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1245 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1246 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1247 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1248 subscribing these groups.
1249 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1250 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1252 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1253 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1254 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1255 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1256 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1257 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1258 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1259 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1261 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1262 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1263 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1264 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1265 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1266 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1267 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1268 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1269 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
1270 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
1272 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1273 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1276 @node Changing Servers
1277 @section Changing Servers
1278 @cindex changing servers
1280 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1281 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1282 very flaky and you want to use another.
1284 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1285 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1289 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1290 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1291 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1292 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1295 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1296 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1297 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1298 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1300 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1301 @findex gnus-change-server
1302 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1303 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1304 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1305 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1306 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1308 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1309 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1310 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1311 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1312 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1314 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1315 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1316 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1317 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1318 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1319 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1321 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1322 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1323 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1327 @section Startup Files
1328 @cindex startup files
1333 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1334 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1336 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1337 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1338 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1339 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1340 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1341 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1342 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1344 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1345 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1346 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1347 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1348 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1349 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1351 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1352 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1353 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1354 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1355 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from gnus faster.
1356 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1357 gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1358 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes gnus ignore the
1359 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1360 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1362 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1363 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1364 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1365 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1366 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1367 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1368 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1369 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1370 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1371 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1372 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1373 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1375 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1376 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1377 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1378 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1380 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1381 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1382 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1383 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1384 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1385 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1386 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1387 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1388 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1389 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1392 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1393 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1395 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1396 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1399 @vindex gnus-init-file
1400 When gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1401 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1402 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1403 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1404 @file{site-init} files with gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1405 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1406 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1407 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1408 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1414 @cindex dribble file
1417 Whenever you do something that changes the gnus data (reading articles,
1418 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1419 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1420 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1421 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1424 If gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1425 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1428 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1429 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, gnus won't create and
1430 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1432 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1433 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1434 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, gnus will dribble
1435 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1436 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1437 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1439 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1440 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1441 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1444 @node The Active File
1445 @section The Active File
1447 @cindex ignored groups
1449 When gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1450 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1451 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1453 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1454 Before examining the active file, gnus deletes all lines that match the
1455 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1456 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make gnus
1457 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1458 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1459 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1462 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1463 @c if you set it to anything else.
1465 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1467 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1468 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent gnus from
1469 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1471 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1472 you actually subscribe to.
1474 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1475 variable to @code{nil} will probably make gnus slower, not faster. At
1476 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow gnus down
1477 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1479 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1480 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1481 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1482 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1483 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1484 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1486 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1487 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1488 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1491 If this variable is @code{nil}, gnus will ask for group info in total
1492 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1493 @sc{nntp} server, gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1494 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1495 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1496 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1498 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1499 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1501 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1502 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1504 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1505 secondary select methods.
1508 @node Startup Variables
1509 @section Startup Variables
1513 @item gnus-load-hook
1514 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1515 A hook run while gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1516 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1517 times you start gnus.
1519 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1520 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1521 A hook run after starting up gnus successfully.
1523 @item gnus-startup-hook
1524 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1525 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1527 @item gnus-started-hook
1528 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1529 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1532 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1533 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1534 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1535 generating the group buffer.
1537 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1538 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1539 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1540 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1541 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1542 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1543 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1544 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1546 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1547 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1548 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1549 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1550 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1551 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1553 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1554 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1555 Message displayed by gnus when no groups are available.
1557 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1558 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1559 If non-@code{nil}, play the gnus jingle at startup.
1561 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1562 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1563 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1564 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1569 @node The Group Buffer
1570 @chapter The Group Buffer
1571 @cindex group buffer
1573 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1574 is the first buffer shown when gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1575 long as gnus is active.
1579 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1580 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1581 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1582 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1583 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1584 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1585 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1586 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1592 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1593 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1594 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1595 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1596 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1597 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1598 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1599 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1600 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1601 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1602 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1603 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1604 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1605 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1606 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1607 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1608 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1612 @node Group Buffer Format
1613 @section Group Buffer Format
1616 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1617 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1618 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1622 @node Group Line Specification
1623 @subsection Group Line Specification
1624 @cindex group buffer format
1626 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1627 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1629 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1632 25: news.announce.newusers
1633 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1638 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1639 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1640 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1641 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1643 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1644 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1645 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1646 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1647 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1648 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1650 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1652 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1653 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1654 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1655 never examined by gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1658 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1659 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1660 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1662 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1667 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1670 Whether the group is subscribed.
1673 Level of subscribedness.
1676 Number of unread articles.
1679 Number of dormant articles.
1682 Number of ticked articles.
1685 Number of read articles.
1688 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1689 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1692 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1695 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1704 Newsgroup description.
1707 @samp{m} if moderated.
1710 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1719 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1723 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1726 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1727 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1728 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1729 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1730 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1733 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1735 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1739 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1742 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1746 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1747 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1748 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1749 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1750 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1751 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1756 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1757 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1758 group, or a bogus native group.
1761 @node Group Modeline Specification
1762 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1763 @cindex group modeline
1765 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1766 The mode line can be changed by setting
1767 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1768 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1772 The native news server.
1774 The native select method.
1778 @node Group Highlighting
1779 @subsection Group Highlighting
1780 @cindex highlighting
1781 @cindex group highlighting
1783 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1784 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1785 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1786 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1787 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1789 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1793 (cond (window-system
1794 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1795 (defface my-group-face-1
1796 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1797 (defface my-group-face-2
1798 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1799 (defface my-group-face-3
1800 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1801 (defface my-group-face-4
1802 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1803 (defface my-group-face-5
1804 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1806 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1807 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1808 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1809 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1810 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1811 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1814 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1816 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1823 The number of unread articles in the group.
1827 Whether the group is a mail group.
1829 The level of the group.
1831 The score of the group.
1833 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1835 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1836 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1838 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1839 topic being inserted.
1842 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1843 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal gnus
1844 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1846 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1847 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1848 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1849 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1850 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1853 @node Group Maneuvering
1854 @section Group Maneuvering
1855 @cindex group movement
1857 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1858 expected, hopefully.
1864 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1865 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1866 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1872 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1873 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1874 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1878 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1879 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1883 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1884 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1888 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1889 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1890 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1894 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1895 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1896 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1899 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1905 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1906 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1907 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1912 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1913 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1914 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1918 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1919 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1920 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1923 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1924 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1925 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1926 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1930 @node Selecting a Group
1931 @section Selecting a Group
1932 @cindex group selection
1937 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1938 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1939 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1940 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1941 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1942 this command, gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1943 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1944 determines the number of articles gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1945 positive, gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1946 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
1948 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
1949 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
1950 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
1952 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
1953 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
1958 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1959 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1960 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1961 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1962 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1966 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1967 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1968 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1969 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1970 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1971 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1972 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1973 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1974 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1975 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1978 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1979 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1980 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1981 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1982 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1985 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1986 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1987 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1988 doing any processing of its contents
1989 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1990 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1991 manner will have no permanent effects.
1995 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1996 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what gnus should consider
1997 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1998 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, gnus will query the user
1999 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2000 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2001 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2002 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2005 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2006 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2007 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
2008 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2013 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
2014 full summary buffer.
2017 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
2020 Select the highest scored article in the group when entering the
2025 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function will
2026 be called to place point on a subject line, and/or select some article.
2027 Useful functions include:
2030 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-subject
2031 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article, but
2032 don't select the article.
2034 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-article
2035 Select the first unread article.
2037 @item gnus-summary-best-unread-article
2038 Select the highest-scored unread article.
2042 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2043 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
2044 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2048 @node Subscription Commands
2049 @section Subscription Commands
2050 @cindex subscription
2058 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2059 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2060 Toggle subscription to the current group
2061 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2067 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2068 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2069 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2070 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2076 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2077 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2078 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2084 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2085 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2088 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2089 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2090 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2091 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2092 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2098 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2099 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2103 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2104 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2107 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2108 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2109 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2110 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2111 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2112 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2113 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2114 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2115 @file{.newsrc} file.
2119 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2129 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2130 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2131 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2132 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2133 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2134 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2139 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2140 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2141 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2145 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2146 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2147 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2149 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2150 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2151 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2152 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2153 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2154 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2161 @section Group Levels
2165 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2166 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2167 can ask gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2168 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2169 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2171 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2177 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2178 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2179 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2180 prompted for a level.
2183 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2184 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2185 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2186 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2187 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2188 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2189 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2190 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2191 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2192 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2193 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2194 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2195 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2196 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2197 reasons of efficiency.
2199 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2200 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2202 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2203 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2204 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2205 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2206 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2207 groups are hidden, in a way.
2209 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2210 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2211 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2212 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2213 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2214 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2216 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2217 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2218 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2219 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2220 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2221 list of killed groups.)
2223 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2224 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2225 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2227 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2228 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2229 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2230 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2231 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2232 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2233 relevant valid ranges.
2235 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2236 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2237 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2238 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2239 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2240 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2243 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2244 one with the best level.
2246 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2247 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2248 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2251 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2252 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2253 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2254 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2257 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2258 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2259 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2260 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2262 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2263 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2264 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2265 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2266 to 5. The default is 6.
2270 @section Group Score
2275 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2276 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2277 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2280 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2281 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2282 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2283 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2284 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2285 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2286 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2287 least significant part.))
2289 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2290 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2291 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2292 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2293 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2294 action after each summary exit, you can add
2295 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2296 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2297 slow things down somewhat.
2300 @node Marking Groups
2301 @section Marking Groups
2302 @cindex marking groups
2304 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2305 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2306 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2307 bidding on those groups.
2309 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2310 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2311 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2319 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2320 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2326 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2327 Remove the mark from the current group
2328 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2332 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2333 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2337 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2338 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2342 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2343 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2347 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2348 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2349 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2352 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2354 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2355 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2356 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2357 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2358 the command to be executed.
2361 @node Foreign Groups
2362 @section Foreign Groups
2363 @cindex foreign groups
2365 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2366 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2367 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2368 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2375 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2376 @cindex making groups
2377 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2378 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2379 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2383 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2384 @cindex renaming groups
2385 Rename the current group to something else
2386 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2387 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2393 @findex gnus-group-customize
2394 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2398 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2399 @cindex renaming groups
2400 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2401 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2405 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2406 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2407 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2411 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2412 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2413 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2417 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2419 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2420 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2425 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2426 Make the gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2430 @cindex (ding) archive
2431 @cindex archive group
2432 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2433 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2434 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2435 Make a gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2436 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2437 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2438 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2442 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2444 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2445 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2446 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2447 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2451 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2453 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2454 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2455 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2459 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2460 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2462 Make a group based on some file or other
2463 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2464 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2465 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
2466 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
2467 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{nsmail} and @code{forward}.
2468 If you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2469 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2473 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2474 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2475 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2476 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2480 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2485 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2486 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2487 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2488 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2489 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
2490 @xref{Web Searches}.
2492 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
2493 to a particular group by using a match string like
2494 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
2497 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2498 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2499 This function will delete the current group
2500 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2501 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2502 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2503 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2504 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2508 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2509 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2510 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2514 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2515 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2516 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2519 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2522 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2523 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2524 gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2525 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2526 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2527 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2531 @node Group Parameters
2532 @section Group Parameters
2533 @cindex group parameters
2535 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2536 Here's an example group parameter list:
2539 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2543 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2544 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2545 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2546 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2548 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2549 is an alist of regexps and values.
2551 The following group parameters can be used:
2556 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2559 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2562 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2563 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2564 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2565 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2566 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2568 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2569 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2570 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2571 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2572 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2573 list address instead.
2575 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2579 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2582 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2585 It is totally ignored
2586 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2587 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2589 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2590 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2591 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2592 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2593 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2595 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2596 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2597 sending the message.
2599 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2603 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2604 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2605 of whether it has any unread articles.
2607 @item broken-reply-to
2608 @cindex broken-reply-to
2609 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2610 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2611 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2612 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2613 broken behavior. So there!
2617 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2618 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2622 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, gnus
2623 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2624 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2629 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2630 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2631 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2632 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2633 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2634 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2635 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2639 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2640 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2641 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2643 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2646 @cindex total-expire
2647 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2648 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2649 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2650 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2653 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2657 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2658 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2659 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2660 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2661 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2662 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2665 @cindex score file group parameter
2666 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2667 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2668 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2671 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2672 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2673 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2674 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2677 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2678 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2679 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2680 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2683 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2684 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2688 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2691 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2696 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2697 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2698 gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2702 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2703 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2704 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2706 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2708 @item ignored-charsets
2709 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-known iso-8859-1)}
2710 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2711 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2713 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2716 You can store additional posting style information for this group only
2717 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2718 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2719 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2720 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2722 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2723 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2724 like this in the group parameters:
2729 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2733 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2734 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2735 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2736 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2737 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2739 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2740 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2741 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2742 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2743 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2744 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2745 @code{eval}ed there.
2747 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2748 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2749 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2750 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2751 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2755 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2756 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2757 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2758 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2759 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2762 @node Listing Groups
2763 @section Listing Groups
2764 @cindex group listing
2766 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2774 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2775 List all groups that have unread articles
2776 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2777 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2778 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2779 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2786 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2787 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2788 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2789 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2790 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2791 unsubscribed groups).
2795 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2796 List all unread groups on a specific level
2797 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2798 with no unread articles.
2802 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2803 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2804 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2805 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2810 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2811 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2815 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2816 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2817 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2821 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2822 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2826 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2827 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2828 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2829 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2830 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2831 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2832 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2833 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2837 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2838 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2839 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2843 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2844 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2845 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2849 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
2850 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
2854 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
2855 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
2859 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
2860 List groups limited within the current selection
2861 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
2865 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
2866 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
2870 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
2871 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
2875 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2876 @cindex visible group parameter
2877 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2878 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2879 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2880 get the same effect.
2882 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2883 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2884 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2885 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2886 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2889 @node Sorting Groups
2890 @section Sorting Groups
2891 @cindex sorting groups
2893 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2894 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2895 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2896 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2897 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2898 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2903 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2904 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2905 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2907 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2908 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2909 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2911 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2912 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2913 Sort by group level.
2915 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2916 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2917 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
2919 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2920 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2921 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2922 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
2924 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2925 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2926 Sort by number of unread articles.
2928 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2929 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2930 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2932 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
2933 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
2934 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
2939 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2940 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2944 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2945 some sorting criteria:
2949 @kindex G S a (Group)
2950 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2951 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2952 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2955 @kindex G S u (Group)
2956 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2957 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2958 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2961 @kindex G S l (Group)
2962 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2963 Sort the group buffer by group level
2964 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2967 @kindex G S v (Group)
2968 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2969 Sort the group buffer by group score
2970 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2973 @kindex G S r (Group)
2974 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2975 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2976 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2979 @kindex G S m (Group)
2980 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2981 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2982 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2986 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
2987 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2989 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
2990 commands will sort in reverse order.
2992 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2996 @kindex G P a (Group)
2997 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
2998 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
2999 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3002 @kindex G P u (Group)
3003 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3004 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3005 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3008 @kindex G P l (Group)
3009 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3010 Sort the groups by group level
3011 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3014 @kindex G P v (Group)
3015 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3016 Sort the groups by group score
3017 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3020 @kindex G P r (Group)
3021 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3022 Sort the groups by group rank
3023 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3026 @kindex G P m (Group)
3027 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3028 Sort the groups alphabetically by backend name
3029 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3035 @node Group Maintenance
3036 @section Group Maintenance
3037 @cindex bogus groups
3042 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3043 Find bogus groups and delete them
3044 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3048 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3049 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3050 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3051 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3052 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3056 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3057 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3058 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3059 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
3062 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
3063 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3064 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
3065 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3070 @node Browse Foreign Server
3071 @section Browse Foreign Server
3072 @cindex foreign servers
3073 @cindex browsing servers
3078 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3079 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3080 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3081 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3084 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3085 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3086 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3087 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3089 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3094 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3095 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3099 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3100 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3103 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3104 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3105 Enter the current group and display the first article
3106 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3109 @kindex RET (Browse)
3110 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3111 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3115 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3116 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3117 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3123 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3124 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3128 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3129 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3130 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3135 @section Exiting gnus
3136 @cindex exiting gnus
3138 Yes, gnus is ex(c)iting.
3143 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3144 Suspend gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit gnus,
3145 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3146 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3150 @findex gnus-group-exit
3151 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3152 Quit gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3156 @findex gnus-group-quit
3157 Quit gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3158 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3161 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3162 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3163 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend gnus and
3164 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit gnus, while
3165 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3170 If you wish to completely unload gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3171 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3172 trying to customize meta-variables.
3177 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3178 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3179 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3185 @section Group Topics
3188 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3189 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3190 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3191 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3192 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3193 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3197 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3198 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
3209 2: alt.religion.emacs
3212 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3214 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3215 13: comp.sources.unix
3218 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3220 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3221 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3222 is a toggling command.)
3224 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3225 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
3226 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3227 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3230 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3231 the hook for the group mode:
3234 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3238 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3239 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3240 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3241 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3242 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3246 @node Topic Variables
3247 @subsection Topic Variables
3248 @cindex topic variables
3250 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
3251 really neat, I think.
3253 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3254 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3255 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3268 Number of groups in the topic.
3270 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3272 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3275 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3276 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3277 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3280 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3281 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3283 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3284 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3285 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3288 @node Topic Commands
3289 @subsection Topic Commands
3290 @cindex topic commands
3292 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3293 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3294 definitions slightly.
3300 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3301 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3302 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3306 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3307 Move the current group to some other topic
3308 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3309 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3313 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3314 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3318 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3319 Copy the current group to some other topic
3320 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3321 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3325 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3326 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3327 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3331 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3332 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3333 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3337 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3338 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3339 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3340 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3341 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3342 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3343 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3346 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3347 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3351 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3352 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3353 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3357 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3358 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3359 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3363 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3364 Toggle hiding empty topics
3365 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3369 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3370 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3371 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
3374 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3375 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3376 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3377 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
3381 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3383 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3384 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3385 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3386 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3389 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3390 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3391 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3392 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3396 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3398 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3399 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3400 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3401 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3402 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3403 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3406 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3407 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3408 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the expiry
3409 process (if any) (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}).
3413 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3414 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3415 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3419 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3420 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3421 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3426 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3427 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3430 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3431 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3432 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3436 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3437 List all groups that gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3438 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3442 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3443 @cindex group parameters
3444 @cindex topic parameters
3446 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3447 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3453 @subsection Topic Sorting
3454 @cindex topic sorting
3456 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3462 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3463 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3464 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3465 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3468 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3469 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3470 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3471 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3474 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3475 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3476 Sort the current topic by group level
3477 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3480 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3481 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3482 Sort the current topic by group score
3483 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3486 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3487 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3488 Sort the current topic by group rank
3489 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3492 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3493 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3494 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
3495 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3499 @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group sorting.
3502 @node Topic Topology
3503 @subsection Topic Topology
3504 @cindex topic topology
3507 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3513 2: alt.religion.emacs
3516 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3518 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3519 13: comp.sources.unix
3522 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3523 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3524 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3529 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3530 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3534 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3535 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3536 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3537 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3538 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3539 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3541 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3542 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3543 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3546 @node Topic Parameters
3547 @subsection Topic Parameters
3548 @cindex topic parameters
3550 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3551 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3552 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3554 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3559 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3560 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3561 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3566 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3567 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3568 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3569 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3575 2: alt.religion.emacs
3579 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3581 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3582 13: comp.sources.unix
3586 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3587 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3588 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3589 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3590 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3591 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3593 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3594 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3595 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3596 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3597 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3599 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3600 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3601 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3602 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3603 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3604 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3605 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3606 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3609 @node Misc Group Stuff
3610 @section Misc Group Stuff
3613 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3614 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and gnus.
3615 * Group Timestamp:: Making gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3616 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the gnus files.
3623 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3624 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3625 @xref{The Server Buffer}.
3629 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3630 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
3631 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
3635 @findex gnus-group-mail
3636 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
3640 Variables for the group buffer:
3644 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
3645 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
3646 is called after the group buffer has been
3649 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
3650 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3651 is called after the group buffer is
3652 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
3655 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
3656 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3657 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
3658 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
3660 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3661 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3662 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
3663 whether they are empty or not.
3665 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3666 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3667 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
3668 non-ASCII group names.
3672 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3673 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
3676 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3677 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3678 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names.
3679 It is used to show non-ASCII group names.
3683 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3684 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
3689 @node Scanning New Messages
3690 @subsection Scanning New Messages
3691 @cindex new messages
3692 @cindex scanning new news
3698 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
3699 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
3700 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
3701 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
3702 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
3703 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
3708 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
3709 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
3710 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
3711 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
3712 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
3713 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
3714 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
3716 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
3717 @cindex activating groups
3719 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
3720 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
3725 @findex gnus-group-restart
3726 Restart gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
3727 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
3728 gnus variables, and then starts gnus all over again.
3732 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
3733 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
3735 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
3736 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
3740 @node Group Information
3741 @subsection Group Information
3742 @cindex group information
3743 @cindex information on groups
3750 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
3751 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
3754 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
3755 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
3756 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
3757 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
3758 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
3759 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
3760 for fetching the file.
3762 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, gnus will attempt to go
3763 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
3767 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
3769 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
3770 @cindex describing groups
3771 @cindex group description
3772 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
3773 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
3774 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
3778 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
3779 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
3780 prefix, force gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
3787 @findex gnus-version
3788 Display current gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
3792 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
3793 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
3796 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
3799 @findex gnus-info-find-node
3800 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3804 @node Group Timestamp
3805 @subsection Group Timestamp
3807 @cindex group timestamps
3809 It can be convenient to let gnus keep track of when you last read a
3810 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3811 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3814 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3817 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3819 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3820 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3823 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3824 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3827 This will result in lines looking like:
3830 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3831 0: custom 19961002T012713
3834 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3835 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3839 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3840 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3845 @subsection File Commands
3846 @cindex file commands
3852 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3853 @vindex gnus-init-file
3854 @cindex reading init file
3855 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3856 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3860 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3861 @cindex saving .newsrc
3862 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3863 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3864 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3867 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3868 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3869 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3874 @node The Summary Buffer
3875 @chapter The Summary Buffer
3876 @cindex summary buffer
3878 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3879 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3881 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3882 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3884 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3887 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3888 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3889 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3890 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3891 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3892 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3893 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3894 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3895 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3896 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3897 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3898 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3899 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3900 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3901 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3902 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3903 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
3904 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
3905 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3906 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3907 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3908 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3909 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3910 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3911 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3912 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
3913 or reselecting the current group.
3914 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3915 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3916 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
3920 @node Summary Buffer Format
3921 @section Summary Buffer Format
3922 @cindex summary buffer format
3926 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
3927 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
3928 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
3934 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3935 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
3936 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3937 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3940 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3941 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3942 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3943 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3944 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3945 @code{From} header. Three pre-defined functions exist:
3946 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3947 fast, and too simplistic solution;
3948 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works nicely, but is
3949 slower; and @code{std11-extract-address-components}, which works very
3950 nicely, but is slower. The default function will return the wrong
3951 answer in 5% of the cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the
3952 other function instead:
3955 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
3956 'mail-extract-address-components)
3959 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3960 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3961 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3962 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
3965 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3966 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3968 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3969 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3970 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3971 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3972 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3974 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3976 The following format specification characters are understood:
3982 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
3983 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
3985 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
3986 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3987 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
3989 Full @code{From} header.
3991 The name (from the @code{From} header).
3993 The name, code @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header
3994 (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
3996 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
3997 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
3998 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
3999 may be more thorough.
4001 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4004 Number of lines in the article.
4006 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported in some
4007 methods (like nnfolder).
4009 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4011 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4012 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4014 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4015 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4017 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4018 for adopted articles.
4020 One space for each thread level.
4022 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4027 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4028 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4032 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4034 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4035 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4036 default level. If the difference between
4037 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4038 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4046 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4048 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4054 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4055 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4057 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4058 article has any children.
4064 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4065 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4066 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4067 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4068 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4069 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4072 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4073 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, gnus will
4074 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4075 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4076 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4077 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4079 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4080 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4082 This restriction may disappear in later versions of gnus.
4085 @node To From Newsgroups
4086 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4090 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4091 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4092 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4093 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4094 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4098 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4099 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4100 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4104 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4105 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4108 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4109 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4112 @findex gnus-extra-header
4113 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4114 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4115 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4118 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4122 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4123 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4124 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4125 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4126 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4127 headers are used instead.
4131 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4132 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4133 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
4134 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
4137 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4138 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4139 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4140 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4142 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4146 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4148 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4149 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4150 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20f%]%) %s\n")
4151 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4155 Now, this is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4156 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4163 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4164 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4167 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4168 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4170 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4171 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4172 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4173 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4175 Here are the elements you can play with:
4181 Unprefixed group name.
4183 Current article number.
4185 Current article score.
4189 Number of unread articles in this group.
4191 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4194 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4195 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4196 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4197 and no unselected ones.
4199 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4200 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4202 Subject of the current article.
4204 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4206 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4208 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4210 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4212 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4214 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4218 @node Summary Highlighting
4219 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4223 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4224 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4225 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4226 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4227 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4229 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4230 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4231 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4232 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4234 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4235 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4236 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4237 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4239 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4240 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4241 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4242 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4243 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4244 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4247 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4248 ((> score default) . bold))
4250 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4251 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4255 @node Summary Maneuvering
4256 @section Summary Maneuvering
4257 @cindex summary movement
4259 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4260 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4262 None of these commands select articles.
4267 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4268 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4269 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4270 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4271 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4275 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4276 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4277 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4278 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4279 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4282 @kindex G g (Summary)
4283 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4284 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4285 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4288 If gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4289 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4290 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4291 to the group buffer.
4293 Variables related to summary movement:
4297 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4298 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4299 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4300 no more unread articles after the current one, gnus will offer to go to
4301 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4302 empty, gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4303 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, gnus will select the
4304 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
4305 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, gnus will select the
4306 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
4307 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
4308 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
4309 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
4310 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
4312 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4313 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4314 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4315 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4316 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4317 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4318 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4320 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4322 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4323 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4324 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4325 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4326 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4328 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4329 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4330 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4331 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4332 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4333 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4334 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4335 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4338 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4339 the given number of lines from the top.
4344 @node Choosing Articles
4345 @section Choosing Articles
4346 @cindex selecting articles
4349 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4350 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4354 @node Choosing Commands
4355 @subsection Choosing Commands
4357 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4358 and they all select and display an article.
4360 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4361 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4365 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4366 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4367 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4368 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4373 @kindex G n (Summary)
4374 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4375 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4376 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4381 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4382 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4383 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4388 @kindex G N (Summary)
4389 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4390 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4395 @kindex G P (Summary)
4396 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4397 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4400 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4401 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4402 Go to the next article with the same subject
4403 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4406 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4407 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4408 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4409 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4413 @kindex G f (Summary)
4415 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4416 Go to the first unread article
4417 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4421 @kindex G b (Summary)
4423 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4424 Go to the article with the highest score
4425 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
4430 @kindex G l (Summary)
4431 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4432 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4435 @kindex G o (Summary)
4436 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4438 @cindex article history
4439 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4440 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4441 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4442 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4443 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
4444 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
4449 @kindex G j (Summary)
4450 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
4451 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
4452 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
4457 @node Choosing Variables
4458 @subsection Choosing Variables
4460 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
4463 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4464 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4465 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
4466 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
4467 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
4468 the server and display it in the article buffer.
4470 @item gnus-select-article-hook
4471 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
4472 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
4473 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
4475 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
4476 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
4477 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
4478 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
4479 @findex gnus-unread-mark
4480 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
4481 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
4482 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
4483 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
4484 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
4485 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
4486 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
4487 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
4488 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
4493 @node Paging the Article
4494 @section Scrolling the Article
4495 @cindex article scrolling
4500 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4501 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4502 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
4503 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
4504 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4507 @kindex DEL (Summary)
4508 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
4509 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
4512 @kindex RET (Summary)
4513 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
4514 Scroll the current article one line forward
4515 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
4518 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
4519 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
4520 Scroll the current article one line backward
4521 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
4525 @kindex A g (Summary)
4527 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
4528 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4529 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
4530 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
4531 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
4532 the way it came from the server.
4534 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
4535 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
4536 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
4539 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4544 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
4549 @kindex A < (Summary)
4550 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
4551 Scroll to the beginning of the article
4552 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
4557 @kindex A > (Summary)
4558 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
4559 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
4563 @kindex A s (Summary)
4565 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
4566 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
4567 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
4571 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
4572 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
4577 @node Reply Followup and Post
4578 @section Reply, Followup and Post
4581 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
4582 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
4583 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
4584 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
4588 @node Summary Mail Commands
4589 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
4591 @cindex composing mail
4593 Commands for composing a mail message:
4599 @kindex S r (Summary)
4601 @findex gnus-summary-reply
4602 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
4603 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
4604 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
4605 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
4610 @kindex S R (Summary)
4611 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
4612 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
4613 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
4614 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
4615 command uses the process/prefix convention.
4618 @kindex S w (Summary)
4619 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
4620 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
4621 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
4622 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
4623 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
4626 @kindex S W (Summary)
4627 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
4628 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
4629 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
4630 the process/prefix convention.
4634 @kindex S o m (Summary)
4635 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
4636 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
4637 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
4638 Forward the current article to some other person
4639 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
4640 headers of the forwarded article.
4645 @kindex S m (Summary)
4646 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
4647 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
4648 Send a mail to some other person
4649 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
4652 @kindex S D b (Summary)
4653 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
4654 @cindex bouncing mail
4655 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
4656 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
4657 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
4658 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
4659 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
4660 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, gnus will try to fetch
4661 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
4662 very well fail, though.
4665 @kindex S D r (Summary)
4666 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
4667 Not to be confused with the previous command,
4668 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
4669 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
4670 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
4671 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
4672 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
4673 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
4674 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
4676 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
4677 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
4678 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
4679 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
4680 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
4682 This command understands the process/prefix convention
4683 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4686 @kindex S O m (Summary)
4687 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
4688 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
4689 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
4690 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4693 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
4694 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
4695 @cindex crossposting
4696 @cindex excessive crossposting
4697 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
4698 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
4700 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
4701 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
4702 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
4703 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
4704 command understands the process/prefix convention
4705 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
4709 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4712 @node Summary Post Commands
4713 @subsection Summary Post Commands
4715 @cindex composing news
4717 Commands for posting a news article:
4723 @kindex S p (Summary)
4724 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
4725 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
4726 Post an article to the current group
4727 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
4732 @kindex S f (Summary)
4733 @findex gnus-summary-followup
4734 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
4735 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
4739 @kindex S F (Summary)
4741 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
4742 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
4743 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
4744 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
4745 process/prefix convention.
4748 @kindex S n (Summary)
4749 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
4750 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4751 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
4754 @kindex S N (Summary)
4755 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
4756 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4757 message through mail and include the original message
4758 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
4759 the process/prefix convention.
4762 @kindex S o p (Summary)
4763 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
4764 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
4765 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
4766 headers of the forwarded article.
4769 @kindex S O p (Summary)
4770 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
4772 @cindex making digests
4773 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
4774 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
4775 process/prefix convention.
4778 @kindex S u (Summary)
4779 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
4780 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
4781 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
4782 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
4785 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4788 @node Summary Message Commands
4789 @subsection Summary Message Commands
4793 @kindex S y (Summary)
4794 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
4795 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
4796 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
4797 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
4798 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4803 @node Canceling and Superseding
4804 @subsection Canceling Articles
4805 @cindex canceling articles
4806 @cindex superseding articles
4808 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
4809 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
4811 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
4813 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
4815 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
4816 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
4817 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
4818 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
4819 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
4820 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4822 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
4823 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
4826 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
4827 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
4828 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
4830 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
4831 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
4832 your original article.
4834 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
4836 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
4837 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
4838 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
4841 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
4842 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
4843 have posted almost the same article twice.
4845 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
4846 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
4847 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
4848 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
4849 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
4850 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
4851 header by substituting one of those words for the word
4852 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
4853 you would do normally. The previous article will be
4854 canceled/superseded.
4856 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
4859 @node Marking Articles
4860 @section Marking Articles
4861 @cindex article marking
4862 @cindex article ticking
4865 There are several marks you can set on an article.
4867 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
4868 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
4869 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
4871 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
4874 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
4875 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
4876 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
4880 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
4884 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
4885 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
4886 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
4890 @node Unread Articles
4891 @subsection Unread Articles
4893 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
4898 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
4899 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
4901 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
4902 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
4903 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
4904 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
4905 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
4906 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
4907 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
4910 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
4911 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
4913 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
4914 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
4915 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
4918 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
4919 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
4921 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
4926 @subsection Read Articles
4927 @cindex expirable mark
4929 All the following marks mark articles as read.
4934 @vindex gnus-del-mark
4935 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
4936 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
4939 @vindex gnus-read-mark
4940 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
4943 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
4944 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
4945 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
4948 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
4949 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
4952 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
4953 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
4956 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
4957 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
4960 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
4961 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
4964 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
4965 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
4968 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
4969 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
4972 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
4973 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
4977 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
4978 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
4979 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
4983 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
4984 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
4986 One more special mark, though:
4990 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
4991 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
4993 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
4994 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
4995 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
4996 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by gnus at
5002 @subsection Other Marks
5003 @cindex process mark
5006 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5012 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5013 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5014 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5015 in the article, and gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5016 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5019 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5020 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5021 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5022 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5025 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5026 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5027 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5030 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5031 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5032 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5033 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5036 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5037 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5038 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5039 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5040 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5043 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5044 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5045 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5046 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5047 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5048 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5052 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5053 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5054 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5056 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5057 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5058 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5062 @subsection Setting Marks
5063 @cindex setting marks
5065 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5070 @kindex M c (Summary)
5071 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5072 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5073 @cindex mark as unread
5074 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5075 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5081 @kindex M t (Summary)
5082 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5083 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5084 @xref{Article Caching}.
5089 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5090 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5091 Mark the current article as dormant
5092 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5096 @kindex M d (Summary)
5098 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5099 Mark the current article as read
5100 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5104 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5105 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5106 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5111 @kindex M k (Summary)
5112 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5113 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5114 and then select the next unread article
5115 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5119 @kindex M K (Summary)
5120 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5121 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5122 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5123 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5126 @kindex M C (Summary)
5127 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5128 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5129 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5132 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5133 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5134 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5135 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5138 @kindex M H (Summary)
5139 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5140 Catchup the current group to point
5141 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5144 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5145 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5146 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5147 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5150 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5151 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5152 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5153 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5157 @kindex M e (Summary)
5159 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5160 Mark the current article as expirable
5161 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5164 @kindex M b (Summary)
5165 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5166 Set a bookmark in the current article
5167 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5170 @kindex M B (Summary)
5171 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5172 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5173 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5176 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5177 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5178 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5179 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5182 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5183 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5184 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5185 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5188 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5189 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5190 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5191 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5192 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5195 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5196 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5197 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5198 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5199 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5200 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5201 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5202 The default is @code{t}.
5205 @node Generic Marking Commands
5206 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5208 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5209 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5210 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5211 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5212 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5215 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5216 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5219 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5220 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5221 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5222 to list in this manual.
5224 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5225 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5226 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5227 article, you could say something like:
5230 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5231 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5232 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
5238 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5239 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
5243 @node Setting Process Marks
5244 @subsection Setting Process Marks
5245 @cindex setting process marks
5252 @kindex M P p (Summary)
5253 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
5254 Mark the current article with the process mark
5255 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
5256 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
5260 @kindex M P u (Summary)
5261 @kindex M-# (Summary)
5262 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
5263 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
5266 @kindex M P U (Summary)
5267 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
5268 Remove the process mark from all articles
5269 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
5272 @kindex M P i (Summary)
5273 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
5274 Invert the list of process marked articles
5275 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
5278 @kindex M P R (Summary)
5279 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
5280 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5281 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
5284 @kindex M P G (Summary)
5285 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
5286 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5287 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
5290 @kindex M P r (Summary)
5291 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
5292 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
5295 @kindex M P t (Summary)
5296 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5297 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5298 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5301 @kindex M P T (Summary)
5302 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5303 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5304 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5307 @kindex M P v (Summary)
5308 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
5309 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
5310 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
5313 @kindex M P s (Summary)
5314 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
5315 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5318 @kindex M P S (Summary)
5319 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
5320 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
5321 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
5324 @kindex M P a (Summary)
5325 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
5326 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5329 @kindex M P b (Summary)
5330 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
5331 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
5332 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
5335 @kindex M P k (Summary)
5336 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
5337 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
5338 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
5341 @kindex M P y (Summary)
5342 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
5343 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
5344 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
5347 @kindex M P w (Summary)
5348 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
5349 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
5350 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
5354 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
5355 set process marks based on article body contents.
5362 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
5363 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
5364 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
5367 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
5368 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
5369 additional articles.
5375 @kindex / / (Summary)
5376 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
5377 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
5378 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
5381 @kindex / a (Summary)
5382 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
5383 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
5384 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
5387 @kindex / x (Summary)
5388 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
5389 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
5390 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
5391 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}).
5395 @kindex / u (Summary)
5397 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
5398 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
5399 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
5400 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
5401 dormant articles will also be excluded.
5404 @kindex / m (Summary)
5405 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
5406 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
5407 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
5410 @kindex / t (Summary)
5411 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
5412 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
5413 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
5414 articles younger than that number of days.
5417 @kindex / n (Summary)
5418 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
5419 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
5420 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
5421 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5424 @kindex / w (Summary)
5425 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
5426 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
5427 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
5431 @kindex / v (Summary)
5432 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
5433 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
5434 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
5438 @kindex M S (Summary)
5439 @kindex / E (Summary)
5440 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
5441 Include all expunged articles in the limit
5442 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
5445 @kindex / D (Summary)
5446 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
5447 Include all dormant articles in the limit
5448 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
5451 @kindex / * (Summary)
5452 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
5453 Include all cached articles in the limit
5454 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
5457 @kindex / d (Summary)
5458 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
5459 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
5460 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
5463 @kindex / M (Summary)
5464 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
5465 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
5468 @kindex / T (Summary)
5469 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
5470 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
5473 @kindex / c (Summary)
5474 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
5475 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
5476 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
5479 @kindex / C (Summary)
5480 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
5481 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
5482 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
5483 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
5491 @cindex article threading
5493 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
5494 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
5495 hierarchical fashion.
5497 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
5498 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
5499 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
5500 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
5501 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
5502 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
5503 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
5505 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
5509 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
5512 A tree-like article structure.
5515 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
5518 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
5519 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
5520 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
5521 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
5522 called loose threads.
5524 @item thread gathering
5525 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
5527 @item sparse threads
5528 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
5529 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
5535 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
5536 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
5540 @node Customizing Threading
5541 @subsection Customizing Threading
5542 @cindex customizing threading
5545 * Loose Threads:: How gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
5546 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
5547 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
5548 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
5553 @subsubsection Loose Threads
5556 @cindex loose threads
5559 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
5560 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
5561 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
5562 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
5563 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
5564 read or killed the root in a previous session.
5566 When there is no real root of a thread, gnus will have to fudge
5567 something. This variable says what fudging method gnus should use.
5568 There are four possible values:
5572 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
5573 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
5574 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5575 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5576 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5581 @cindex adopting articles
5586 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
5587 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
5588 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
5589 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
5592 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
5593 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
5594 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
5595 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
5596 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
5597 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
5598 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
5601 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
5602 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
5603 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
5607 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
5608 display them after one another.
5611 Don't gather loose threads.
5614 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
5615 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
5616 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
5617 variable is @code{nil}, gnus requires an exact match between the
5618 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
5619 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
5620 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
5621 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
5622 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
5623 variable to a really low number, you'll find that gnus will gather
5624 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
5626 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
5627 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, gnus will
5628 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
5631 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
5632 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
5633 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
5634 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
5635 simplification is used.
5637 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5638 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5639 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
5640 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
5642 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
5644 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5650 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
5651 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
5652 "answer" "reference" "announce"
5653 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
5658 (mapconcat 'identity
5659 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
5661 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
5664 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
5667 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
5668 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
5669 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
5670 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
5671 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
5672 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
5674 Useful functions to put in this list include:
5677 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
5678 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
5679 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
5681 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
5682 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
5685 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
5686 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
5687 Remove excessive whitespace.
5690 You may also write your own functions, of course.
5693 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
5694 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
5695 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
5696 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
5697 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
5698 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
5699 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
5700 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
5702 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5703 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5704 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
5705 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
5706 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
5707 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
5708 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
5709 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
5710 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
5714 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5715 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5716 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
5717 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
5719 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5720 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5721 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
5724 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
5728 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5729 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
5735 @node Filling In Threads
5736 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
5739 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
5740 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
5741 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
5742 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
5743 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
5744 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
5745 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
5746 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
5747 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
5748 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
5749 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
5750 expired by the server, there's not much gnus can do about that.
5752 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
5753 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
5754 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
5756 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
5757 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
5758 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
5759 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
5760 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
5761 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
5762 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where gnus guesses that an article
5763 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
5764 lines. If you select a gap, gnus will try to fetch the article in
5765 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, gnus will display all these
5766 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
5767 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, gnus won't cut
5768 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
5769 @code{nil} by default.
5774 @node More Threading
5775 @subsubsection More Threading
5778 @item gnus-show-threads
5779 @vindex gnus-show-threads
5780 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
5781 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
5782 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
5783 slower and more awkward.
5785 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5786 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5787 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
5790 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
5791 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
5792 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
5793 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
5794 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
5795 threads are expunged.
5797 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
5798 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
5799 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
5802 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5803 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5804 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
5805 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
5806 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
5809 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
5810 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
5811 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
5814 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
5815 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
5816 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
5817 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
5818 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
5819 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
5820 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
5821 Setting this variable to an alternate value
5822 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
5823 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
5824 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
5829 @node Low-Level Threading
5830 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
5834 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
5835 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
5836 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
5837 @code{(gnus-set-summary-default-charset)}, which sets up local value of
5838 @code{default-mime-charset} in summary buffer based on variable
5839 @code{gnus-newsgroup-default-charset-alist}.
5841 @item gnus-alter-header-function
5842 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
5843 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
5844 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
5845 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
5846 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
5847 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
5848 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
5849 meaningful. Here's one example:
5852 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
5854 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
5855 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
5857 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
5859 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
5866 @node Thread Commands
5867 @subsection Thread Commands
5868 @cindex thread commands
5874 @kindex T k (Summary)
5875 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
5876 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
5877 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
5878 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
5879 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
5884 @kindex T l (Summary)
5885 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
5886 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
5887 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
5888 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
5891 @kindex T i (Summary)
5892 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
5893 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
5894 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
5897 @kindex T # (Summary)
5898 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5899 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
5900 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5903 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
5904 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5905 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
5906 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5909 @kindex T T (Summary)
5910 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
5911 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
5914 @kindex T s (Summary)
5915 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
5916 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
5917 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
5920 @kindex T h (Summary)
5921 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
5922 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
5925 @kindex T S (Summary)
5926 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
5927 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
5930 @kindex T H (Summary)
5931 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
5932 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
5935 @kindex T t (Summary)
5936 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
5937 Re-thread the current article's thread
5938 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
5939 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
5942 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
5943 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
5944 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
5945 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
5949 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
5950 understand the numeric prefix.
5955 @kindex T n (Summary)
5957 @kindex M-C-n (Summary)
5959 @kindex M-down (Summary)
5960 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
5961 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
5964 @kindex T p (Summary)
5966 @kindex M-C-p (Summary)
5968 @kindex M-up (Summary)
5969 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
5970 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
5973 @kindex T d (Summary)
5974 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
5975 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
5978 @kindex T u (Summary)
5979 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
5980 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
5983 @kindex T o (Summary)
5984 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
5985 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
5988 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
5989 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
5990 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
5991 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
5992 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
5993 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
5994 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
5995 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
5996 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
5997 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
5998 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
5999 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6006 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6007 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6008 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6009 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6010 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6011 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6012 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6013 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6014 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6015 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6016 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6018 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6019 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6020 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6021 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
6022 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6024 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6025 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6026 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6028 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6029 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6030 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6031 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6032 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6033 ascending article order.
6035 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6036 by number, you could do something like:
6039 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6040 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6041 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6042 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6045 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6046 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6047 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6048 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6049 which the articles arrived.
6051 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6055 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6057 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6058 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6061 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6062 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6063 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6064 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6067 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6068 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6069 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6070 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6071 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6072 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6073 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
6074 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
6075 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
6076 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
6077 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6078 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
6079 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6081 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6085 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6086 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6087 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6092 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6093 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6094 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6095 @cindex article pre-fetch
6098 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6099 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6100 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6101 article appears. Why can't gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6102 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6104 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6105 article fetching, especially the way gnus does it.
6107 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6108 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6109 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6110 article 3, but since gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6111 connection is blocked.
6113 To avoid these situations, gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6114 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6115 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6116 extra connection takes some time, so gnus startup will be slower.
6118 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6119 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6120 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6121 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6124 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6127 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6128 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6129 happen automatically.
6131 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6132 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6133 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6134 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
6135 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
6136 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6137 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6139 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6140 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6141 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6142 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6143 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6144 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6145 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6146 data structure as the only parameter.
6148 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
6151 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
6152 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
6153 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
6154 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
6157 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
6160 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
6161 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down gnus too much.
6162 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
6164 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
6165 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
6166 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
6167 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
6171 Remove articles when they are read.
6174 Remove articles when exiting the group.
6177 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
6179 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
6180 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
6181 @c from the next group.
6184 @node Article Caching
6185 @section Article Caching
6186 @cindex article caching
6189 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
6190 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
6191 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
6192 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
6193 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
6195 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
6197 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6198 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
6199 @vindex gnus-use-cache
6200 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
6201 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
6202 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
6203 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
6204 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
6206 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
6207 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
6208 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
6209 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
6210 as dormant, and don't worry.
6212 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
6214 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
6215 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
6216 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
6217 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
6218 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
6219 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
6220 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
6221 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
6222 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
6223 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
6225 @findex gnus-jog-cache
6226 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
6227 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
6228 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
6229 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
6230 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
6231 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
6232 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
6233 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
6234 not then be downloaded by this command.
6236 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
6237 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
6238 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
6239 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
6240 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
6241 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
6243 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
6244 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
6245 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
6246 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
6247 variables, the group is not cached.
6249 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
6250 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
6251 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
6252 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
6253 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
6254 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, gnus
6255 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
6256 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
6257 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
6261 @node Persistent Articles
6262 @section Persistent Articles
6263 @cindex persistent articles
6265 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
6266 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
6267 useful in my opinion.
6269 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
6270 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
6271 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
6272 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
6273 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
6274 the expiry going on at the news server.
6276 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
6277 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
6278 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
6284 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
6285 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
6288 @kindex M-* (Summary)
6289 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
6290 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
6291 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
6295 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
6297 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
6298 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
6299 interested in persistent articles:
6302 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
6306 @node Article Backlog
6307 @section Article Backlog
6309 @cindex article backlog
6311 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
6312 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
6313 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where gnus will buffer
6314 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
6315 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
6316 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
6317 that, turning the backlog on will slow gnus down a little bit, and
6318 increase memory usage some.
6320 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
6321 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, gnus will store
6322 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
6323 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, gnus will store
6324 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
6325 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
6326 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
6328 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
6331 @node Saving Articles
6332 @section Saving Articles
6333 @cindex saving articles
6335 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
6336 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
6337 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
6338 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
6339 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
6341 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
6342 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, gnus will not delete
6343 unwanted headers before saving the article.
6345 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
6346 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
6347 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
6348 deleted before saving.
6354 @kindex O o (Summary)
6356 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
6357 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
6358 Save the current article using the default article saver
6359 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
6362 @kindex O m (Summary)
6363 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
6364 Save the current article in mail format
6365 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
6368 @kindex O r (Summary)
6369 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
6370 Save the current article in rmail format
6371 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
6374 @kindex O f (Summary)
6375 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
6376 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
6377 Save the current article in plain file format
6378 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
6381 @kindex O F (Summary)
6382 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
6383 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
6384 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
6387 @kindex O b (Summary)
6388 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
6389 Save the current article body in plain file format
6390 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
6393 @kindex O h (Summary)
6394 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
6395 Save the current article in mh folder format
6396 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
6399 @kindex O v (Summary)
6400 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
6401 Save the current article in a VM folder
6402 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
6405 @kindex O p (Summary)
6406 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
6407 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
6408 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
6411 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
6412 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
6413 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
6414 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
6415 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
6416 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
6417 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
6418 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
6419 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
6420 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
6421 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
6422 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
6426 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
6427 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
6428 gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
6429 functions below, or you can create your own.
6433 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6434 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6435 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
6436 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6437 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
6438 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6439 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6441 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6442 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6443 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
6444 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
6445 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6446 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6448 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
6449 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
6450 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
6451 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
6452 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
6453 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6454 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
6456 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
6457 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
6458 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
6459 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6460 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
6462 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
6463 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
6464 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
6465 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
6466 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
6469 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
6470 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
6471 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
6472 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
6473 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
6475 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
6476 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
6477 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
6478 reader to use this setting.
6481 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
6482 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
6483 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
6484 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
6487 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
6488 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
6489 available functions that generate names:
6493 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
6494 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
6495 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
6497 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
6498 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
6499 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
6501 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
6502 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
6503 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
6505 @item gnus-plain-save-name
6506 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6507 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
6509 @item gnus-sender-save-name
6510 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
6511 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
6514 @vindex gnus-split-methods
6515 You can have gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
6516 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
6517 save articles related to gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
6518 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
6522 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
6523 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
6524 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
6525 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
6528 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
6529 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
6530 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
6531 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
6532 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
6533 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
6534 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
6535 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
6536 called returns a string or a list of strings.
6538 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
6539 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
6540 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
6541 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
6543 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
6544 means that gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
6545 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
6548 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
6549 lots of mail groups called things like
6550 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
6551 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
6552 following will do just that:
6555 (defun my-save-name (group)
6556 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
6557 (substring group (match-end 0))))
6559 (setq gnus-split-methods
6560 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
6565 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6566 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
6567 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
6568 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
6569 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
6570 all the files in the top level directory
6571 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
6572 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
6573 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
6574 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
6576 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
6577 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
6578 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
6579 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
6580 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
6583 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
6587 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
6588 (setq gnus-default-article-saver 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
6591 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
6592 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
6593 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
6594 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
6597 @node Decoding Articles
6598 @section Decoding Articles
6599 @cindex decoding articles
6601 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
6602 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
6605 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
6606 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
6607 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
6608 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
6609 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
6610 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
6614 @cindex article series
6615 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
6616 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
6617 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
6618 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
6619 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
6621 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
6622 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
6623 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
6625 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, gnus
6626 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
6627 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
6629 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
6630 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
6631 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
6634 @node Uuencoded Articles
6635 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
6637 @cindex uuencoded articles
6642 @kindex X u (Summary)
6643 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
6644 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
6645 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
6648 @kindex X U (Summary)
6649 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
6650 Uudecodes and saves the current series
6651 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
6654 @kindex X v u (Summary)
6655 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
6656 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
6659 @kindex X v U (Summary)
6660 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
6661 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
6662 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
6666 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
6667 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
6668 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
6669 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
6670 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
6672 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
6673 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
6674 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
6675 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
6678 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
6679 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
6680 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
6681 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
6682 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
6683 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
6687 @node Shell Archives
6688 @subsection Shell Archives
6690 @cindex shell archives
6691 @cindex shared articles
6693 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
6694 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
6695 some commands to deal with these:
6700 @kindex X s (Summary)
6701 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
6702 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
6705 @kindex X S (Summary)
6706 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
6707 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
6710 @kindex X v s (Summary)
6711 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
6712 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
6715 @kindex X v S (Summary)
6716 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
6717 Unshars, views and saves the current series
6718 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
6722 @node PostScript Files
6723 @subsection PostScript Files
6729 @kindex X p (Summary)
6730 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
6731 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
6734 @kindex X P (Summary)
6735 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
6736 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
6737 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
6740 @kindex X v p (Summary)
6741 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
6742 View the current PostScript series
6743 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
6746 @kindex X v P (Summary)
6747 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
6748 View and save the current PostScript series
6749 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
6754 @subsection Other Files
6758 @kindex X o (Summary)
6759 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
6760 Save the current series
6761 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
6764 @kindex X b (Summary)
6765 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
6766 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
6767 doesn't really work yet.
6771 @node Decoding Variables
6772 @subsection Decoding Variables
6774 Adjective, not verb.
6777 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
6778 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
6779 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
6783 @node Rule Variables
6784 @subsubsection Rule Variables
6785 @cindex rule variables
6787 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
6788 variables are of the form
6791 (list '(regexp1 command2)
6798 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6799 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6801 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
6802 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
6805 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6806 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
6809 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6810 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6811 This variable is consulted if gnus couldn't make any matches from the
6812 user and default view rules.
6814 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6815 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6816 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
6821 @node Other Decode Variables
6822 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
6825 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6827 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6828 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
6829 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
6830 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
6831 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
6835 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
6836 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
6839 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
6840 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
6841 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
6844 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6845 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6846 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
6847 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
6848 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
6851 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6852 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6853 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
6855 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6856 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6857 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
6858 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
6859 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
6862 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6863 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6864 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
6866 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6867 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6868 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
6869 looking for files to display.
6871 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
6872 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
6873 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
6876 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6877 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6878 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
6881 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6882 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6883 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
6886 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6887 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6888 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
6891 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6892 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6893 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
6894 decoded articles as unread.
6896 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6897 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6898 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
6899 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
6901 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6902 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6903 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
6905 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6906 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6908 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
6909 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
6910 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
6911 @code{metamail} for viewing.
6913 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6914 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6915 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
6916 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
6917 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
6918 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
6919 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
6920 simply dropped them.
6925 @node Uuencoding and Posting
6926 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
6930 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6931 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6932 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
6933 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
6934 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
6935 for you when you post the article.
6937 @item gnus-uu-post-length
6938 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
6939 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
6940 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
6942 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
6943 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
6944 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
6945 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
6946 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
6947 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
6948 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
6950 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6951 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6952 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
6953 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
6954 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
6955 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
6956 Default is @code{t}.
6962 @subsection Viewing Files
6963 @cindex viewing files
6964 @cindex pseudo-articles
6966 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, gnus will attempt
6967 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
6968 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
6969 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, gnus will
6970 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
6971 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
6972 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
6974 Finally, gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
6975 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
6976 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
6977 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
6979 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
6980 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
6981 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
6983 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
6984 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
6985 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
6986 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
6987 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
6989 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
6990 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
6991 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
6992 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
6993 a list of parameters to that command.
6995 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
6996 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
6997 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
6999 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7000 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7001 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7004 @node Article Treatment
7005 @section Article Treatment
7007 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7008 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7009 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7010 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7011 these articles easier.
7014 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7015 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7016 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7017 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7018 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7019 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7020 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7021 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7025 @node Article Highlighting
7026 @subsection Article Highlighting
7027 @cindex highlighting
7029 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7030 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7035 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7036 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7037 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7038 Do much highlighting of the current article
7039 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7040 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7043 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7044 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7045 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7046 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7047 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7048 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7049 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7050 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7051 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7052 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7053 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7054 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7057 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7058 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7059 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7061 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7064 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7066 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7067 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7068 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7070 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7071 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7072 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7074 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7075 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7076 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7077 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7078 gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7079 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7081 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7082 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7083 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7085 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7086 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7087 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7089 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7090 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7091 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7092 that it's a citation.
7094 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7095 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7096 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7098 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7099 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7100 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7102 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7103 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7104 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7105 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7111 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7112 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7113 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7114 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7115 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7116 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
7117 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
7118 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
7123 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
7126 @node Article Fontisizing
7127 @subsection Article Fontisizing
7129 @cindex article emphasis
7131 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
7132 @kindex W e (Summary)
7133 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
7134 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
7135 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
7136 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
7138 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
7139 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
7140 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
7141 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
7142 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
7143 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
7144 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
7145 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
7149 (setq gnus-article-emphasis
7150 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
7151 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
7160 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
7161 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
7162 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
7163 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
7164 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
7165 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
7166 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
7167 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
7168 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
7169 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
7170 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
7171 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
7172 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
7174 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
7175 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
7176 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
7180 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
7183 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
7185 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
7186 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
7187 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
7188 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
7190 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
7193 @node Article Hiding
7194 @subsection Article Hiding
7195 @cindex article hiding
7197 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
7198 too much cruft in most articles.
7203 @kindex W W a (Summary)
7204 @findex gnus-article-hide
7205 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
7206 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
7207 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
7210 @kindex W W h (Summary)
7211 @findex gnus-article-toggle-headers
7212 Toggle hiding of headers (@code{gnus-article-toggle-headers}). @xref{Hiding
7216 @kindex W W b (Summary)
7217 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7218 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
7219 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
7222 @kindex W W s (Summary)
7223 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
7224 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
7228 @kindex W W l (Summary)
7229 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
7230 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7231 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
7232 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
7233 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
7234 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
7235 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
7239 @item gnus-list-identifiers
7240 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7241 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
7242 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
7247 @kindex W W p (Summary)
7248 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
7249 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7250 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
7251 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
7252 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
7253 articles that have signatures in them do:
7255 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
7257 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
7259 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
7260 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
7262 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7265 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
7270 @kindex W W P (Summary)
7271 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
7272 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
7273 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
7276 @kindex W W B (Summary)
7277 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
7280 @cindex stripping advertisements
7281 @cindex advertisements
7282 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
7283 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
7284 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
7285 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
7286 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
7287 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
7288 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
7289 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
7290 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
7291 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
7295 @kindex W W c (Summary)
7296 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
7297 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
7298 customizing the hiding:
7302 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7303 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7304 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7305 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7306 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
7307 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
7308 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
7313 Starting point of the hidden text.
7315 Ending point of the hidden text.
7317 Number of characters in the hidden region.
7319 Number of lines of hidden text.
7322 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
7323 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
7324 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
7325 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
7326 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
7331 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
7332 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
7334 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
7335 following two variables:
7338 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7339 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7340 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
7341 50), hide the cited text.
7343 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7344 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7345 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
7350 @kindex W W C (Summary)
7351 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
7352 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
7353 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
7354 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
7355 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
7359 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
7360 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
7361 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
7363 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
7364 citation customization.
7366 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
7370 @node Article Washing
7371 @subsection Article Washing
7373 @cindex article washing
7375 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
7376 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
7378 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
7379 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
7382 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
7383 articles by default.
7388 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
7389 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
7393 @kindex W l (Summary)
7394 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
7395 Remove page breaks from the current article
7396 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
7400 @kindex W r (Summary)
7401 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
7402 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
7403 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
7404 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
7405 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
7406 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
7408 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
7409 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
7410 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
7411 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
7415 @kindex W t (Summary)
7417 @findex gnus-article-toggle-headers
7418 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
7419 (@code{gnus-article-toggle-headers}).
7422 @kindex W v (Summary)
7423 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
7424 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
7425 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
7428 @kindex W m (Summary)
7429 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
7430 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
7431 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
7434 @kindex W o (Summary)
7435 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
7436 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
7439 @kindex W d (Summary)
7440 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
7441 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
7443 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
7445 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
7446 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
7447 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
7448 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
7451 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
7452 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
7453 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
7454 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
7457 @kindex W w (Summary)
7458 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
7459 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
7461 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
7465 @kindex W Q (Summary)
7466 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
7467 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
7470 @kindex W C (Summary)
7471 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
7472 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
7473 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
7476 @kindex W c (Summary)
7477 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
7478 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
7479 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
7480 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
7481 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
7484 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
7485 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
7486 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
7487 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
7488 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that the this is usually done
7489 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
7490 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
7494 @kindex W Z (Summary)
7495 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
7496 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
7497 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
7498 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
7501 @kindex W h (Summary)
7502 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
7503 Treat HTML (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}).
7504 Note that the this is usually done automatically by Gnus if the message
7505 in question has a @code{Content-Type} header that says that this type
7509 @kindex W f (Summary)
7511 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
7512 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
7513 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
7514 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
7521 Look for and display any X-Face headers
7522 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
7523 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
7524 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
7525 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
7526 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
7527 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
7528 The default action under Emacs is to fork off the @code{display}
7529 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For the
7530 @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
7531 like `compface' or `faces-xface' on a GNU/Linux system.}
7532 to view the face. Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image
7533 support, the default action is to display the face before the
7534 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
7535 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
7536 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
7537 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
7538 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
7539 like @code{netpbm} or @code{libgr-progs}.}) If you
7540 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
7544 @kindex W b (Summary)
7545 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
7546 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
7547 @xref{Article Buttons}.
7550 @kindex W B (Summary)
7551 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
7552 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
7553 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
7556 @kindex W W H (Summary)
7557 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body
7558 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
7559 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body}).
7562 @kindex W E l (Summary)
7563 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
7564 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
7565 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
7568 @kindex W E m (Summary)
7569 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
7570 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
7571 lines with a single empty line.
7572 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
7575 @kindex W E t (Summary)
7576 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
7577 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
7578 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
7581 @kindex W E a (Summary)
7582 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
7583 Do all the three commands above
7584 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
7587 @kindex W E A (Summary)
7588 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
7589 Remove all blank lines
7590 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
7593 @kindex W E s (Summary)
7594 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
7595 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
7596 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
7599 @kindex W E e (Summary)
7600 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
7601 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
7602 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
7606 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
7609 @node Article Buttons
7610 @subsection Article Buttons
7613 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
7614 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
7615 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
7616 button on these references.
7618 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
7619 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
7620 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
7625 @item gnus-button-alist
7626 @vindex gnus-button-alist
7627 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
7630 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
7636 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
7637 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
7638 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
7641 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
7642 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
7643 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
7646 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
7647 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
7648 avoid false matches.
7651 This function will be called when you click on this button.
7654 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
7655 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
7659 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
7662 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
7665 @item gnus-header-button-alist
7666 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
7667 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
7668 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
7669 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
7672 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
7675 @var{header} is a regular expression.
7677 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
7678 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
7679 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
7680 default values of the variables above.
7682 @item gnus-article-button-face
7683 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
7684 Face used on buttons.
7686 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
7687 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
7688 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
7692 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
7696 @subsection Article Date
7698 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
7699 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
7700 when the article was sent.
7705 @kindex W T u (Summary)
7706 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
7707 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
7708 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
7711 @kindex W T i (Summary)
7712 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
7714 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
7715 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
7718 @kindex W T l (Summary)
7719 @findex gnus-article-date-local
7720 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
7723 @kindex W T p (Summary)
7724 @findex gnus-article-date-english
7725 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
7726 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
7729 @kindex W T s (Summary)
7730 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
7731 @findex gnus-article-date-user
7732 @findex format-time-string
7733 Display the date using a user-defined format
7734 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
7735 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
7736 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
7737 for a list of possible format specs.
7740 @kindex W T e (Summary)
7741 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
7742 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
7743 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
7744 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
7745 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
7748 X-Sent: 9 years, 6 weeks, 4 days, 9 hours, 3 minutes, 28 seconds ago
7751 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
7752 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
7755 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
7756 into wonderful absurdities.
7758 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
7761 (gnus-start-date-timer)
7764 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
7765 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
7769 @kindex W T o (Summary)
7770 @findex gnus-article-date-original
7771 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
7772 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
7773 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
7774 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
7775 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
7779 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
7780 preferred format automatically.
7783 @node Article Signature
7784 @subsection Article Signature
7786 @cindex article signature
7788 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7789 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
7790 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
7791 that says what is to be considered a signature is
7792 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
7793 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
7794 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
7795 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
7796 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
7799 (setq gnus-signature-separator
7800 '("^-- $" ; The standard
7801 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
7802 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
7803 ; line of dashes. Shame!
7804 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
7805 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
7806 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
7809 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
7812 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
7813 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
7814 signature when displaying articles.
7818 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
7821 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
7824 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
7825 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
7827 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
7828 in question is not a signature.
7831 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
7832 listed above. Here's an example:
7835 (setq gnus-signature-limit
7836 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
7839 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
7840 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
7841 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
7842 signature after all.
7845 @node Article Miscellania
7846 @subsection Article Miscellania
7850 @kindex A t (Summary)
7851 @findex gnus-article-babel
7852 Translate the article from one language to another
7853 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
7859 @section @sc{mime} Commands
7860 @cindex MIME decoding
7862 @cindex viewing attachments
7864 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
7865 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
7871 @kindex K v (Summary)
7872 View the @sc{mime} part.
7875 @kindex K o (Summary)
7876 Save the @sc{mime} part.
7879 @kindex K c (Summary)
7880 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
7883 @kindex K e (Summary)
7884 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
7887 @kindex K i (Summary)
7888 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
7891 @kindex K | (Summary)
7892 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
7895 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
7900 @kindex K b (Summary)
7901 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
7902 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
7906 @kindex K m (Summary)
7907 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
7908 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
7909 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
7910 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
7911 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
7914 @kindex X m (Summary)
7915 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
7916 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
7917 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
7918 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7921 @kindex M-t (Summary)
7922 @findex gnus-summary-display-buttonized
7923 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
7924 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
7927 @kindex W M w (Summary)
7928 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
7929 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
7932 @kindex W M c (Summary)
7933 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
7934 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
7936 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
7937 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
7938 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
7939 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not include
7940 MIME headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic parameter to
7941 the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
7944 @kindex W M v (Summary)
7945 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
7946 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
7953 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
7954 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
7955 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
7956 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
7959 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
7962 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
7966 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
7967 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
7968 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
7969 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
7970 displayed. The default value is @code{(".*/.*")}.
7972 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
7973 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
7974 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
7975 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
7976 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
7977 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
7978 save all jpegs into some directory).
7980 Here's an example function the does the latter:
7983 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
7984 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
7986 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
7987 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
7988 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
7989 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
7990 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
7993 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
7994 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
7995 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
8004 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
8005 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
8006 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
8007 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
8008 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
8009 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
8010 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
8012 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
8013 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
8014 variable, which is an alist of regexps (to match full group names) and
8015 default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
8017 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
8018 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1} even
8019 if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
8020 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
8021 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be set
8022 on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
8023 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit)}, which is
8024 something some agents insist on having in there.
8026 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
8027 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
8028 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
8029 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
8030 quoted-printable header encoding.
8032 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
8033 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
8034 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
8038 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
8041 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
8042 means encode all charsets),
8044 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
8045 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
8046 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
8053 @cindex coding system aliases
8054 @cindex preferred charset
8056 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
8058 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
8059 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
8062 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
8063 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
8066 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
8067 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
8069 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
8072 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
8075 This will almost do the right thing.
8077 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
8081 (codepage-setup 1251)
8082 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
8086 @node Article Commands
8087 @section Article Commands
8094 @kindex A P (Summary)
8095 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
8096 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
8097 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
8098 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
8099 run just before printing the buffer.
8104 @node Summary Sorting
8105 @section Summary Sorting
8106 @cindex summary sorting
8108 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
8109 can't really see why you'd want that.
8114 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
8115 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
8116 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
8119 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
8120 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
8121 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
8124 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
8125 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
8126 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
8129 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
8130 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
8131 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
8134 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
8135 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
8136 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
8139 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
8140 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
8141 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
8144 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
8145 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
8146 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
8149 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
8150 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
8151 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
8152 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
8153 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
8157 @node Finding the Parent
8158 @section Finding the Parent
8159 @cindex parent articles
8160 @cindex referring articles
8165 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
8166 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
8167 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
8168 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
8169 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
8170 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
8171 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
8172 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
8173 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
8175 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
8176 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
8177 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, gnus will fetch the parent, the
8178 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
8179 @kbd{-3 ^}, gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
8183 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
8184 @kindex A R (Summary)
8185 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
8186 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
8189 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
8190 @kindex A T (Summary)
8191 Display the full thread where the current article appears
8192 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
8193 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
8194 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
8195 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
8196 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
8197 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
8199 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
8200 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
8201 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
8202 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
8203 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
8204 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
8207 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
8208 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
8210 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
8211 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
8212 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
8213 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
8214 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
8215 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
8216 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
8219 The current select method will be used when fetching by
8220 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
8221 by giving this command a prefix.
8223 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
8224 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
8225 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
8226 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
8227 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
8228 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
8231 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
8232 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
8233 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
8236 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
8237 then ask Deja if that fails:
8240 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
8242 (nnweb "refer" (nnweb-type dejanews))))
8245 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
8246 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
8247 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
8248 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
8249 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
8250 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
8253 @node Alternative Approaches
8254 @section Alternative Approaches
8256 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
8257 gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
8260 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
8261 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
8266 @subsection Pick and Read
8267 @cindex pick and read
8269 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
8270 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
8271 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
8272 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
8274 @findex gnus-pick-mode
8275 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
8276 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
8277 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
8278 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
8279 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
8281 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
8286 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
8287 Pick the article or thread on the current line
8288 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8289 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
8290 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
8291 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
8292 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
8293 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
8296 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
8297 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
8298 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
8299 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
8303 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
8304 Unpick the thread or article
8305 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8306 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
8307 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
8308 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
8309 the thread or article at that line.
8313 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
8314 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
8315 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
8316 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
8317 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
8318 will still be visible when you are reading.
8322 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
8323 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
8324 which is mapped to the same function
8325 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
8327 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
8330 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
8333 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
8334 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
8336 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
8337 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
8338 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
8340 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
8341 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
8342 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
8343 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
8344 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
8345 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
8346 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
8350 @subsection Binary Groups
8351 @cindex binary groups
8353 @findex gnus-binary-mode
8354 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
8355 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
8356 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
8357 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
8358 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
8359 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
8362 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
8363 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
8364 command, when you have turned on this mode
8365 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
8367 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
8368 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
8372 @section Tree Display
8375 @vindex gnus-use-trees
8376 If you don't like the normal gnus summary display, you might try setting
8377 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
8378 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
8381 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
8384 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
8385 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
8386 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
8388 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
8389 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
8390 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
8391 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
8392 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
8394 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
8395 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
8396 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
8397 default is @code{modeline}.
8399 @item gnus-tree-line-format
8400 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
8401 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
8402 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
8403 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
8404 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
8405 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
8411 The name of the poster.
8413 The @code{From} header.
8415 The number of the article.
8417 The opening bracket.
8419 The closing bracket.
8424 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
8426 Variables related to the display are:
8429 @item gnus-tree-brackets
8430 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
8431 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
8432 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
8433 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
8434 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
8436 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
8437 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
8438 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
8439 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
8443 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
8444 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
8445 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will try to keep the tree
8446 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other gnus
8447 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
8448 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
8449 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
8450 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
8451 other windows displayed next to it.
8453 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
8454 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
8455 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
8456 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
8457 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
8458 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
8459 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
8463 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
8466 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
8476 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
8480 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
8481 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
8483 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
8485 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
8490 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
8491 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
8492 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
8495 (setq gnus-use-trees t
8496 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
8497 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
8498 (gnus-add-configuration
8502 (summary 0.75 point)
8507 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
8510 @node Mail Group Commands
8511 @section Mail Group Commands
8512 @cindex mail group commands
8514 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
8515 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
8517 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
8518 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8523 @kindex B e (Summary)
8524 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
8525 Expire all expirable articles in the group
8526 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
8529 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
8530 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
8531 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
8532 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
8533 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
8534 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
8537 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
8538 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
8539 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
8540 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
8541 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
8542 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
8545 @kindex B m (Summary)
8547 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
8548 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
8549 Move the article from one mail group to another
8550 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
8551 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
8554 @kindex B c (Summary)
8556 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
8557 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
8558 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
8559 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
8560 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
8563 @kindex B B (Summary)
8564 @cindex crosspost mail
8565 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
8566 Crosspost the current article to some other group
8567 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
8568 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
8569 be properly updated.
8572 @kindex B i (Summary)
8573 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
8574 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
8575 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
8576 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
8579 @kindex B r (Summary)
8580 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
8581 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
8582 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
8583 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
8584 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
8585 Marks will be preserved if @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
8586 (which is the default).
8590 @kindex B w (Summary)
8592 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
8593 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
8594 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
8595 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
8596 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
8597 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, gnus won't re-highlight the article.
8600 @kindex B q (Summary)
8601 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
8602 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
8603 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
8604 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
8607 @kindex B t (Summary)
8608 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
8609 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
8610 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
8613 @kindex B p (Summary)
8614 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
8615 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
8616 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
8617 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
8618 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
8619 article from your news server (or rather, from
8620 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
8621 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
8622 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
8623 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
8624 just not have arrived yet.
8628 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
8629 @cindex moving articles
8630 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have gnus
8631 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
8632 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
8633 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
8634 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
8635 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
8636 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
8639 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
8640 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
8641 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
8642 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
8646 @node Various Summary Stuff
8647 @section Various Summary Stuff
8650 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
8651 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
8652 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
8653 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
8657 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
8658 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
8659 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
8661 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
8662 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
8663 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
8664 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
8665 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
8666 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
8669 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
8670 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
8671 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
8672 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
8673 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
8675 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
8676 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
8677 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
8680 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
8681 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
8682 When gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
8683 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
8684 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
8685 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
8686 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), gnus will rename the
8687 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
8688 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
8689 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
8691 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
8692 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
8693 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
8694 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
8695 list of articles to be selected.
8697 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
8698 the list in one particular group:
8701 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
8702 (if (string= group "some.group")
8703 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
8710 @node Summary Group Information
8711 @subsection Summary Group Information
8716 @kindex H f (Summary)
8717 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
8718 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
8719 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
8720 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
8721 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
8722 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
8723 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
8724 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
8725 be used for fetching the file.
8728 @kindex H d (Summary)
8729 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
8730 Give a brief description of the current group
8731 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
8732 rereading the description from the server.
8735 @kindex H h (Summary)
8736 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
8737 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
8738 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
8741 @kindex H i (Summary)
8742 @findex gnus-info-find-node
8743 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
8747 @node Searching for Articles
8748 @subsection Searching for Articles
8753 @kindex M-s (Summary)
8754 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
8755 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
8756 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
8759 @kindex M-r (Summary)
8760 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
8761 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
8762 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
8766 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
8767 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
8768 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
8769 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
8770 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
8771 search backward instead.
8773 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
8774 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
8777 @kindex M-& (Summary)
8778 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
8779 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
8780 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
8783 @node Summary Generation Commands
8784 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
8789 @kindex Y g (Summary)
8790 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
8791 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
8794 @kindex Y c (Summary)
8795 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
8796 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
8797 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
8802 @node Really Various Summary Commands
8803 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
8809 @kindex C-d (Summary)
8810 @kindex A D (Summary)
8811 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
8812 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
8813 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
8814 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
8815 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
8816 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
8817 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
8818 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
8822 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
8823 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
8824 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
8825 several documents into one biiig group
8826 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
8827 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
8828 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
8829 command understands the process/prefix convention
8830 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8833 @kindex C-t (Summary)
8834 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
8835 Toggle truncation of summary lines
8836 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
8837 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
8838 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
8842 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
8843 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
8844 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
8847 @kindex M-C-e (Summary)
8848 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
8849 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
8850 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
8853 @kindex M-C-a (Summary)
8854 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
8855 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
8856 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
8861 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
8862 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
8863 @cindex summary exit
8864 @cindex exiting groups
8866 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
8867 group and return you to the group buffer.
8873 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
8875 @findex gnus-summary-exit
8876 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
8877 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
8878 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
8879 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
8880 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
8881 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
8882 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
8883 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
8884 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
8885 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
8889 @kindex Z E (Summary)
8891 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
8892 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
8893 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
8897 @kindex Z c (Summary)
8899 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
8900 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
8901 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
8902 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
8905 @kindex Z C (Summary)
8906 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
8907 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
8908 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
8911 @kindex Z n (Summary)
8912 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
8913 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
8914 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
8917 @kindex Z R (Summary)
8918 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
8919 Exit this group, and then enter it again
8920 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
8921 all articles, both read and unread.
8925 @kindex Z G (Summary)
8926 @kindex M-g (Summary)
8927 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
8928 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
8929 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
8930 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
8931 articles, both read and unread.
8934 @kindex Z N (Summary)
8935 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
8936 Exit the group and go to the next group
8937 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
8940 @kindex Z P (Summary)
8941 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
8942 Exit the group and go to the previous group
8943 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
8946 @kindex Z s (Summary)
8947 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
8948 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
8949 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
8950 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
8951 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
8954 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
8955 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
8956 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
8957 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
8959 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
8960 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
8961 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
8962 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
8963 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
8964 If you do that, gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
8965 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
8966 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
8967 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
8968 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
8969 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
8970 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
8972 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
8974 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
8975 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
8976 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
8977 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
8978 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
8979 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
8980 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
8981 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
8982 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
8985 @node Crosspost Handling
8986 @section Crosspost Handling
8990 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
8991 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
8992 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
8993 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
8994 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
8995 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
8998 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
8999 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
9000 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
9001 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
9002 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
9004 @cindex cross-posting
9007 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
9008 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
9009 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
9010 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
9011 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
9012 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
9013 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
9014 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
9015 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
9016 the cross reference mechanism.
9018 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
9019 @cindex overview.fmt
9020 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
9021 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
9022 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
9023 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
9024 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
9025 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
9028 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
9029 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
9030 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
9035 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
9038 @node Duplicate Suppression
9039 @section Duplicate Suppression
9041 By default, gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
9042 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
9043 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
9044 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
9049 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
9050 is evil and not very common.
9053 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
9054 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
9057 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
9058 different @sc{nntp} servers.
9061 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
9064 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
9065 well, but these four are the most common situations.
9067 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
9068 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
9069 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
9070 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
9071 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
9072 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
9073 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
9076 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
9077 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
9078 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
9079 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
9080 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
9084 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
9085 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
9086 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
9088 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
9089 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
9090 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
9091 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
9092 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single gnus
9093 session are suppressed.
9095 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
9096 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
9097 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
9098 suppression list. The default is 10000.
9100 @item gnus-duplicate-file
9101 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
9102 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
9103 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
9106 If you have a tendency to stop and start gnus often, setting
9107 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
9108 you leave gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
9109 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
9110 so that means that if you stop and start gnus often, you should set
9111 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
9112 to you to figure out, I think.
9117 Gnus is able to verify PGP or S/MIME signed messages or decrypt PGP
9122 To verify or decrypt PGP messages, you have to install mailcrypt or
9128 @item mm-verify-option
9129 @vindex mm-verify-option
9130 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
9131 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
9132 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
9134 @item mm-decrypt-option
9135 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
9136 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
9137 @code{always}, always decrypt @code{known}, only decrypt known
9138 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
9142 @node The Article Buffer
9143 @chapter The Article Buffer
9144 @cindex article buffer
9146 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
9147 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
9148 tell gnus otherwise.
9151 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
9152 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
9153 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
9154 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
9155 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
9159 @node Hiding Headers
9160 @section Hiding Headers
9161 @cindex hiding headers
9162 @cindex deleting headers
9164 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
9165 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
9167 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
9168 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
9169 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
9170 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
9171 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
9172 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
9173 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
9174 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
9175 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
9177 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
9181 @item gnus-visible-headers
9182 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
9183 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
9184 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
9185 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
9187 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
9188 the article and the subject, you'd say:
9191 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
9194 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
9197 @item gnus-ignored-headers
9198 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
9199 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
9200 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
9201 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
9202 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
9204 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} field
9205 and the @code{Xref} field, you might say:
9208 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
9211 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
9214 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
9215 variable will have no effect.
9219 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
9220 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
9221 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
9222 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
9223 the headers are to be displayed.
9225 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
9226 and then the subject, you might say something like:
9229 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
9232 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
9233 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
9235 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
9236 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
9237 You can hide further boring headers by setting
9238 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
9239 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
9240 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
9241 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
9244 These conditions are:
9247 Remove all empty headers.
9249 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
9250 @code{Newsgroups} header.
9252 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
9255 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
9258 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
9259 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
9261 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
9264 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
9266 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
9269 To include the four three elements, you could say something like;
9272 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
9273 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
9276 This is also the default value for this variable.
9280 @section Using @sc{mime}
9283 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
9284 while people stand around yawning.
9286 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
9287 while all newsreaders die of fear.
9289 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
9290 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
9291 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
9293 @vindex gnus-show-mime
9294 @vindex gnus-article-display-method-for-mime
9295 @vindex gnus-strict-mime
9296 @findex gnus-article-display-mime-message
9297 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
9298 @code{gnus-article-display-method-for-mime}, which is
9299 @code{gnus-article-display-mime-message} by default. This function
9300 calls the SEMI MIME-View program to actually do the work. For more
9301 information on SEMI MIME-View, see its manual page (however it is not
9302 existed yet, sorry).
9304 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
9305 @sc{mime} all the time. However, if @code{gnus-strict-mime} is
9306 non-@code{nil}, the @sc{mime} method will only be used if there are
9307 @sc{mime} headers in the article. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime}
9308 set, then you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article
9309 buffer. These can't be avoided.
9311 In GNUS or Gnus, it might be best to just use the toggling functions
9312 from the summary buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance,
9313 you enter the group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it,
9314 @sc{mime} has decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible
9315 sing-a-long song comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find
9316 the volume button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to
9317 look at you, and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you
9318 can't find the program to control the volume, and everybody else in the
9319 room suddenly decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel
9322 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
9324 To avoid such kind of situation, gnus stops to use
9325 @code{metamail-buffer}. So now, you can set @code{gnus-show-mime} to
9326 non-@code{nil} every-time, then you can push button in the article
9327 buffer when there are nobody else.
9329 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
9332 @node Customizing Articles
9333 @section Customizing Articles
9334 @cindex article customization
9336 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
9337 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
9338 called automatically when you select the articles.
9340 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
9341 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
9342 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
9343 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
9345 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
9346 for sensible values.
9350 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
9353 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
9356 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
9359 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
9362 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
9366 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
9367 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
9368 regexps in the list.
9371 A list where the first element is not a string:
9373 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
9374 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
9375 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
9379 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
9383 @code{mime}: Do this treatment if the value of @code{gnus-show-mime}' is
9388 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
9389 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
9390 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
9391 considered to contain just a single part.
9393 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
9394 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
9395 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
9396 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
9397 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
9398 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
9399 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
9401 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
9402 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
9403 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
9404 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
9407 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last)
9408 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
9409 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
9410 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
9411 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
9412 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
9413 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
9414 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
9415 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
9416 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
9417 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
9418 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)
9419 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
9420 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
9421 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
9422 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
9423 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
9424 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
9425 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
9426 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
9427 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
9428 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
9429 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
9430 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
9431 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
9432 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
9433 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
9434 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
9435 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
9436 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
9437 @item gnus-treat-display-picons (head)
9438 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
9439 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
9440 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
9441 @item gnus-treat-translate
9442 @item gnus-treat-decode-article-as-default-mime-charset
9445 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
9446 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
9447 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
9448 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
9449 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
9453 @node Article Keymap
9454 @section Article Keymap
9456 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
9457 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
9458 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
9459 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
9462 A few additional keystrokes are available:
9467 @kindex SPACE (Article)
9468 @findex gnus-article-next-page
9469 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
9472 @kindex DEL (Article)
9473 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
9474 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
9477 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
9478 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
9479 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
9480 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
9481 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
9484 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
9485 @findex gnus-article-mail
9486 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
9487 given a prefix, include the mail.
9491 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
9492 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
9493 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
9497 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
9498 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
9499 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
9502 @kindex TAB (Article)
9503 @findex gnus-article-next-button
9504 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
9505 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
9508 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
9509 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
9510 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
9516 @section Misc Article
9520 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
9521 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
9522 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
9523 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
9526 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
9527 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
9529 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
9530 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
9532 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
9533 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
9534 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
9535 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
9536 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
9537 the contents of the article buffer.
9539 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
9540 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
9541 Hook called in article mode buffers.
9543 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
9544 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
9545 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
9546 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
9548 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
9549 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
9550 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
9551 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
9552 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
9557 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
9558 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
9561 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
9564 @vindex gnus-break-pages
9566 @item gnus-break-pages
9567 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
9568 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
9569 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
9570 paging will not be done.
9572 @item gnus-page-delimiter
9573 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
9574 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
9579 @node Composing Messages
9580 @chapter Composing Messages
9581 @cindex composing messages
9584 @cindex sending mail
9590 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
9591 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
9592 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
9593 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The
9594 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
9595 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
9598 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
9599 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
9600 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
9601 * Archived Messages:: Where gnus stores the messages you've sent.
9602 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
9603 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
9604 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
9605 * Using GPG:: How to use GPG and MML to sign and encrypt messages
9608 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
9609 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
9615 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
9618 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
9619 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
9620 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
9621 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
9623 @item gnus-add-to-list
9624 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
9625 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
9626 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
9631 @node Posting Server
9632 @section Posting Server
9634 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
9635 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
9637 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
9639 @vindex gnus-post-method
9641 It can be quite complicated. Normally, gnus will use the same native
9642 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
9643 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
9644 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
9645 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
9648 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
9651 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
9652 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
9653 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
9654 the ``current'' server for posting.
9656 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
9657 gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
9659 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
9660 If that's the case, gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
9663 Finally, if you want to always post using the same select method as
9664 you're reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
9665 groups from different private servers), you can set this variable to
9670 @section Mail and Post
9672 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
9676 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
9677 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
9678 @cindex mailing lists
9680 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
9681 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
9682 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
9683 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
9684 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
9685 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
9686 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
9687 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
9688 still a pain, though.
9692 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
9693 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
9694 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
9697 @findex ispell-message
9699 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
9702 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
9703 you're in, you could say something like the following:
9706 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
9709 ((string-match "^de\\." gnus-newsgroup-name)
9710 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
9712 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
9715 Modify to suit your needs.
9718 @node Archived Messages
9719 @section Archived Messages
9720 @cindex archived messages
9721 @cindex sent messages
9723 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
9724 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
9725 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
9726 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
9729 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
9730 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server gnus is to
9731 use to store sent messages. The default is:
9735 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
9736 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
9737 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
9738 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
9741 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
9742 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
9743 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
9744 directory chosen, you could say something like:
9747 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
9748 '(nnfolder "archive"
9749 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
9750 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
9751 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
9754 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
9756 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
9757 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
9758 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
9760 This variable can be used to do the following:
9764 Messages will be saved in that group.
9766 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
9767 message will not be stored in the select method given by
9768 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
9769 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
9770 has the default value shown above. Then setting
9771 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
9772 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
9773 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
9775 @item a list of strings
9776 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
9777 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
9778 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
9780 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
9785 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
9787 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
9790 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
9792 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
9795 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
9797 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9798 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
9799 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
9800 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
9805 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9806 '((if (message-news-p)
9811 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
9812 messages in one file per month:
9815 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9816 '((if (message-news-p)
9818 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
9821 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
9822 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
9824 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
9825 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
9826 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
9827 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
9828 gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
9829 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
9830 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
9831 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
9832 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
9833 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
9835 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
9836 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
9837 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
9838 this will disable archiving.
9841 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
9842 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
9843 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
9844 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
9845 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
9848 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
9849 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
9850 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
9853 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
9854 but the latter is the preferred method.
9856 @item gnus-inews-mark-gcc-as-read
9857 @vindex gnus-inews-mark-gcc-as-read
9858 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
9863 @node Posting Styles
9864 @section Posting Styles
9865 @cindex posting styles
9868 All them variables, they make my head swim.
9870 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
9871 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
9872 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
9875 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
9876 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
9877 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
9878 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
9879 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
9884 (signature "Peace and happiness")
9885 (organization "What me?"))
9887 (signature "Death to everybody"))
9888 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
9889 (organization "Emacs is it")))
9892 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
9893 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
9894 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
9895 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
9896 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
9897 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
9898 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
9899 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
9901 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
9902 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
9903 If it is the symbol @code{header}, then Gnus will look for header that
9904 match the next element in the match, and compare that to the last header
9905 in the match. If it's a function symbol, that function will be called
9906 with no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
9907 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
9908 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
9911 Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
9912 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} . @var{value})} pair. The
9913 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
9914 @code{organization}, @code{address}, @code{name} or @code{body}. The
9915 attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
9916 a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
9917 article; if the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed.
9918 If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the
9919 result is thrown away.
9921 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
9922 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
9923 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
9924 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
9925 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
9926 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable.
9928 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
9929 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
9930 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
9932 @findex message-mail-p
9933 @findex message-news-p
9935 So here's a new example:
9938 (setq gnus-posting-styles
9940 (signature-file "~/.signature")
9942 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
9943 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
9945 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
9946 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
9947 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
9949 (signature my-news-signature))
9950 (header "From\\|To" "larsi.*org"
9951 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
9952 ((posting-from-work-p)
9953 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
9954 (address "user@@bar.foo")
9955 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
9956 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
9958 (From (save-excursion
9959 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
9960 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
9962 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
9965 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
9966 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
9967 if you fill many roles.
9974 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
9975 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
9976 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
9977 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
9978 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
9980 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
9981 some sort using the gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
9982 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
9983 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
9984 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
9988 @vindex nndraft-directory
9989 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
9990 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
9991 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
9992 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
9993 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
9994 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
9996 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
9997 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
10000 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
10001 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
10002 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
10003 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
10004 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
10005 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
10006 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
10007 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
10008 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
10009 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
10010 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
10011 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
10012 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
10013 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
10015 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
10016 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
10017 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
10019 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
10020 @kindex D e (Draft)
10021 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
10022 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
10023 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
10025 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
10028 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
10029 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
10030 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
10031 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
10032 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
10033 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
10034 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
10037 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
10038 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
10039 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
10042 @node Rejected Articles
10043 @section Rejected Articles
10044 @cindex rejected articles
10046 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
10047 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
10048 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
10049 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
10051 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of gnus.
10052 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
10053 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
10054 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So gnus saves these
10055 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
10057 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
10058 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
10059 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
10065 Gnus has an ALPHA support to GPG that's provided by @file{gpg.el}. See
10066 @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} to enable Gnus to
10067 verify or decrypt messages accordingly.
10069 To use this correctly with GPG, you'll need the following lisp code in your
10070 @file{~/.emacs} or @file{~/.gnus}:
10074 (setq mml2015-use 'gpg)
10075 (setq gpg-temp-directory (expand-file-name "~/.gnupg/tmp"))
10078 The @code{gpg-temp-directory} need to point to a directory with permissions set
10079 to 700, for your own safety.
10081 If you want to benefit of PGP2.6 compatibility, you might create a script named
10082 @file{gpg-2comp} with these instructions:
10086 exec gpg --rfc1991 "$@@"
10089 If you don't want to use such compatibility, you can add the following line to
10090 your @file{~/.emacs} or @file{~/.gnus}:
10093 (setq gpg-command-default-alist (quote ((gpg . "gpg") (gpg-2comp . "gpg"))))
10096 To sign or encrypt your message you may choose to use the MML Security
10097 menu or @kbd{C-c C-m s p} to sign your message using PGP/MIME, @kbd{C-c
10098 C-m s s} to sign your message using S/MIME. There's also @kbd{C-c C-m c
10099 p} to encrypt your message with PGP/MIME and @kbd{C-c C-m c s} to
10100 encrypt using S/MIME.
10102 Gnus will ask for your passphrase and then it will send your message, if
10103 you've typed it correctly.
10105 @node Select Methods
10106 @chapter Select Methods
10107 @cindex foreign groups
10108 @cindex select methods
10110 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
10111 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
10112 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
10113 personal mail group.
10115 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
10116 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
10117 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
10118 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
10119 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
10120 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
10122 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
10123 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
10125 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
10128 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
10129 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
10130 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
10131 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
10132 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
10134 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
10137 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
10138 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
10139 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
10140 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
10141 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
10142 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
10143 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
10147 @node The Server Buffer
10148 @section The Server Buffer
10150 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
10151 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
10152 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
10153 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
10154 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
10155 backend represents a virtual server.
10157 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
10158 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
10159 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
10160 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
10162 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
10163 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
10164 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
10165 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
10166 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
10167 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
10168 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
10170 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
10171 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
10174 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
10175 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
10176 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
10177 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
10178 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
10179 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
10180 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
10183 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
10184 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
10187 @node Server Buffer Format
10188 @subsection Server Buffer Format
10189 @cindex server buffer format
10191 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
10192 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
10193 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
10194 variable, with some simple extensions:
10199 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
10202 The name of this server.
10205 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
10208 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
10211 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
10212 The mode line can also be customized by using the
10213 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
10214 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
10224 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
10227 @node Server Commands
10228 @subsection Server Commands
10229 @cindex server commands
10235 @findex gnus-server-add-server
10236 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
10240 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
10241 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
10244 @kindex SPACE (Server)
10245 @findex gnus-server-read-server
10246 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
10250 @findex gnus-server-exit
10251 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
10255 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
10256 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
10260 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
10261 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
10265 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
10266 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
10270 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
10271 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
10275 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
10276 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
10277 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
10282 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
10283 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
10284 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
10285 a mail backend that has gotten out of sync.
10290 @node Example Methods
10291 @subsection Example Methods
10293 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
10296 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
10299 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
10305 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
10306 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
10309 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
10310 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
10312 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
10313 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
10317 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
10320 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
10321 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
10323 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
10324 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
10325 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
10329 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
10332 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
10335 Here's the method for a public spool:
10339 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
10340 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
10346 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
10347 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
10348 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
10349 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
10350 should probably look something like this:
10354 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
10355 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
10356 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
10357 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
10358 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
10361 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
10362 compressed connection over the modem line, you could create a virtual
10363 server that would look something like this:
10367 (nntp-address "copper.uio.no")
10368 (nntp-rlogin-program "ssh")
10369 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
10370 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
10371 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
10372 ("telnet" "news.uio.no" "nntp")))
10375 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
10376 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
10377 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
10378 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
10381 @node Creating a Virtual Server
10382 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
10384 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
10385 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
10387 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
10388 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
10389 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
10391 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
10393 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
10394 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
10395 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
10396 will contain the following:
10406 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
10407 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
10408 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
10411 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
10412 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
10413 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
10416 @node Server Variables
10417 @subsection Server Variables
10419 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
10420 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
10421 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
10422 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
10423 won't change the "derived" variables.
10425 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
10426 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
10427 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
10428 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
10429 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
10430 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
10431 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
10432 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
10433 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
10437 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
10438 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
10439 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
10443 @node Servers and Methods
10444 @subsection Servers and Methods
10446 Wherever you would normally use a select method
10447 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
10448 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
10449 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
10453 @node Unavailable Servers
10454 @subsection Unavailable Servers
10456 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
10457 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
10458 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
10459 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
10460 actually the case or not.
10462 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
10463 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
10464 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
10465 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
10466 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
10467 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
10468 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
10469 it will regard that server as ``down''.
10471 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
10472 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
10474 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
10475 with the following commands:
10481 @findex gnus-server-open-server
10482 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
10483 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
10487 @findex gnus-server-close-server
10488 Close the connection (if any) to the server
10489 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
10493 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
10494 Mark the current server as unreachable
10495 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
10498 @kindex M-o (Server)
10499 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
10500 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
10501 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
10504 @kindex M-c (Server)
10505 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
10506 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
10507 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
10511 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
10512 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
10513 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
10519 @section Getting News
10520 @cindex reading news
10521 @cindex news backends
10523 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
10524 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
10525 or it can read from a local spool.
10528 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
10529 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
10534 @subsection @sc{nntp}
10537 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
10538 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
10539 server as the, uhm, address.
10541 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
10542 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
10543 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
10544 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
10546 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
10547 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
10548 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
10550 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
10555 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
10556 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
10557 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
10559 @cindex authentification
10560 @cindex nntp authentification
10561 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
10562 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
10563 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
10564 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
10565 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
10566 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
10567 present in this hook.
10569 @item nntp-authinfo-function
10570 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
10571 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
10572 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
10573 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
10574 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
10575 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
10576 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
10577 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
10578 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
10579 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
10580 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
10584 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
10587 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
10589 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
10590 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
10591 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
10592 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
10593 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
10594 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
10595 @samp{force} is explained below.
10599 Here's an example file:
10602 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
10603 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
10606 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
10607 have to be first, for instance.
10609 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
10610 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
10611 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
10612 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
10613 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
10614 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
10615 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
10617 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
10618 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
10624 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
10625 previously mentioned.
10627 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
10629 @item nntp-server-action-alist
10630 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
10631 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
10632 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
10633 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
10636 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
10637 '(("innd" (ding))))
10640 You probably don't want to do that, though.
10642 The default value is
10645 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
10646 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
10649 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
10650 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
10652 @item nntp-maximum-request
10653 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
10654 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
10655 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
10656 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
10657 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
10658 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
10659 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
10661 @item nntp-connection-timeout
10662 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
10663 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
10664 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
10665 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
10666 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
10667 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
10668 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
10669 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
10670 no timeouts are done.
10672 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
10673 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
10674 @c @cindex PPP connections
10675 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
10676 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
10677 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
10678 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
10679 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
10680 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
10681 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
10682 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
10683 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
10684 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
10686 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
10687 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
10688 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
10689 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
10690 @c described above.
10692 @item nntp-server-hook
10693 @vindex nntp-server-hook
10694 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
10697 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
10698 @findex nntp-open-telnet
10699 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
10700 @item nntp-open-connection-function
10701 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
10702 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Four pre-made
10703 functions are supplied:
10706 @item nntp-open-network-stream
10707 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
10710 @item nntp-open-rlogin
10711 Does an @samp{rlogin} on the
10712 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
10715 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
10719 @item nntp-rlogin-program
10720 @vindex nntp-rlogin-program
10721 Program used to log in on remote machines. The default is @samp{rsh},
10722 but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
10724 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
10725 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
10726 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
10728 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
10729 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
10730 User name on the remote system.
10734 @item nntp-open-telnet
10735 Does a @samp{telnet} to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet}
10736 to get to the @sc{nntp} server.
10738 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
10741 @item nntp-telnet-command
10742 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
10743 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
10745 @item nntp-telnet-switches
10746 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
10747 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
10749 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
10750 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
10751 User name for log in on the remote system.
10753 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
10754 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
10755 Password to use when logging in.
10757 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
10758 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
10759 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
10762 @item nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
10763 @vindex nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
10764 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the remote machine. The default is
10765 @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
10767 @item nntp-open-telnet-envuser
10768 @vindex nntp-open-telnet-envuser
10769 If non-@code{nil}, the @code{telnet} session (client and server both)
10770 will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for login name.
10771 This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
10775 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
10776 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
10777 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
10778 you must have SSLay installed
10779 (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also need
10780 @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distribution, for instance). You then
10781 define a server as follows:
10784 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
10786 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
10788 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
10789 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
10790 (nntp-port-number "snews")
10791 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
10796 @item nntp-end-of-line
10797 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
10798 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
10799 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
10800 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
10802 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
10803 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
10804 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
10808 @vindex nntp-address
10809 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
10811 @item nntp-port-number
10812 @vindex nntp-port-number
10813 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
10816 @item nntp-list-options
10817 @vindex nntp-list-options
10818 List of newsgroup name used for a option of the LIST command to restrict
10819 the listing output to only the specified newsgroups. Each newsgroup name
10820 can be a shell-style wildcard, for instance, @dfn{fj.*}, @dfn{japan.*},
10821 etc. Fortunately, if the server can accept such a option, it will
10822 probably make gnus run faster. You may use it as a server variable as
10826 (setq gnus-select-method
10827 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
10828 (nntp-list-options ("fj.*" "japan.*"))))
10831 @item nntp-options-subscribe
10832 @vindex nntp-options-subscribe
10833 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will be subscribed
10834 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
10835 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
10836 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
10837 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
10840 (setq gnus-select-method
10841 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
10842 (nntp-options-subscribe "^fj\\.\\|^japan\\.")))
10845 @item nntp-options-not-subscribe
10846 @vindex nntp-options-not-subscribe
10847 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will not be subscribed
10848 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
10849 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
10850 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
10851 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
10854 (setq gnus-select-method
10855 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
10856 (nntp-options-not-subscribe "\\.binaries\\.")))
10859 @item nntp-buggy-select
10860 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
10861 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
10863 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
10864 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
10865 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
10866 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
10869 @item nntp-xover-commands
10870 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
10873 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
10874 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
10878 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
10879 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
10880 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
10881 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
10882 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
10883 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
10884 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
10885 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
10886 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
10887 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
10888 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
10890 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
10891 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
10892 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
10894 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
10895 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
10896 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
10897 server closes connection.
10899 @item nntp-record-commands
10900 @vindex nntp-record-commands
10901 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
10902 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
10903 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
10904 that doesn't seem to work.
10910 @subsection News Spool
10914 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
10915 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
10916 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
10919 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
10920 anything else) as the address.
10922 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
10923 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
10924 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
10925 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
10929 @item nnspool-inews-program
10930 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
10931 Program used to post an article.
10933 @item nnspool-inews-switches
10934 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
10935 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
10937 @item nnspool-spool-directory
10938 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
10939 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
10940 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
10942 @item nnspool-nov-directory
10943 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
10944 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
10945 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
10947 @item nnspool-lib-dir
10948 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
10949 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
10951 @item nnspool-active-file
10952 @vindex nnspool-active-file
10953 The path to the active file.
10955 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
10956 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
10957 The path to the group descriptions file.
10959 @item nnspool-history-file
10960 @vindex nnspool-history-file
10961 The path to the news history file.
10963 @item nnspool-active-times-file
10964 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
10965 The path to the active date file.
10967 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
10968 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
10969 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
10972 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
10973 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
10975 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
10976 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
10977 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
10983 @section Getting Mail
10984 @cindex reading mail
10987 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
10991 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
10992 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
10993 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
10994 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
10995 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
10996 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
10997 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
10998 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
10999 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
11000 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
11001 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
11002 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
11003 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
11007 @node Mail in a Newsreader
11008 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
11010 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
11011 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
11012 of a culture shock.
11014 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
11015 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
11017 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
11018 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
11019 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
11020 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
11022 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
11024 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
11025 deleted? How awful!
11027 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
11028 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
11029 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
11030 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
11033 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
11034 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
11035 they want to treat a message.
11037 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
11038 via SMTP, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
11039 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
11040 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
11041 archived somewhere else.
11043 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
11044 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
11045 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
11046 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
11047 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
11049 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
11050 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
11051 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
11053 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
11054 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
11057 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
11058 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
11059 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
11060 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
11061 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
11063 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
11064 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
11065 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
11066 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
11067 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
11068 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
11072 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
11073 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
11075 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
11076 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
11077 and things will happen automatically.
11079 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
11080 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
11083 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
11084 '((nnml "private")))
11087 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
11088 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
11089 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
11090 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
11091 like any other group.
11093 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
11096 (setq nnmail-split-methods
11097 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11098 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
11102 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
11103 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
11104 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
11107 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
11108 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
11109 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
11112 @node Splitting Mail
11113 @subsection Splitting Mail
11114 @cindex splitting mail
11115 @cindex mail splitting
11117 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
11118 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
11119 to be split into groups.
11122 (setq nnmail-split-methods
11123 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11124 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
11125 ("mail.other" "")))
11128 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
11129 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
11130 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
11131 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
11132 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
11133 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
11134 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
11137 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
11140 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
11141 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
11142 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
11143 mail belongs in that group.
11145 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
11146 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
11147 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
11148 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
11149 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
11150 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
11152 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
11153 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
11154 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
11155 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
11156 thinks should carry this mail message.
11158 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
11159 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
11160 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
11161 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
11163 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
11164 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
11165 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
11166 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
11167 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
11169 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
11172 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
11173 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
11174 links. If that's the case for you, set
11175 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
11176 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
11178 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
11179 @kindex nnmail-split-history
11180 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
11181 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
11182 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
11183 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
11186 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
11187 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
11188 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
11189 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
11190 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
11191 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
11192 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
11193 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
11194 month's rent money.
11198 @subsection Mail Sources
11200 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
11201 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
11205 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
11206 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
11207 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
11211 @node Mail Source Specifiers
11212 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
11214 @cindex mail server
11217 @cindex mail source
11219 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
11220 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
11225 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
11228 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
11229 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
11230 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
11233 The following mail source types are available:
11237 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
11243 The path of the file. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
11244 environment variable or @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}.
11247 An example file mail source:
11250 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
11253 Or using the default path:
11259 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
11260 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
11261 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
11264 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
11268 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
11271 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
11275 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
11278 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
11280 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
11283 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
11287 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
11288 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. Setting
11289 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil force Gnus to
11290 scan the mail source only once.
11296 The path of the directory where the files are. There is no default
11300 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
11304 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
11305 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
11306 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
11307 predicate are considered.
11311 Script run before/after fetching mail.
11315 An example directory mail source:
11318 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
11323 Get mail from a POP server.
11329 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
11330 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
11333 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
11334 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
11335 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
11336 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
11337 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
11340 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
11344 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
11348 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
11349 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
11352 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
11355 The valid format specifier characters are:
11359 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
11360 included in this string.
11363 The name of the server.
11366 The port number of the server.
11369 The user name to use.
11372 The password to use.
11375 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
11376 corresponding keywords.
11379 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
11380 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
11383 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
11384 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
11387 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
11388 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
11391 @item :authentication
11392 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
11393 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
11398 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
11399 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
11401 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
11402 default user name, and default fetcher:
11408 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
11411 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
11412 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
11415 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
11418 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
11422 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
11423 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
11424 contains exactly one mail.
11430 The path of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
11431 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
11434 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
11435 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
11437 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
11438 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
11439 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
11442 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
11443 from locking problems).
11447 Two example maildir mail sources:
11450 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/" :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
11454 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/" :subdirs ("new"))
11458 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
11459 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
11460 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
11461 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
11468 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
11469 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
11472 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
11473 @samp{993} for SSL connections.
11476 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
11480 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
11484 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
11485 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
11486 @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{ssl} or the default @samp{network}.
11488 @item :authentication
11489 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is one
11490 of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now, this
11491 means @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default
11495 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
11496 mapped into the `imap-shell-program' variable. This should be a
11497 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
11503 The valid format specifier characters are:
11507 The name of the server.
11510 User name from `imap-default-user'.
11513 The port number of the server.
11516 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
11517 corresponding keywords.
11520 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
11521 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
11524 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
11525 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
11526 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
11527 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{nil}.
11528 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
11529 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 §6.4.4.
11532 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
11533 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
11534 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
11535 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 §2.3.2.
11538 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
11539 after finishing the fetch.
11543 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
11546 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com" :stream kerberos4 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
11550 Get mail from a webmail server, such as www.hotmail.com,
11551 webmail.netscape.com, www.netaddress.com, www.my-deja.com.
11553 NOTE: Now mail.yahoo.com provides POP3 service, so @sc{pop} mail source
11556 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
11557 required for url "4.0pre.46".
11559 WARNING: Mails may lost. NO WARRANTY.
11565 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
11566 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
11569 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
11573 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
11577 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
11578 folder after finishing the fetch.
11582 An example webmail source:
11585 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail :user "user-name" :password "secret")
11590 @item Common Keywords
11591 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
11597 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
11598 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
11602 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
11607 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
11608 useful when you use local mail and news.
11613 @subsubsection Function Interface
11615 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
11616 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
11617 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
11618 consider the following mail-source setting:
11621 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
11622 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
11625 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
11626 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
11627 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
11628 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
11629 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
11631 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
11634 @node Mail Source Customization
11635 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
11637 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
11638 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
11642 @item mail-source-crash-box
11643 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
11644 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
11645 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
11647 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
11648 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
11649 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
11651 @item mail-source-directory
11652 @vindex mail-source-directory
11653 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
11654 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
11655 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
11658 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
11659 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
11660 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
11661 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
11662 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
11663 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
11665 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
11666 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
11667 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
11672 @node Fetching Mail
11673 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
11675 @vindex mail-sources
11676 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
11677 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
11678 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
11679 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
11681 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
11682 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
11685 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
11686 mail server, you'd say something like:
11691 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11692 :password "secret")))
11695 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
11699 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
11700 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11703 :password "secret")))
11707 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
11708 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
11709 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
11710 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
11711 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
11712 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
11716 @node Mail Backend Variables
11717 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
11719 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
11723 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
11724 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
11725 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
11726 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
11728 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
11729 @item nnmail-split-hook
11730 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
11731 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
11732 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
11733 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
11734 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
11735 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
11736 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
11737 in the buffer will show up in any files.
11738 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
11741 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11742 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
11743 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11744 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
11745 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
11746 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
11747 starting to handle the new mail) and
11748 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
11749 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
11750 default file modes the new mail files get:
11753 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11754 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
11756 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
11757 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
11760 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
11761 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
11762 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
11763 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
11764 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
11765 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
11766 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
11768 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
11769 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
11770 @findex delete-file
11771 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
11773 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11774 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11775 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
11776 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
11777 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
11782 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
11783 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
11784 @cindex mail splitting
11785 @cindex fancy mail splitting
11787 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
11788 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
11789 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
11790 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
11791 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
11792 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
11794 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
11797 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
11798 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
11799 ;; from real errors.
11800 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
11802 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
11803 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
11804 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
11805 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
11806 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
11807 ;; Other mailing lists...
11808 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
11809 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
11810 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
11811 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
11812 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
11813 ;; message was really cross-posted.
11814 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
11815 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
11817 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
11818 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
11822 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
11823 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
11824 the five possible split syntaxes:
11829 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
11830 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
11834 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
11835 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
11836 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
11837 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
11838 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
11839 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
11840 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
11841 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
11844 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11845 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
11846 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
11847 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
11850 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11851 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
11854 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
11855 this message. Use with extreme caution.
11858 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
11859 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
11860 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
11861 function should return a @var{split}.
11863 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
11864 body of the messages:
11867 (defun split-on-body ()
11869 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
11870 (goto-char (point-min))
11871 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
11876 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11877 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
11878 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
11882 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
11886 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
11887 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
11888 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
11889 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
11890 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
11892 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
11893 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
11894 are expanded as specified by the variable
11895 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
11896 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
11899 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
11900 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
11901 when all this splitting is performed.
11903 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
11904 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
11905 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
11908 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
11911 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
11912 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
11914 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
11915 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
11916 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
11917 groupings 1 through 9.
11919 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
11920 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
11921 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
11922 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
11923 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
11924 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
11925 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
11926 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
11927 it once per thread.
11929 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to a
11930 non-nil value. And then you can include
11931 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon feature, like so:
11933 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
11934 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
11935 ;; other splits go here
11939 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
11940 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
11941 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
11942 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
11943 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
11944 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
11945 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
11946 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
11947 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name. It
11948 is recommended that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a
11949 somewhat higher number than the default so that the message ids are
11950 still in the cache. (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300
11952 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11953 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
11954 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
11955 messages goes into the new group.
11958 @node Group Mail Splitting
11959 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
11960 @cindex mail splitting
11961 @cindex group mail splitting
11963 @findex gnus-group-split
11964 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
11965 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
11966 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
11967 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
11968 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
11969 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
11970 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
11971 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
11973 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
11974 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
11975 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
11976 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
11978 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
11979 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
11980 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
11981 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
11982 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
11983 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
11984 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
11986 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
11987 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
11988 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
11989 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
11990 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
11991 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
11992 @code{gnus-group-split}.
11994 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
11995 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
11996 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
11997 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
11998 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
11999 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
12000 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
12001 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
12002 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
12003 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
12004 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
12005 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
12006 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
12008 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
12013 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
12014 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
12016 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
12017 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
12018 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
12019 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
12021 ((split-spec . catch-all))
12024 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
12025 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
12026 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
12029 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
12030 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
12031 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
12035 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
12036 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
12037 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
12041 (: gnus-mlsplt-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
12044 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
12045 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
12046 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
12047 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
12048 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
12049 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
12050 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
12051 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
12052 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
12054 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
12055 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
12056 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
12057 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
12058 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
12059 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
12060 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
12061 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
12062 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
12064 @findex gnus-group-split-update
12065 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
12066 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
12067 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
12068 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
12069 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus}:
12072 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
12075 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
12076 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
12077 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
12078 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
12079 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
12082 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
12083 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
12084 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
12085 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
12087 @node Incorporating Old Mail
12088 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
12090 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
12091 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
12092 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
12095 Doing so can be quite easy.
12097 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
12098 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
12099 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
12100 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
12101 your @code{nnml} groups.
12107 Go to the group buffer.
12110 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
12111 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12114 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
12117 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
12118 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
12121 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
12122 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
12125 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
12126 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
12127 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
12128 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
12129 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
12131 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
12132 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
12133 using the new mail backend.
12136 @node Expiring Mail
12137 @subsection Expiring Mail
12138 @cindex article expiry
12140 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
12141 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
12142 different approach to mail reading.
12144 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
12145 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
12146 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
12147 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
12148 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
12149 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
12152 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
12153 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
12154 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
12155 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
12156 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
12157 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
12158 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
12159 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
12161 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
12162 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
12163 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
12164 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
12165 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
12166 column in the summary buffer.
12168 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
12169 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
12170 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
12171 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
12174 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
12176 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
12177 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
12178 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
12181 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
12182 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
12183 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
12184 groups expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
12185 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
12187 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
12188 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
12191 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
12192 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
12195 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
12196 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
12198 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
12199 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
12200 don't really mix very well.
12202 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
12203 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
12204 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
12205 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
12208 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
12209 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
12210 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
12211 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
12214 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
12216 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
12218 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
12220 ((string= group "mail.junk")
12222 ((string= group "important")
12228 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
12229 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
12231 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
12232 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
12233 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
12236 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
12237 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
12239 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
12240 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
12241 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them to
12242 other groups instead of deleting them. The variable @code{nnmail-expiry-target}
12243 (and the @code{expiry-target} group parameter) controls this. The
12244 variable supplies a default value for all groups, which can be
12245 overridden for specific groups by the group parameter.
12246 default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a string (which
12247 should be the name of the group the message should be moved to), or a
12248 function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to the message in
12249 question, and with the name of the group being moved from as its
12250 parameter) which should return a target -- either a group name or
12253 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
12255 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
12259 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
12260 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
12261 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
12262 easier for procmail users.
12264 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
12265 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
12266 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
12267 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
12268 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
12269 caution. Even more dangerous is the
12270 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
12271 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
12272 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
12273 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
12274 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
12275 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
12276 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
12279 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
12281 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
12282 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
12283 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
12284 auto-expire turned on.
12288 @subsection Washing Mail
12289 @cindex mail washing
12290 @cindex list server brain damage
12291 @cindex incoming mail treatment
12293 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
12294 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
12295 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
12296 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
12297 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
12298 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
12300 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
12301 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
12302 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
12305 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
12306 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
12307 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
12308 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
12311 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
12312 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
12313 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
12314 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
12315 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
12318 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
12319 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
12320 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
12321 Emacs running on MS machines.
12325 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
12326 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
12327 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
12328 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
12331 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
12332 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
12333 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
12334 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
12336 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
12337 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
12338 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
12339 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
12340 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
12341 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
12342 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
12345 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
12346 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
12349 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
12350 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
12353 This can also be done non-destructively with
12354 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
12356 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
12357 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
12358 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
12360 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
12361 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
12363 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
12364 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
12365 @code{References} headers.
12369 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
12370 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
12371 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
12375 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
12376 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
12377 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
12384 @subsection Duplicates
12386 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
12387 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
12388 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
12389 @cindex duplicate mails
12390 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
12391 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
12392 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
12393 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
12394 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
12395 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
12396 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
12397 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
12398 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
12399 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
12400 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
12401 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
12402 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
12404 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
12405 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
12406 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
12407 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
12409 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
12412 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
12413 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
12417 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
12418 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
12419 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
12420 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
12421 (any mail "mail.misc")
12428 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12429 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
12434 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
12435 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
12436 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
12437 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
12438 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
12441 @node Not Reading Mail
12442 @subsection Not Reading Mail
12444 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
12445 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
12446 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
12448 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
12449 @code{nil}, none of the backends will ever attempt to read incoming
12450 mail, which should help.
12452 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12453 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
12454 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
12455 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
12456 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
12457 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
12458 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
12459 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
12460 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
12461 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
12462 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
12464 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
12465 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
12469 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
12470 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
12472 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
12473 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
12474 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
12476 There are five different mail backends in the standard Gnus, and more
12477 backends are available separately. The mail backend most people use
12478 (because it is the fastest and most flexible) is @code{nnml}
12479 (@pxref{Mail Spool}).
12482 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
12483 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
12484 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
12485 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
12486 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
12487 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
12491 @node Unix Mail Box
12492 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
12494 @cindex unix mail box
12496 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
12497 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
12498 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
12499 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
12500 which group it belongs in.
12502 Virtual server settings:
12505 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
12506 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
12507 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
12509 @item nnmbox-active-file
12510 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
12511 The name of the active file for the mail box.
12513 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
12514 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
12515 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
12521 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
12525 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
12526 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
12527 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
12528 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
12529 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
12531 Virtual server settings:
12534 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
12535 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
12536 The name of the rmail mbox file.
12538 @item nnbabyl-active-file
12539 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
12540 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
12542 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12543 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12544 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
12549 @subsubsection Mail Spool
12551 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
12553 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
12554 format. It should be used with some caution.
12556 @vindex nnml-directory
12557 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
12558 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
12559 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
12560 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
12562 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
12565 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
12566 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
12567 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
12568 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
12569 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
12570 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
12571 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
12572 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
12574 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
12575 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
12576 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
12577 backend when it comes to reading mail.
12579 Virtual server settings:
12582 @item nnml-directory
12583 @vindex nnml-directory
12584 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
12586 @item nnml-active-file
12587 @vindex nnml-active-file
12588 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
12590 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
12591 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
12592 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
12595 @item nnml-get-new-mail
12596 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
12597 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
12599 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
12600 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
12601 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
12603 @item nnml-nov-file-name
12604 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
12605 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
12607 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
12608 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
12609 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
12613 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
12614 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
12615 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
12616 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
12617 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
12618 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
12619 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
12624 @subsubsection MH Spool
12626 @cindex mh-e mail spool
12628 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
12629 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
12630 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
12631 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
12633 Virtual server settings:
12636 @item nnmh-directory
12637 @vindex nnmh-directory
12638 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
12640 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
12641 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
12642 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
12645 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
12646 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
12647 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
12648 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
12649 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
12650 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
12651 to set this variable to @code{t}.
12656 @subsubsection Mail Folders
12658 @cindex mbox folders
12659 @cindex mail folders
12661 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
12662 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
12663 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
12666 Virtual server settings:
12669 @item nnfolder-directory
12670 @vindex nnfolder-directory
12671 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
12673 @item nnfolder-active-file
12674 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
12675 The name of the active file.
12677 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
12678 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
12679 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
12681 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
12682 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
12683 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
12685 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
12686 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
12687 @cindex backup files
12688 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
12689 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
12690 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
12691 your @file{.emacs} file:
12694 (defun turn-off-backup ()
12695 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
12697 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
12700 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
12701 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
12702 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
12703 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
12704 extract some information from it before removing it.
12706 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
12707 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
12708 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
12713 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
12714 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
12715 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
12716 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
12717 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
12718 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
12721 @node Comparing Mail Backends
12722 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Backends
12724 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{backend} is the common word for a
12725 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
12726 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
12727 and so selection of a suitable backend is required in order to get that
12728 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
12730 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
12731 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
12732 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
12733 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
12734 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
12735 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
12736 @code{nnspool} backends, to select between these methods, if one happens
12737 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
12740 The goal in selecting a mail backend is to pick one which
12741 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
12742 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
12743 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
12748 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
12749 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
12750 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
12751 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
12752 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
12753 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
12754 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
12755 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
12756 this backend, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
12757 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
12758 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
12759 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
12760 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
12765 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
12766 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
12767 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
12768 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
12769 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
12770 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
12771 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
12772 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
12773 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
12774 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
12775 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
12776 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
12777 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
12778 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
12780 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
12781 filesystem, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
12786 @code{nnml} is the backend which smells the most as though you were
12787 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
12788 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
12789 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
12790 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
12791 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
12792 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
12793 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
12794 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
12795 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
12796 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
12797 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
12798 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
12799 provided by the active file and overviews.
12801 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
12802 resource which defines available places in the filesystem to put new
12803 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
12804 tight, shared filesystems. But if you live on a personal machine where
12805 the filesystem is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
12808 It is also problematic using this backend if you are living in a
12809 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
12814 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
12815 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
12816 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
12817 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
12818 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
12819 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
12820 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
12824 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
12825 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
12826 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
12827 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
12828 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
12829 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
12830 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
12831 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
12832 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
12834 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
12835 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
12836 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
12837 friendly mail backend all over.
12842 @node Browsing the Web
12843 @section Browsing the Web
12845 @cindex browsing the web
12849 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
12850 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
12851 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
12852 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
12853 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
12854 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
12855 even know what a news group is.
12857 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
12858 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
12859 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
12860 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
12861 you mad in the end.
12863 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
12866 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of backends for providing
12867 interfaces to these sources.
12870 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
12871 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
12872 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
12873 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
12874 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
12877 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
12879 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
12880 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
12881 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus backend
12882 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these backends,
12883 though, you should be ok.
12885 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
12886 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
12887 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
12888 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
12889 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
12893 @subsection Web Searches
12897 @cindex InReference
12898 @cindex Usenet searches
12899 @cindex searching the Usenet
12901 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
12902 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
12903 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
12904 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
12905 searches without having to use a browser.
12907 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
12908 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
12909 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
12910 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
12911 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
12913 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
12914 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
12915 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
12916 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
12917 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
12918 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
12919 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
12920 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
12921 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
12922 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
12925 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
12926 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
12927 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
12928 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
12929 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
12930 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
12932 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
12933 to use @code{nnweb}.
12935 Virtual server variables:
12940 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
12941 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
12945 @vindex nnweb-search
12946 The search string to feed to the search engine.
12948 @item nnweb-max-hits
12949 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
12950 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
12953 @item nnweb-type-definition
12954 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
12955 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
12956 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
12961 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
12965 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
12968 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
12971 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
12975 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
12982 @subsection Slashdot
12986 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
12987 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
12988 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
12990 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
12991 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
12994 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
12995 '((nnslashdot "")))
12998 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} backend for new comments
12999 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
13000 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
13001 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
13002 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
13005 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
13006 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13008 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
13009 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
13010 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
13011 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
13012 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
13013 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
13016 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
13019 @item nnslashdot-threaded
13020 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
13021 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
13022 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
13023 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
13024 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
13025 but much, much slower than untreaded.
13027 @item nnslashdot-login-name
13028 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
13029 The login name to use when posting.
13031 @item nnslashdot-password
13032 @vindex nnslashdot-password
13033 The password to use when posting.
13035 @item nnslashdot-directory
13036 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
13037 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default value is
13038 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
13040 @item nnslashdot-active-url
13041 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
13042 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
13043 news articles and comments. The default is
13044 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
13046 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
13047 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
13048 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
13050 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
13052 @item nnslashdot-article-url
13053 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
13054 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
13056 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
13058 @item nnslashdot-threshold
13059 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
13060 The score threshold. The default is -1.
13062 @item nnslashdot-group-number
13063 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
13064 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
13065 updated. The default is 0.
13072 @subsection Ultimate
13074 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
13076 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
13077 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
13078 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
13079 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
13081 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
13082 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
13083 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
13084 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
13085 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
13086 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
13087 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
13089 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
13092 @item nnultimate-directory
13093 @vindex nnultimate-directory
13094 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
13095 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
13100 @subsection Web Archive
13102 @cindex Web Archive
13104 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
13105 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
13106 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
13107 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
13110 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
13111 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
13112 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
13113 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
13114 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
13115 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
13116 backend by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
13118 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
13121 @item nnwarchive-directory
13122 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
13123 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
13124 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
13126 @item nnwarchive-login
13127 @vindex nnwarchive-login
13128 The account name on the web server.
13130 @item nnwarchive-passwd
13131 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
13132 The password for your account on the web server.
13136 @node Customizing w3
13137 @subsection Customizing w3
13143 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
13144 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
13145 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
13147 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
13148 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
13149 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
13152 (eval-after-load "w3"
13154 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
13155 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
13156 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
13157 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
13159 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
13162 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
13163 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
13167 @node Other Sources
13168 @section Other Sources
13170 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
13171 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
13175 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
13176 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
13177 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
13178 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
13179 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
13180 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
13184 @node Directory Groups
13185 @subsection Directory Groups
13187 @cindex directory groups
13189 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
13190 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
13193 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
13194 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
13195 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
13196 backend to read directories. Big deal.
13198 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
13199 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
13200 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
13201 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
13202 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
13204 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
13206 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
13207 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
13208 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
13209 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
13212 @node Anything Groups
13213 @subsection Anything Groups
13216 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
13217 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
13218 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
13221 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
13222 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
13223 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
13224 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
13225 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
13226 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
13227 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
13228 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
13229 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
13230 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
13233 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
13234 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
13235 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
13236 in the article buffer, just as usual.
13238 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
13239 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
13240 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
13241 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
13243 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
13244 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
13245 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
13246 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
13247 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
13248 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
13249 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
13250 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
13255 @item nneething-map-file-directory
13256 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
13257 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
13258 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
13260 @item nneething-exclude-files
13261 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
13262 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
13263 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
13265 @item nneething-include-files
13266 @vindex nneething-include-files
13267 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
13268 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
13270 @item nneething-map-file
13271 @vindex nneething-map-file
13272 Name of the map files.
13276 @node Document Groups
13277 @subsection Document Groups
13279 @cindex documentation group
13282 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
13283 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
13290 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
13295 The standard Unix mbox file.
13297 @cindex MMDF mail box
13299 The MMDF mail box format.
13302 Several news articles appended into a file.
13305 @cindex rnews batch files
13306 The rnews batch transport format.
13307 @cindex forwarded messages
13310 Forwarded articles.
13313 Netscape mail boxes.
13316 MIME multipart messages.
13318 @item standard-digest
13319 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
13322 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
13325 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
13326 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
13327 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
13330 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
13331 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
13332 group. And that's it.
13334 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
13335 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
13336 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
13337 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
13338 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
13339 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
13340 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
13341 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
13342 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
13343 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
13345 Virtual server variables:
13348 @item nndoc-article-type
13349 @vindex nndoc-article-type
13350 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
13351 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
13352 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
13353 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail} or @code{guess}.
13355 @item nndoc-post-type
13356 @vindex nndoc-post-type
13357 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
13358 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
13363 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
13367 @node Document Server Internals
13368 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
13370 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
13371 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
13372 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
13373 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
13375 First, here's an example document type definition:
13379 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
13380 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
13383 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
13384 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
13385 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
13386 types can be defined with very few settings:
13389 @item first-article
13390 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
13391 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
13394 @item article-begin
13395 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
13396 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
13398 @item head-begin-function
13399 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
13402 @item nndoc-head-begin
13403 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
13406 @item nndoc-head-end
13407 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
13408 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
13410 @item body-begin-function
13411 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
13415 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
13418 @item body-end-function
13419 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
13423 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
13426 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
13427 regexp will be totally ignored.
13431 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
13432 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
13433 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
13434 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
13435 something that's palatable for Gnus:
13438 @item prepare-body-function
13439 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
13440 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
13441 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
13443 @item article-transform-function
13444 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
13445 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
13446 body of the article.
13448 @item generate-head-function
13449 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
13450 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
13451 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
13452 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
13456 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
13461 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
13462 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
13463 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
13464 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
13465 (head-end . "^ ?$")
13466 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
13467 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
13468 (subtype digest guess))
13471 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
13472 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
13473 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
13474 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
13475 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
13477 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
13478 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
13479 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
13480 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
13481 traversed sequentially, and @code{nndoc-TYPE-type-p} is called for a given type @code{TYPE}. So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document
13482 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
13483 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
13484 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
13485 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
13486 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
13494 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
13495 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
13496 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
13498 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
13499 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
13500 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
13503 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
13504 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
13505 that interested in doing things properly.
13507 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
13508 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
13511 First some terminology:
13516 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
13517 get news and/or mail from.
13520 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
13521 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
13524 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
13528 @item message packets
13529 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
13530 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
13531 default, where @var{x} is a number.
13533 @item response packets
13534 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
13535 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
13536 default, where @var{x} is a number.
13546 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
13547 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
13548 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
13549 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
13552 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
13555 You put the packet in your home directory.
13558 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
13559 the native or secondary server.
13562 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
13563 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
13566 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
13570 You transfer this packet to the server.
13573 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
13576 You then repeat until you die.
13580 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
13581 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
13584 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
13585 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
13586 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
13590 @node SOUP Commands
13591 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
13593 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
13597 @kindex G s b (Group)
13598 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
13599 Pack all unread articles in the current group
13600 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
13601 process/prefix convention.
13604 @kindex G s w (Group)
13605 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
13606 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
13609 @kindex G s s (Group)
13610 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
13611 Send all replies from the replies packet
13612 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
13615 @kindex G s p (Group)
13616 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
13617 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
13620 @kindex G s r (Group)
13621 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
13622 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
13625 @kindex O s (Summary)
13626 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
13627 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
13628 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
13629 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
13634 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
13639 @item gnus-soup-directory
13640 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
13641 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
13642 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
13644 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
13645 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
13646 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
13647 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
13649 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
13650 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
13651 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
13652 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
13654 @item gnus-soup-packer
13655 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
13656 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
13657 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
13659 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
13660 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
13661 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
13662 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
13664 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
13665 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
13666 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
13668 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
13669 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
13670 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
13671 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
13677 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
13680 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
13681 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
13682 you can read them at leisure.
13684 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
13688 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
13689 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
13690 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
13691 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
13693 @item nnsoup-directory
13694 @vindex nnsoup-directory
13695 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
13696 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
13698 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
13699 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
13700 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
13701 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
13703 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
13704 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
13705 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
13706 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
13707 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
13709 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
13710 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
13711 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
13712 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
13714 @item nnsoup-active-file
13715 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
13716 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
13717 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
13718 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
13719 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
13721 @item nnsoup-packer
13722 @vindex nnsoup-packer
13723 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
13724 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
13726 @item nnsoup-unpacker
13727 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
13728 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
13729 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
13731 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
13732 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
13733 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
13736 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
13737 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
13738 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
13741 @item nnsoup-always-save
13742 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
13743 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
13749 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
13751 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
13752 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
13753 more for that to happen.
13755 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
13756 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
13757 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
13760 In specific, this is what it does:
13763 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
13764 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
13767 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
13768 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
13769 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
13772 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
13773 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
13774 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
13777 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
13778 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
13779 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
13781 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
13787 @item nngateway-address
13788 @vindex nngateway-address
13789 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
13791 @item nngateway-header-transformation
13792 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
13793 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
13794 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
13795 transformation should be called, and defaults to
13796 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
13797 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
13800 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
13801 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
13802 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
13805 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
13808 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
13811 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
13814 The following pre-defined functions exist:
13816 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
13819 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
13820 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
13821 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
13823 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
13825 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
13826 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
13827 @code{nngateway-address}.
13832 (setq gnus-post-method
13833 '(nngateway "mail2news@@replay.com"
13834 (nngateway-header-transformation
13835 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
13843 So, to use this, simply say something like:
13846 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
13852 @subsection @sc{imap}
13856 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
13857 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
13858 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
13859 specify the network address of the server.
13861 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
13862 POP can, it can hence be viewed as POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
13863 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
13864 protocol. (@sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp} because news
13865 is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.)
13867 If you want to use @sc{imap} as POP++, use an imap entry in
13868 mail-sources. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the @sc{imap}
13869 server and store them on the local disk. This is not the usage
13870 described in this section. @xref{Mail Sources}.
13872 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
13873 entry in gnus-secondary-select-methods. With this, Gnus will
13874 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
13875 usage explained in this section.
13877 A server configuration in @code{~/.gnus} with a few @sc{imap} servers
13878 might look something like this:
13881 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
13882 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
13883 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
13885 (nnimap-address "localhost")
13886 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
13887 ; a UW server running on localhost
13889 (nnimap-server-port 143)
13890 (nnimap-address "localhost")
13891 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
13892 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
13893 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
13894 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
13895 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
13896 (nnimap-stream network))
13897 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
13899 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
13900 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
13901 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
13904 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
13909 @item nnimap-address
13910 @vindex nnimap-address
13912 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
13913 server name if not specified.
13915 @item nnimap-server-port
13916 @vindex nnimap-server-port
13917 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
13919 Note that this should be a integer, example server specification:
13922 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
13923 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
13926 @item nnimap-list-pattern
13927 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
13928 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
13929 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
13930 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
13931 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
13932 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
13934 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
13935 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
13936 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
13939 Example server specification:
13942 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
13943 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
13944 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
13947 @item nnimap-stream
13948 @vindex nnimap-stream
13949 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
13950 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
13951 of SSL. (SSL is being replaced by STARTTLS, which can be automatically
13952 detected, but it's not widely deployed yet).
13954 Example server specification:
13957 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
13958 (nnimap-stream ssl))
13961 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
13965 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5). Require the
13966 @samp{imtest} program.
13968 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with kerberos 4. Require the @samp{imtest} program.
13970 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
13971 SSL). Require the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
13974 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Require OpenSSL (the
13975 program @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
13977 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
13979 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
13982 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
13983 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD, nnimap support
13984 both @samp{imtest} version 1.5.x and version 1.6.x. The variable
13985 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
13988 @vindex imap-ssl-program
13989 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
13990 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
13991 and nnimap support it too - although the most recent versions of
13992 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
13993 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
13994 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
13997 @vindex imap-shell-program
13998 @vindex imap-shell-host
13999 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
14000 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
14002 @item nnimap-authenticator
14003 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
14005 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
14006 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
14008 Example server specification:
14011 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14012 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
14015 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
14019 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Require
14020 external program @code{imtest}.
14022 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos authentication. Require external program
14025 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Require
14026 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
14028 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
14030 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
14032 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your emailadress as password.
14035 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
14037 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
14038 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
14039 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
14040 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
14041 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
14042 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{G DEL} or
14045 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
14046 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
14047 running in circles yet?
14049 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
14050 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
14053 The possible options are:
14058 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
14061 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
14062 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
14063 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
14064 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
14066 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
14071 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
14072 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
14074 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format
14075 is (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See
14076 `nntp-authinfo-file' for exact syntax.
14078 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
14079 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
14080 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
14086 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
14087 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
14088 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
14093 @node Splitting in IMAP
14094 @subsubsection Splitting in @sc{imap}
14095 @cindex splitting imap mail
14097 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
14098 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
14099 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
14100 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
14101 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
14105 Here are the variables of interest:
14109 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
14110 @cindex splitting, crosspost
14112 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
14114 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
14115 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
14117 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
14119 @item nnimap-split-inbox
14120 @cindex splitting, inbox
14122 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
14124 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
14125 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
14129 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
14130 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
14133 No nnmail equivalent.
14135 @item nnimap-split-rule
14136 @cindex Splitting, rules
14137 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
14139 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
14142 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
14143 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
14144 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
14145 Neither did I, we need examples.
14148 (setq nnimap-split-rule
14149 '(("INBOX.nnimap" "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
14150 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
14151 ("INBOX.private" "")))
14154 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
14155 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
14156 into INBOX.spam and everything else in INBOX.private.
14158 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
14159 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
14163 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
14166 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
14167 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
14168 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
14169 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
14171 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
14172 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
14173 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
14174 of your inbox. (This might might affect performance if you keep lots of
14175 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
14176 them every time you fetch new mail.)
14178 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
14179 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
14180 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
14182 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
14183 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
14184 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
14186 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it need too.
14188 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
14189 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
14190 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
14193 (setq nnimap-split-rule
14194 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
14195 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
14196 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
14197 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
14198 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
14201 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
14202 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
14203 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
14204 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
14205 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
14206 group/function elements.
14208 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
14210 @item nnimap-split-predicate
14212 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
14214 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
14215 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
14217 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
14218 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
14219 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
14222 @item nnimap-split-fancy
14223 @cindex splitting, fancy
14224 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
14225 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
14227 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
14228 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
14229 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
14231 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
14232 nnimap backends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
14233 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
14234 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
14239 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
14240 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
14243 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
14247 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
14248 @subsubsection Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
14249 @cindex editing imap acls
14250 @cindex Access Control Lists
14251 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
14253 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
14255 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
14256 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
14257 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
14260 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
14261 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
14262 editing window with detailed instructions.
14264 Some possible uses:
14268 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
14269 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
14270 follow the list without subscribing to it.
14272 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
14273 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
14274 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
14278 @node Expunging mailboxes
14279 @subsubsection Expunging mailboxes
14283 @cindex Manual expunging
14285 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
14287 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-close},
14288 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
14289 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
14291 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
14296 @node Combined Groups
14297 @section Combined Groups
14299 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
14303 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
14304 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
14308 @node Virtual Groups
14309 @subsection Virtual Groups
14311 @cindex virtual groups
14312 @cindex merging groups
14314 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
14317 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
14318 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
14319 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
14321 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
14322 regexp to match component groups.
14324 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
14325 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
14326 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
14327 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
14328 the virtual group.)
14330 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
14331 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
14334 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
14337 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
14338 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
14340 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
14341 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
14342 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
14343 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
14346 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
14349 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
14350 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
14351 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
14353 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
14354 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
14355 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
14356 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
14357 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
14359 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
14360 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
14361 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
14363 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
14364 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
14365 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
14366 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
14367 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
14368 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
14369 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
14370 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
14371 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
14372 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
14373 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
14375 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
14376 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
14377 has to ask the backend of the component group the article comes from
14378 whether it is a news or mail backend. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
14379 there is typically no sure way for the component backend to know this,
14380 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
14381 not-news backend. (Just to be on the safe side.)
14383 @kbd{C-c C-t} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
14384 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
14388 @node Kibozed Groups
14389 @subsection Kibozed Groups
14393 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
14394 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
14395 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
14396 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
14398 @kindex G k (Group)
14399 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
14402 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
14403 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
14404 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
14405 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
14407 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
14408 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
14409 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
14411 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
14412 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
14413 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
14414 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
14415 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
14416 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
14417 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
14418 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
14420 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
14421 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
14422 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
14423 Stranger things have happened.
14425 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
14426 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
14428 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
14429 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
14430 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
14431 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
14432 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
14433 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
14435 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
14436 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
14439 @node Gnus Unplugged
14440 @section Gnus Unplugged
14445 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
14447 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
14448 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
14449 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
14450 read news. Believe it or not.
14452 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
14453 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
14454 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
14455 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
14456 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
14458 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
14459 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
14460 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
14461 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
14462 reading news on a machine.
14464 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
14468 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
14469 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
14473 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
14474 @file{.gnus.el} file:
14481 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
14483 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
14486 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
14487 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
14488 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
14489 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
14490 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
14491 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
14492 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
14493 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
14494 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
14495 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
14500 @subsection Agent Basics
14502 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
14504 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
14505 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
14506 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
14507 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
14509 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
14510 connected to the net continuously.
14512 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
14513 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
14515 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
14520 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
14521 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
14522 already fetched while in this mode.
14525 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
14526 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
14527 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
14528 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
14529 Source Specifiers}).
14532 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
14533 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
14534 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
14535 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
14536 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
14539 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
14540 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
14541 then you read the news offline.
14544 And then you go to step 2.
14547 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
14553 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
14554 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
14555 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
14556 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
14557 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
14558 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
14561 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
14568 @node Agent Categories
14569 @subsection Agent Categories
14571 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
14572 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
14573 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
14574 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
14575 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
14576 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
14577 you're interested in the articles anyway.
14579 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
14580 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
14581 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
14582 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
14583 managing categories.
14586 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
14587 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
14588 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
14592 @node Category Syntax
14593 @subsubsection Category Syntax
14595 A category consists of two things.
14599 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
14600 are eligible for downloading; and
14603 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
14604 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
14605 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
14608 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
14609 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
14610 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
14611 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
14613 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
14614 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
14615 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
14617 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
14618 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
14619 operators sprinkled in between.
14621 Perhaps some examples are in order.
14623 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
14624 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
14630 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
14631 short (for some value of ``short'').
14633 Here's a more complex predicate:
14642 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
14643 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
14646 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
14647 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
14648 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
14650 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
14651 you want to do, you can write your own.
14655 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
14656 lines; default 100.
14659 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
14660 lines; default 200.
14663 True iff the article has a download score less than
14664 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
14667 True iff the article has a download score greater than
14668 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
14671 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
14672 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
14673 checksum and sees whether articles match.
14682 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
14683 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
14684 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
14687 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
14688 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
14689 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
14690 something along the lines of the following:
14693 (defun my-article-old-p ()
14694 "Say whether an article is old."
14695 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
14696 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
14699 with the predicate then defined as:
14702 (not my-article-old-p)
14705 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
14706 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
14707 wherever. (Note: this would have to be at a point *after*
14708 @code{gnus-agent} has been loaded via @code{(gnus-agentize)})
14711 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
14712 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
14713 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
14716 and simply specify your predicate as:
14722 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
14723 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
14724 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
14725 just don't give a damn.
14727 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
14728 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
14729 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
14730 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
14731 parameters like so:
14734 (agent-predicate . short)
14737 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
14738 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
14739 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
14741 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
14744 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
14747 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
14748 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
14749 predicate is assumed to be a list.
14752 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
14753 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
14754 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
14755 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
14756 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
14757 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
14759 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
14760 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
14761 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
14762 if it's to be specific to that group.
14764 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
14771 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
14772 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
14778 Category specification
14782 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
14788 Group Parameter specification
14791 (agent-score ("from"
14792 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
14797 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
14803 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
14810 Category specification
14813 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
14819 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
14823 Group Parameter specification
14826 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
14829 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
14834 Use @code{normal} score files
14836 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
14837 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
14838 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
14839 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
14841 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
14842 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
14843 files for a group, *filtering out* those those sections that do not
14844 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
14848 Category Specification
14855 Group Parameter specification
14858 (agent-score . file)
14863 @node The Category Buffer
14864 @subsubsection The Category Buffer
14866 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
14867 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
14868 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
14870 The following commands are available in this buffer:
14874 @kindex q (Category)
14875 @findex gnus-category-exit
14876 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
14879 @kindex k (Category)
14880 @findex gnus-category-kill
14881 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
14884 @kindex c (Category)
14885 @findex gnus-category-copy
14886 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
14889 @kindex a (Category)
14890 @findex gnus-category-add
14891 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
14894 @kindex p (Category)
14895 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
14896 Edit the predicate of the current category
14897 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
14900 @kindex g (Category)
14901 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
14902 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
14903 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
14906 @kindex s (Category)
14907 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
14908 Edit the download score rule of the current category
14909 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
14912 @kindex l (Category)
14913 @findex gnus-category-list
14914 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
14918 @node Category Variables
14919 @subsubsection Category Variables
14922 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
14923 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
14924 Hook run in category buffers.
14926 @item gnus-category-line-format
14927 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
14928 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
14929 Variables}). Valid elements are:
14933 The name of the category.
14936 The number of groups in the category.
14939 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
14940 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
14941 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
14943 @item gnus-agent-short-article
14944 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
14945 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
14947 @item gnus-agent-long-article
14948 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
14949 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
14951 @item gnus-agent-low-score
14952 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
14953 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
14956 @item gnus-agent-high-score
14957 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
14958 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
14964 @node Agent Commands
14965 @subsection Agent Commands
14967 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
14968 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
14969 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
14973 * Group Agent Commands::
14974 * Summary Agent Commands::
14975 * Server Agent Commands::
14978 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
14979 following incantation:
14981 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
14983 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
14988 @node Group Agent Commands
14989 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
14993 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
14994 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
14995 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
14996 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
14999 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
15000 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
15001 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
15004 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
15005 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
15006 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
15007 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
15010 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
15011 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
15012 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
15013 (@code{gnus-group-send-drafts}). @xref{Drafts}.
15016 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
15017 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
15018 Add the current group to an Agent category
15019 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
15020 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15023 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
15024 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
15025 Remove the current group from its category, if any
15026 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
15027 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15030 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
15031 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
15032 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
15038 @node Summary Agent Commands
15039 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
15043 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
15044 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
15045 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
15048 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
15049 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
15050 Remove the downloading mark from the article
15051 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
15054 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
15055 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
15056 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
15059 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
15060 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
15061 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
15066 @node Server Agent Commands
15067 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
15071 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
15072 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
15073 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
15074 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
15077 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
15078 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
15079 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
15080 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
15086 @subsection Agent Expiry
15088 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
15089 @findex gnus-agent-expire
15090 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
15091 @cindex Agent expiry
15092 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
15095 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
15096 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
15097 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
15098 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
15099 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
15100 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
15102 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
15103 if @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
15104 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
15105 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
15106 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
15109 @node Agent and IMAP
15110 @subsection Agent and IMAP
15112 The Agent work with any Gnus backend, including nnimap. However,
15113 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
15114 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
15115 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
15117 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
15118 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @code{.newsrc} as is the
15119 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
15120 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
15122 Gnus keep track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
15123 Agent by default. When you plug back in, by default Gnus will check if
15124 you have any changed any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these
15125 with the server. This behavior is customizable with
15126 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
15128 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
15129 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
15130 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, the
15131 default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so ask if
15132 you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has any other
15133 value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
15135 If you do not wish to automatically synchronize flags when you
15136 re-connect, this can be done manually with the
15137 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
15138 in the group buffer by default.
15140 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
15141 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
15146 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
15149 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
15153 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
15154 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
15155 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
15156 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
15157 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
15158 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
15159 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
15160 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
15163 @node Outgoing Messages
15164 @subsection Outgoing Messages
15166 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
15167 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
15168 after posting, and edit them at will.
15170 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
15171 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
15172 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
15173 messages in the draft group.
15177 @node Agent Variables
15178 @subsection Agent Variables
15181 @item gnus-agent-directory
15182 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
15183 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
15184 @file{~/News/agent/}.
15186 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
15187 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
15188 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
15189 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
15190 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
15193 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
15194 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
15195 Hook run when connecting to the network.
15197 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
15198 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
15199 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
15204 @node Example Setup
15205 @subsection Example Setup
15207 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
15208 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
15209 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
15212 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
15213 ;;; from your ISP's server.
15214 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
15216 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
15217 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
15218 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
15220 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
15221 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
15223 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
15227 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
15228 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
15231 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
15232 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
15233 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
15234 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
15235 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
15238 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
15239 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
15240 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
15241 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
15242 back all the killed groups.)
15244 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
15245 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
15246 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
15249 @node Batching Agents
15250 @subsection Batching Agents
15252 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
15253 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
15254 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
15258 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
15262 @node Agent Caveats
15263 @subsection Agent Caveats
15265 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
15266 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
15270 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the
15275 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists
15276 in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
15282 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
15283 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP.
15290 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
15291 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
15292 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
15295 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
15296 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
15297 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
15298 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
15299 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
15301 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
15302 before generating the summary buffer.
15304 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
15305 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
15306 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
15308 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
15309 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
15310 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
15311 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
15314 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
15315 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
15316 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
15317 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
15318 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
15319 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
15320 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
15321 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
15322 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
15323 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
15324 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
15325 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
15326 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
15327 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
15328 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
15329 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
15333 @node Summary Score Commands
15334 @section Summary Score Commands
15335 @cindex score commands
15337 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
15338 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
15339 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
15340 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
15341 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
15343 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
15344 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
15345 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
15346 score file the current one.
15348 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
15353 @kindex V s (Summary)
15354 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
15355 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
15358 @kindex V S (Summary)
15359 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
15360 Display the score of the current article
15361 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
15364 @kindex V t (Summary)
15365 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
15366 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
15367 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
15370 @kindex V R (Summary)
15371 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
15372 Run the current summary through the scoring process
15373 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
15374 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
15375 effect you're having.
15378 @kindex V c (Summary)
15379 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
15380 Make a different score file the current
15381 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
15384 @kindex V e (Summary)
15385 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
15386 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
15387 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
15391 @kindex V f (Summary)
15392 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
15393 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
15394 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
15397 @kindex V F (Summary)
15398 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
15399 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
15400 after editing score files.
15403 @kindex V C (Summary)
15404 @findex gnus-score-customize
15405 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
15406 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
15410 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
15415 @kindex V m (Summary)
15416 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
15417 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
15418 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
15421 @kindex V x (Summary)
15422 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
15423 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
15424 expunge all articles below this score
15425 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
15428 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
15429 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
15432 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
15433 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
15437 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
15438 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
15440 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
15441 keys are available:
15445 Score on the author name.
15448 Score on the subject line.
15451 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
15454 Score on the @code{References} line.
15460 Score on the number of lines.
15463 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
15466 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
15467 the followups to this author.
15481 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
15482 what headers you are scoring on.
15494 Substring matching.
15497 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
15526 Greater than number.
15531 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
15532 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
15533 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
15537 Temporary score entry.
15540 Permanent score entry.
15543 Immediately scoring.
15548 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
15549 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
15550 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
15551 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
15553 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
15554 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
15555 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
15556 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
15557 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
15559 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
15560 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
15561 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
15562 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
15563 current score file.
15565 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
15566 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
15567 pretend they are keymaps or not.
15570 @node Group Score Commands
15571 @section Group Score Commands
15572 @cindex group score commands
15574 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
15579 @kindex W f (Group)
15580 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
15581 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
15582 all the time. This command will flush the cache
15583 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
15587 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
15589 @findex gnus-batch-score
15590 @cindex batch scoring
15592 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
15596 @node Score Variables
15597 @section Score Variables
15598 @cindex score variables
15602 @item gnus-use-scoring
15603 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
15604 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
15605 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
15607 @item gnus-kill-killed
15608 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
15609 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
15610 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
15611 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
15612 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
15613 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
15614 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
15616 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
15617 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
15618 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
15619 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
15620 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
15622 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
15623 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
15624 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
15625 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
15627 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
15628 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
15629 @cindex score cache
15630 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
15631 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
15632 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
15633 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
15634 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
15635 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
15638 @item gnus-save-score
15639 @vindex gnus-save-score
15640 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
15641 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
15642 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
15644 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
15645 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
15646 across group visits.
15648 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
15649 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
15650 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
15651 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
15652 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
15653 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
15654 manually entered data.
15656 @item gnus-summary-default-score
15657 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
15658 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
15660 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
15661 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
15662 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
15663 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
15664 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
15665 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
15667 @item gnus-score-over-mark
15668 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
15669 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
15670 default. Default is @samp{+}.
15672 @item gnus-score-below-mark
15673 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
15674 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
15675 default. Default is @samp{-}.
15677 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
15678 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
15679 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
15680 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
15682 Predefined functions available are:
15685 @item gnus-score-find-single
15686 @findex gnus-score-find-single
15687 Only apply the group's own score file.
15689 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
15690 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
15691 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
15692 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
15693 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
15694 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
15695 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
15696 then a regexp match is done.
15698 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
15699 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
15701 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
15702 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
15703 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
15704 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
15706 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
15707 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
15708 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
15709 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
15710 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
15714 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
15715 functions will be called with the group name as argument, and all the
15716 returned lists of score files will be applied. These functions can also
15717 return lists of score alists directly. In that case, the functions that
15718 return these non-file score alists should probably be placed before the
15719 ``real'' score file functions, to ensure that the last score file
15720 returned is the local score file. Phu.
15722 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
15723 overall score file, you could use the value
15725 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE")) 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
15728 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
15729 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
15730 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
15731 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
15732 are expired. It's 7 by default.
15734 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
15735 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
15736 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
15737 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
15738 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
15739 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
15740 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
15743 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
15744 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
15745 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
15747 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
15748 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
15749 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
15750 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
15751 threading---according to the current value of
15752 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
15753 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
15754 simplified in this manner.
15759 @node Score File Format
15760 @section Score File Format
15761 @cindex score file format
15763 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
15764 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
15765 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
15767 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
15771 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
15773 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
15775 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
15777 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
15782 (mark-and-expunge -10)
15786 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
15787 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
15788 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
15789 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
15793 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
15794 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
15796 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
15797 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
15798 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
15800 Six keys are supported by this alist:
15805 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
15806 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
15807 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
15808 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
15809 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
15810 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
15811 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
15812 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
15813 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
15814 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
15815 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
15816 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
15817 to articles that matches these score entries.
15819 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
15820 score entry has one to four elements.
15824 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
15825 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
15829 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
15830 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
15831 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
15832 is successful. If this element is not present, the
15833 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
15834 instead. This is 1000 by default.
15837 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
15838 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
15839 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
15840 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
15841 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
15844 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
15845 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
15846 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
15847 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
15850 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
15851 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
15852 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
15853 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
15854 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
15855 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
15856 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
15857 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
15858 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
15859 instead, if you feel like.
15862 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
15863 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
15865 These predicates are true if
15868 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
15871 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
15872 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
15879 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
15880 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
15881 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
15882 it's not. I think.)
15884 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some backends (like
15885 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
15886 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
15887 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
15890 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
15891 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
15892 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
15893 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
15894 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
15895 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
15896 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
15900 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
15901 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
15902 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
15903 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
15904 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
15905 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
15906 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
15907 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
15910 @item Head, Body, All
15911 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
15915 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
15916 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
15917 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
15918 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
15919 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
15920 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
15921 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
15925 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
15926 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
15927 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
15928 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
15929 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
15930 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
15931 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
15932 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
15933 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
15934 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
15935 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
15939 @cindex Score File Atoms
15941 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
15942 lower than this number will be marked as read.
15945 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
15946 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
15948 @item mark-and-expunge
15949 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
15950 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
15953 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
15954 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
15955 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
15956 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
15957 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
15960 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
15961 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
15964 @item exclude-files
15965 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
15966 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
15970 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
15971 ignored when handling global score files.
15974 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
15975 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
15976 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
15977 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
15980 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
15981 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
15982 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
15983 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
15985 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
15989 (mark-and-expunge -100)
15992 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
15993 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
15994 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
15995 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
15996 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
15998 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where there
15999 exist a few interesting threads which can't be found automatically by
16000 ordinary scoring rules.
16003 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
16004 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
16005 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
16006 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
16007 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
16008 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
16009 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
16010 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
16011 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
16012 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
16013 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
16017 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
16018 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
16019 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
16020 file for a number of groups.
16023 @cindex local variables
16024 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
16025 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
16026 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
16027 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
16028 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
16032 @node Score File Editing
16033 @section Score File Editing
16035 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
16036 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
16037 with a mode for that.
16039 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
16040 additional commands:
16045 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
16046 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
16047 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
16048 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
16051 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
16052 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
16053 Insert the current date in numerical format
16054 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
16055 you were wondering.
16058 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
16059 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
16060 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
16061 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
16062 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
16067 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
16069 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
16070 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
16072 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
16073 e} to begin editing score files.
16076 @node Adaptive Scoring
16077 @section Adaptive Scoring
16078 @cindex adaptive scoring
16080 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
16081 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
16082 stupidity, to be precise.
16084 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
16085 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
16086 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
16087 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
16088 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
16089 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
16090 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
16091 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
16092 variable to @code{(word line)}.
16094 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
16095 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
16096 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
16097 might look something like this:
16100 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
16101 '((gnus-unread-mark)
16102 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
16103 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
16104 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
16105 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
16106 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
16107 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
16108 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
16109 (gnus-ancient-mark)
16110 (gnus-low-score-mark)
16111 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
16114 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
16115 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
16116 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
16117 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
16118 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
16119 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
16122 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
16123 will be applied to each article.
16125 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
16126 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
16127 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
16128 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
16130 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
16131 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
16132 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
16133 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
16135 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
16136 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
16137 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
16138 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
16140 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
16141 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
16142 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
16143 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
16144 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
16145 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
16147 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
16148 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
16149 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
16150 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
16151 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
16152 aspirins afterwards.)
16154 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
16155 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
16156 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
16158 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
16159 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
16160 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
16162 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
16163 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
16164 let you use different rules in different groups.
16166 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
16167 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
16168 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
16171 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
16172 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
16173 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
16174 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
16175 the length of the match is less than
16176 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
16177 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
16180 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
16181 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
16182 headers. If you adapt on words, the
16183 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
16184 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
16187 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
16188 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
16189 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
16190 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
16191 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
16194 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
16195 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
16196 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
16197 score with 30 points.
16199 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
16200 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
16201 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
16202 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
16203 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
16205 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
16206 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
16207 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
16208 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
16210 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
16211 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
16212 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
16213 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
16215 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
16216 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
16217 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
16218 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
16219 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
16221 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
16222 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
16223 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
16225 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
16226 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
16227 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
16228 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
16231 @node Home Score File
16232 @section Home Score File
16234 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
16235 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
16236 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
16237 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
16239 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
16240 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
16241 could perhaps use the same home score file.
16243 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
16244 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
16249 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
16253 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
16254 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
16258 A list. The elements in this list can be:
16262 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
16263 group name, the @var{file-name} will will be used as the home score file.
16266 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
16267 the home score file.
16270 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
16273 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
16278 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
16281 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16282 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
16285 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
16286 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
16288 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
16290 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16291 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
16294 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
16295 Other functions include
16298 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
16299 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
16300 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
16301 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
16305 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
16306 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
16307 their own home score files:
16310 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16311 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
16312 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
16313 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
16314 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
16317 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
16318 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
16319 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
16320 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
16321 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
16323 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
16324 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
16325 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
16326 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
16327 precedence over this variable.
16330 @node Followups To Yourself
16331 @section Followups To Yourself
16333 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
16334 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
16335 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
16336 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
16337 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
16338 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
16342 @item gnus-score-followup-article
16343 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
16344 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
16347 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
16348 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
16349 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
16353 @vindex message-sent-hook
16354 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
16355 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
16357 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
16361 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
16362 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
16366 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
16367 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
16370 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
16371 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
16376 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
16380 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
16381 is system-dependent.
16385 @section Scoring Tips
16386 @cindex scoring tips
16392 @cindex scoring crossposts
16393 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
16394 the @code{Xref} header.
16396 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
16399 @item Multiple crossposts
16400 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
16401 more than, say, 3 groups:
16403 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
16406 @item Matching on the body
16407 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
16408 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
16409 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
16410 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
16411 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
16412 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
16413 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
16416 @item Marking as read
16417 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
16418 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
16419 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
16423 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
16425 @item Negated character classes
16426 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
16427 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
16428 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
16432 @node Reverse Scoring
16433 @section Reverse Scoring
16434 @cindex reverse scoring
16436 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
16437 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
16438 like this in your score file:
16442 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
16447 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
16448 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
16451 @node Global Score Files
16452 @section Global Score Files
16453 @cindex global score files
16455 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
16456 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
16457 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
16459 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
16460 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
16461 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
16463 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
16464 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
16465 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
16466 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
16467 files are applicable to which group.
16469 Say you want to use the score file
16470 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
16471 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
16474 (setq gnus-global-score-files
16475 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
16476 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
16479 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
16480 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
16481 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
16482 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
16483 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
16485 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
16486 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
16488 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
16489 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
16490 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
16491 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
16492 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
16493 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
16495 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
16501 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
16503 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
16505 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
16507 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
16508 lowered out of existence.
16510 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
16511 articles completely.
16514 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
16515 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
16516 old articles for a long time.
16519 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
16520 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
16521 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
16522 holding our breath yet?
16526 @section Kill Files
16529 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
16530 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
16531 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
16533 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
16534 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
16535 files into score files.
16537 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
16538 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
16539 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
16540 that isn't a very good idea.
16542 Normal kill files look like this:
16545 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16546 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
16550 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
16551 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
16553 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
16554 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
16557 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
16562 @kindex M-k (Summary)
16563 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
16564 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
16567 @kindex M-K (Summary)
16568 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
16569 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
16572 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
16577 @kindex M-k (Group)
16578 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
16579 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
16582 @kindex M-K (Group)
16583 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
16584 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
16587 Kill file variables:
16590 @item gnus-kill-file-name
16591 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
16592 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
16593 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
16594 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
16595 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
16596 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
16598 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
16599 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
16600 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
16601 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
16604 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
16605 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
16606 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
16607 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
16608 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
16609 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
16610 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
16611 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
16612 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
16614 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
16615 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
16616 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
16621 @node Converting Kill Files
16622 @section Converting Kill Files
16624 @cindex converting kill files
16626 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
16627 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
16628 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
16631 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
16632 You can fetch it from
16633 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
16635 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
16636 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
16637 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
16645 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
16646 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
16647 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
16649 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
16650 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
16651 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
16652 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
16653 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
16654 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
16655 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
16656 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
16660 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
16661 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
16662 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
16663 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
16667 @node Using GroupLens
16668 @subsection Using GroupLens
16670 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
16672 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
16673 better bit in town at the moment.
16675 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
16679 @item gnus-use-grouplens
16680 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
16681 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
16682 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
16684 @item grouplens-pseudonym
16685 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
16686 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
16687 with the Better Bit Bureau.
16689 @item grouplens-newsgroups
16690 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
16691 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
16695 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
16696 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
16697 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
16698 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
16699 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
16700 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
16703 @node Rating Articles
16704 @subsection Rating Articles
16706 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
16707 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
16708 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
16709 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
16712 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
16717 @kindex r (GroupLens)
16718 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
16719 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
16722 @kindex k (GroupLens)
16723 @findex grouplens-score-thread
16724 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
16725 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
16726 threads in rec.humor.
16730 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
16731 the score of the article you're reading.
16736 @kindex n (GroupLens)
16737 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
16738 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
16741 @kindex , (GroupLens)
16742 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
16743 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
16747 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
16748 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
16751 @node Displaying Predictions
16752 @subsection Displaying Predictions
16754 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
16755 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
16756 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
16757 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
16758 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
16760 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
16761 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
16762 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
16763 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
16764 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
16765 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
16766 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
16767 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
16768 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
16769 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
16770 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
16771 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
16772 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
16774 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
16775 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
16776 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
16777 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
16779 The following are valid values for that variable.
16782 @item prediction-spot
16783 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
16786 @item confidence-interval
16787 A numeric confidence interval.
16789 @item prediction-bar
16790 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
16792 @item confidence-bar
16793 Numerical confidence.
16795 @item confidence-spot
16796 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
16798 @item prediction-num
16799 Plain-old numeric value.
16801 @item confidence-plus-minus
16802 Prediction +/- confidence.
16807 @node GroupLens Variables
16808 @subsection GroupLens Variables
16812 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
16813 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
16814 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
16815 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
16818 @item grouplens-bbb-host
16819 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
16822 @item grouplens-bbb-port
16823 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
16825 @item grouplens-score-offset
16826 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
16827 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
16830 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
16831 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
16832 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
16837 @node Advanced Scoring
16838 @section Advanced Scoring
16840 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
16841 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
16842 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
16843 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
16844 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
16846 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
16850 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
16851 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
16852 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
16856 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
16857 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
16859 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
16860 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
16861 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
16862 non-@code{nil} value.
16864 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
16865 operator, and various match operators.
16872 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
16873 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
16874 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
16879 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
16880 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
16881 then this operator will return @code{false}.
16886 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
16887 logical negation of the value of its argument.
16891 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
16892 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
16893 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
16894 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
16895 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
16896 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
16897 the ancestry you want to go.
16899 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
16900 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
16901 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
16902 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
16903 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
16906 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
16907 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
16909 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
16910 when he's talking about Gnus:
16914 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16915 ("subject" "Gnus"))
16921 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
16925 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16932 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
16933 really don't want to read what he's written:
16937 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16938 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
16942 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
16943 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
16944 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
16951 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
16952 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
16953 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
16954 ("body" "white.*socks"))
16958 The possibilities are endless.
16961 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
16962 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
16964 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
16965 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
16966 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
16967 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
16968 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
16969 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
16970 @samp{subject}) first.
16972 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
16973 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
16984 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
16985 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
16991 ("subject" "Gnus")))
16998 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
16999 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
17004 @section Score Decays
17005 @cindex score decays
17008 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
17009 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
17010 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
17011 use them in any sensible way.
17013 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
17014 @findex gnus-decay-score
17015 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
17016 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
17017 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
17018 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
17019 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
17020 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
17021 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
17022 definition of that function:
17025 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
17027 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
17028 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
17031 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
17033 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
17035 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
17038 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
17039 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
17040 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
17041 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
17045 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
17048 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
17051 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
17055 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
17056 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
17057 the new score, which should be an integer.
17059 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
17060 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
17067 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
17068 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
17069 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
17070 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
17071 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
17072 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
17073 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
17074 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
17075 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
17076 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
17077 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
17078 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
17079 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
17080 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
17081 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
17082 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
17083 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
17084 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
17088 @node Process/Prefix
17089 @section Process/Prefix
17090 @cindex process/prefix convention
17092 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
17093 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
17095 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
17096 command to be performed on.
17100 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
17101 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
17102 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
17103 with the current one.
17105 @vindex transient-mark-mode
17106 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
17107 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
17109 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
17110 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
17113 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
17114 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
17116 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
17119 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
17120 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
17121 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
17122 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
17124 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
17125 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
17126 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
17127 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
17128 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
17129 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
17130 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
17131 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
17133 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
17134 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
17135 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
17136 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
17137 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
17141 @section Interactive
17142 @cindex interaction
17146 @item gnus-novice-user
17147 @vindex gnus-novice-user
17148 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
17149 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
17150 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
17151 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
17154 @item gnus-expert-user
17155 @vindex gnus-expert-user
17156 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
17157 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
17158 matter how strange.
17160 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
17161 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
17162 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
17163 is @code{t} by default.
17165 @item gnus-interactive-exit
17166 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
17167 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
17172 @node Symbolic Prefixes
17173 @section Symbolic Prefixes
17174 @cindex symbolic prefixes
17176 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
17177 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
17178 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
17179 rule of 900 to the current article.
17181 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
17182 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
17183 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
17184 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
17185 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
17186 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
17187 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
17189 @kindex M-i (Summary)
17190 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
17191 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
17192 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
17193 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
17194 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a M-C-u} means ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u}
17195 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b M-C-u} means
17196 ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
17197 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
17199 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
17200 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
17201 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
17203 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
17207 @node Formatting Variables
17208 @section Formatting Variables
17209 @cindex formatting variables
17211 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
17212 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
17213 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
17214 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
17215 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
17218 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
17219 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
17220 lots of percentages everywhere.
17223 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
17224 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
17225 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
17226 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
17227 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
17230 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
17231 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
17232 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
17233 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
17234 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
17235 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
17236 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
17237 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
17239 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
17240 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
17242 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
17243 @findex gnus-update-format
17244 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
17245 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
17246 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
17247 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
17251 @node Formatting Basics
17252 @subsection Formatting Basics
17254 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
17255 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
17256 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
17258 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
17259 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
17260 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
17261 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
17262 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
17265 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
17266 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
17267 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
17268 less than 4 characters wide.
17271 @node Mode Line Formatting
17272 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
17274 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
17275 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
17276 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
17277 with the following two differences:
17282 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
17285 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
17286 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
17287 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
17288 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
17289 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
17290 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
17291 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
17296 @node Advanced Formatting
17297 @subsection Advanced Formatting
17299 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
17300 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
17301 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
17302 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
17304 These are the valid modifiers:
17309 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
17313 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
17318 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
17321 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
17326 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
17329 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
17332 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
17335 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
17339 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
17340 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
17341 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
17342 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
17343 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
17344 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
17345 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
17347 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
17348 last operation, padding.
17350 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
17351 If @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} is set to @code{nil} (@code{t} by
17352 default) with your strong personality, and use a lots of these advanced
17353 thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets quite slow. This can be helped
17354 enormously by running @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with
17355 the look of your lines.
17356 @xref{Compilation}.
17359 @node User-Defined Specs
17360 @subsection User-Defined Specs
17362 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
17363 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
17364 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
17365 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
17366 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
17367 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
17368 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
17369 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
17370 should protect against that.
17372 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
17373 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
17374 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
17375 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
17379 @node Formatting Fonts
17380 @subsection Formatting Fonts
17382 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
17383 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
17384 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
17385 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
17388 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
17389 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
17390 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
17391 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
17392 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
17393 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
17395 Text inside the @samp{%<} and @samp{%>} specifiers will get the special
17396 @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you
17397 say @samp{%1<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The
17398 @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or symbols
17399 naming functions that return a string. Under @code{balloon-help-mode},
17400 when the mouse passes over text with this property set, a balloon window
17401 will appear and display the string. Please refer to the doc string of
17402 @code{balloon-help-mode} for more information on this.
17404 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
17407 ;; Create three face types.
17408 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
17409 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
17411 ;; We want the article count to be in
17412 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
17413 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
17414 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
17416 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
17417 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
17419 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
17420 (setq gnus-group-line-format
17421 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
17424 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
17425 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
17427 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
17428 mode-line variables.
17431 @node Windows Configuration
17432 @section Windows Configuration
17433 @cindex windows configuration
17435 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
17437 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
17438 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
17439 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
17440 @code{t} by default.
17442 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
17443 glitches. Use at your own peril.
17445 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
17446 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
17447 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
17450 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
17451 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
17452 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
17456 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
17457 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
17458 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
17459 possible names is listed below.
17461 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
17462 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
17465 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
17469 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
17470 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
17471 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
17472 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
17473 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
17474 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
17475 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
17476 size spec per split.
17478 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
17479 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
17480 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
17481 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
17482 present) gets focus.
17484 Here's a more complicated example:
17487 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
17488 (summary 0.25 point)
17489 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
17493 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
17494 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
17495 occupy, not a percentage.
17497 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
17498 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
17499 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
17500 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
17501 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
17504 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
17507 (article (horizontal 1.0
17512 (summary 0.25 point)
17517 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
17518 @code{horizontal} thingie?
17520 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
17521 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
17522 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
17523 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
17524 the screen is to be given to this strip.
17526 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
17527 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
17528 lines from the splits.
17530 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
17534 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
17535 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
17536 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
17537 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
17538 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
17539 size = number | frame-params
17540 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
17543 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
17544 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
17545 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
17546 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
17548 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
17549 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
17550 @cindex window height
17551 @cindex window width
17552 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
17553 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
17554 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
17555 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
17556 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
17557 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
17559 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
17560 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
17561 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
17562 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
17564 @findex gnus-configure-frame
17565 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
17566 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
17567 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
17568 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
17569 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
17570 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
17571 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
17572 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
17573 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
17574 configuration list.
17577 (gnus-configure-frame
17581 (article 0.3 point))
17589 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
17590 @code{frame} split:
17593 (gnus-configure-frame
17596 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
17598 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
17599 (user-position . t)
17600 (left . -1) (top . 1))
17605 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
17606 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
17607 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
17608 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
17609 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
17610 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
17611 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
17612 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
17614 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
17615 be found in its default value.
17617 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
17618 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
17619 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
17623 (message (horizontal 1.0
17624 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
17626 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
17631 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
17632 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
17633 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
17636 (message (frame 1.0
17637 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
17638 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
17639 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
17640 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
17641 (name . "Message"))
17642 (message 1.0 point))))
17645 @findex gnus-add-configuration
17646 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
17647 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
17648 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
17649 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
17652 (gnus-add-configuration
17653 '(article (vertical 1.0
17655 (summary .25 point)
17659 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
17660 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
17661 Gnus has been loaded.
17663 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
17664 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
17665 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
17666 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
17667 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
17669 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
17670 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
17671 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
17674 @subsection Example Window Configurations
17678 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
17679 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
17694 (gnus-add-configuration
17697 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
17699 (summary 0.16 point)
17702 (gnus-add-configuration
17705 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
17706 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
17712 @node Faces and Fonts
17713 @section Faces and Fonts
17718 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
17719 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
17720 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
17725 @section Compilation
17726 @cindex compilation
17727 @cindex byte-compilation
17729 @findex gnus-compile
17731 Remember all those line format specification variables?
17732 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
17733 on. By default, T-gnus will use the byte-compiled codes of these
17734 variables and we can keep a slow-down to a minimum. However, if you set
17735 @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} to @code{nil} (@code{t} by default),
17736 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
17737 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
17738 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
17741 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
17742 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
17743 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
17744 you'll get top speed again. Note that T-gnus will not save these
17745 compiled specs in the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
17748 @item gnus-compile-user-specs
17749 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
17750 If it is non-nil, the user-defined format specs will be byte-compiled
17751 automatically. The default value of this variable is @code{t}. It has
17752 an effect on the values of @code{gnus-*-line-format-spec}.
17757 @section Mode Lines
17760 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
17761 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
17762 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
17763 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
17764 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
17765 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
17766 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
17769 @cindex display-time
17771 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
17772 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
17773 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
17774 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
17775 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
17776 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
17777 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
17778 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
17781 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
17783 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
17784 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
17786 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
17787 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
17788 (length display-time-string)))))
17791 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
17792 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
17793 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
17794 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
17795 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
17798 @node Highlighting and Menus
17799 @section Highlighting and Menus
17801 @cindex highlighting
17804 @vindex gnus-visual
17805 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
17806 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
17807 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
17810 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
17811 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
17814 @item group-highlight
17815 Do highlights in the group buffer.
17816 @item summary-highlight
17817 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
17818 @item article-highlight
17819 Do highlights in the article buffer.
17821 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
17823 Create menus in the group buffer.
17825 Create menus in the summary buffers.
17827 Create menus in the article buffer.
17829 Create menus in the browse buffer.
17831 Create menus in the server buffer.
17833 Create menus in the score buffers.
17835 Create menus in all buffers.
17838 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
17839 buffers, you could say something like:
17842 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
17845 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
17848 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
17851 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
17852 in all Gnus buffers.
17854 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
17857 @item gnus-mouse-face
17858 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
17859 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
17860 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
17864 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
17868 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
17869 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
17870 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
17872 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
17873 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
17874 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
17876 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
17877 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
17878 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
17880 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
17881 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
17882 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
17884 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
17885 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
17886 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
17888 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
17889 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
17890 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
17901 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
17902 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
17903 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
17904 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
17905 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
17909 @vindex gnus-carpal
17910 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
17911 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
17912 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
17917 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
17918 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
17919 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
17921 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
17922 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
17923 Face used on buttons.
17925 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
17926 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
17927 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
17929 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
17930 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
17931 Buttons in the group buffer.
17933 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
17934 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
17935 Buttons in the summary buffer.
17937 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
17938 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
17939 Buttons in the server buffer.
17941 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
17942 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
17943 Buttons in the browse buffer.
17946 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
17947 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
17948 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
17956 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
17957 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
17958 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
17959 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
17960 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
17962 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
17963 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
17964 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
17966 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
17967 been idle for thirty minutes:
17970 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
17973 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
17977 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
17980 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
17981 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
17982 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
17984 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
17985 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
17986 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
17987 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
17989 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
17990 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
17991 @var{idle} minutes.
17993 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
17994 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
17997 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
17998 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
17999 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
18001 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
18002 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
18003 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
18004 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
18006 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
18007 your @file{.gnus} file:
18009 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
18011 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
18014 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
18015 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
18016 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
18017 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
18018 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
18019 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
18020 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
18021 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
18022 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
18023 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
18024 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
18026 @findex gnus-demon-init
18027 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
18028 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
18029 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
18030 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
18031 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
18033 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
18034 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
18035 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
18044 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
18045 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
18047 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
18048 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
18049 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
18050 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
18053 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
18054 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
18055 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
18056 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
18058 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
18059 this will make spam disappear.
18061 There are some variables to customize, of course:
18064 @item gnus-use-nocem
18065 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
18066 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
18069 @item gnus-nocem-groups
18070 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
18071 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
18072 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
18073 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
18075 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
18076 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
18077 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
18078 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
18079 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
18080 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
18082 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
18083 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
18085 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
18086 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
18087 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
18088 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
18089 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
18090 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
18091 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
18092 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
18093 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
18094 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
18096 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
18097 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
18100 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
18103 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
18104 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
18107 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
18110 The specs are applied left-to-right.
18113 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
18114 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
18116 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
18117 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
18118 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
18119 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
18121 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
18122 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
18125 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
18127 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
18135 This might be dangerous, though.
18137 @item gnus-nocem-directory
18138 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
18139 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
18140 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
18142 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
18143 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
18144 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
18145 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
18146 might then see old spam.
18148 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
18149 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
18150 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
18151 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
18152 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
18155 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
18156 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
18157 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
18158 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
18162 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
18163 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
18164 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
18165 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
18172 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
18173 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
18174 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
18176 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
18177 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
18178 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
18179 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
18180 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
18181 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
18182 @code{undo} function.
18184 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
18185 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
18186 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
18187 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
18188 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
18189 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
18190 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
18191 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
18192 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
18193 never be totally undoable.
18195 @findex gnus-undo-mode
18196 @vindex gnus-use-undo
18198 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
18199 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
18200 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo} command
18201 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
18206 @section Moderation
18209 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
18210 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
18211 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
18214 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
18218 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
18221 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
18223 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
18228 You split your incoming mail by matching on
18229 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
18230 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
18233 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
18234 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
18237 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
18238 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
18242 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
18245 (setq gnus-moderated-list
18246 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
18250 @node XEmacs Enhancements
18251 @section XEmacs Enhancements
18254 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
18258 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
18259 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
18260 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
18261 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
18274 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
18275 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
18276 over your shoulder as you read news.
18279 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
18280 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
18281 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
18282 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
18283 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
18288 @subsubsection Picon Basics
18290 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
18299 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
18300 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
18301 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
18302 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
18303 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
18304 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
18305 @code{GIF} formats.
18308 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18309 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
18310 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
18311 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
18312 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
18314 @vindex gnus-picons-database
18315 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
18316 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
18317 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
18318 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
18319 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
18322 @node Picon Requirements
18323 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
18325 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
18326 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
18329 Additionally, you must have @code{x} support compiled into XEmacs. To
18330 display color picons which are much nicer than the black & white one,
18331 you also need one of @code{xpm} or @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
18333 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18334 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
18335 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
18336 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
18337 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
18341 @subsubsection Easy Picons
18343 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
18344 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
18347 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
18348 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
18351 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
18352 containing the Picons databases.
18354 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
18357 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18358 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
18363 @subsubsection Hard Picons
18371 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
18372 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
18373 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
18374 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
18375 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
18380 @item gnus-picons-database
18381 @vindex gnus-picons-database
18382 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
18383 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
18384 subdirectories. This is only useful if
18385 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
18386 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
18388 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18389 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18390 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
18391 engine is @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
18392 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
18393 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
18394 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
18396 @item gnus-picons-display-where
18397 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
18398 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
18399 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
18400 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
18401 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
18402 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
18403 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
18405 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
18406 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
18407 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
18412 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
18413 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
18415 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
18416 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
18419 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
18421 @item gnus-article-display-picons
18422 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
18423 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
18424 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
18426 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
18427 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
18428 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
18434 @node Picon Useless Configuration
18435 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
18443 The following variables offer further control over how things are
18444 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
18445 don't need to worry about.
18449 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
18450 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
18451 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
18452 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
18454 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
18455 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
18456 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
18457 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
18459 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
18460 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
18461 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
18462 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
18463 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
18465 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18466 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18467 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
18468 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
18469 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
18470 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
18471 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
18473 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
18474 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
18475 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
18476 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
18478 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
18479 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
18480 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
18481 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
18482 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
18483 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
18484 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
18486 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
18487 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
18488 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
18489 Defaults to @code{nil}.
18491 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
18492 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
18493 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
18494 Defaults to @code{t}.
18496 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
18497 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
18498 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
18499 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
18501 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
18502 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
18503 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
18505 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
18506 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
18507 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
18508 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
18510 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
18511 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the default.
18513 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
18514 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
18515 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
18516 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
18517 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
18518 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
18519 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
18520 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
18531 @subsection Smileys
18536 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/BigFace.ps,height=20cm}}
18541 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
18542 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
18544 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
18545 @file{.gnus.el} file:
18548 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
18551 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
18552 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
18553 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
18554 text and maps that to file names.
18556 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
18557 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
18558 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
18559 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
18560 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
18561 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
18563 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
18564 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
18566 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
18567 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
18568 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
18570 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
18571 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
18575 @item smiley-data-directory
18576 @vindex smiley-data-directory
18577 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
18579 @item smiley-flesh-color
18580 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
18581 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
18583 @item smiley-features-color
18584 @vindex smiley-features-color
18585 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
18587 @item smiley-tongue-color
18588 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
18589 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
18591 @item smiley-circle-color
18592 @vindex smiley-circle-color
18593 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
18595 @item smiley-mouse-face
18596 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
18597 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
18603 @subsection Toolbar
18613 @item gnus-use-toolbar
18614 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
18615 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
18616 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
18617 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
18619 @item gnus-group-toolbar
18620 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
18621 The toolbar in the group buffer.
18623 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
18624 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
18625 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
18627 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
18628 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
18629 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
18635 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
18638 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
18639 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
18640 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
18641 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
18642 unusual directory structure.
18644 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
18645 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
18646 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
18647 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
18649 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
18650 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
18651 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
18652 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
18653 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
18654 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
18656 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
18657 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
18658 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
18672 @node Fuzzy Matching
18673 @section Fuzzy Matching
18674 @cindex fuzzy matching
18676 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
18677 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
18679 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
18680 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
18681 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
18683 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
18684 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
18685 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
18686 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
18687 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
18690 @node Thwarting Email Spam
18691 @section Thwarting Email Spam
18695 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
18697 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
18698 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
18699 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
18700 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
18701 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
18702 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
18703 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
18704 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
18707 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
18708 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
18709 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
18710 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
18711 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
18712 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
18716 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
18717 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
18719 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
18720 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
18721 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
18722 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
18723 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
18724 part of the mail address.)
18727 (setq message-default-news-headers
18728 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
18731 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
18732 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
18737 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
18738 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
18739 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
18745 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
18746 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
18747 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
18748 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
18750 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
18751 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
18752 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
18753 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
18754 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
18755 your fancy split rule in this way:
18760 (to "larsi" "misc")
18764 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
18765 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
18766 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
18767 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
18768 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
18770 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
18771 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
18772 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
18773 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
18774 cosmic balance somewhat.
18776 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
18777 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
18778 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
18779 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
18782 @node Various Various
18783 @section Various Various
18789 @item gnus-home-directory
18790 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
18791 defaults to @file{~/}.
18793 @item gnus-directory
18794 @vindex gnus-directory
18795 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
18796 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
18797 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
18799 Note that gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
18800 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
18801 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
18802 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
18804 @item gnus-default-directory
18805 @vindex gnus-default-directory
18806 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
18807 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
18808 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
18809 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
18810 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
18811 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
18814 @vindex gnus-verbose
18815 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
18816 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
18817 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
18818 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
18819 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
18821 @item gnus-verbose-backends
18822 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
18823 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
18824 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
18826 @item nnheader-max-head-length
18827 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
18828 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
18829 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
18830 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
18831 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
18832 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
18833 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
18834 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
18835 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
18837 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
18838 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
18839 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
18840 read when doing the operation described above.
18842 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18843 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18845 @cindex invalid characters in file names
18846 @cindex characters in file names
18847 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
18848 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
18849 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
18852 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18856 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
18857 Windows (phooey) systems.
18859 @item gnus-hidden-properties
18860 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
18861 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
18862 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
18863 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
18865 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
18866 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
18867 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
18868 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
18869 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
18871 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
18872 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
18873 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
18875 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
18876 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
18878 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
18879 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
18880 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
18881 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
18884 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
18893 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
18894 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
18896 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
18898 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
18904 Not because of victories @*
18907 but for the common sunshine,@*
18909 the largess of the spring.
18913 but for the day's work done@*
18914 as well as I was able;@*
18915 not for a seat upon the dais@*
18916 but at the common table.@*
18921 @chapter Appendices
18924 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
18925 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
18926 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
18927 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
18928 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
18929 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
18930 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
18931 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
18939 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
18940 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
18942 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
18943 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
18944 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
18945 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
18946 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
18948 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
18949 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
18950 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
18951 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
18952 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
18953 appropriate name, don't you think?)
18955 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
18956 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
18957 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
18958 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
18961 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
18962 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
18963 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
18964 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
18965 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
18966 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
18967 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
18968 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
18969 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
18973 @node Gnus Versions
18974 @subsection Gnus Versions
18975 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
18977 @cindex September Gnus
18978 @cindex Quassia Gnus
18980 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
18981 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
18982 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
18984 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
18985 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
18987 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
18988 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
18990 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
18991 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
18993 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
18994 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
18997 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
18999 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
19000 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
19001 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
19002 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
19003 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
19004 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
19007 @node Other Gnus Versions
19008 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
19011 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
19012 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
19013 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
19014 @sc{mime} capabilities.
19016 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
19017 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
19018 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
19019 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
19026 What's the point of Gnus?
19028 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
19029 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
19030 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
19031 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
19032 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
19033 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
19034 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
19035 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
19036 keep track of millions of people who post?
19038 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
19039 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
19040 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
19041 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
19042 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
19043 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
19044 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
19045 every one of you to explore and invent.
19047 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
19048 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
19051 @node Compatibility
19052 @subsection Compatibility
19054 @cindex compatibility
19055 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
19056 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
19057 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
19062 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
19066 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
19069 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
19072 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
19073 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
19074 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
19075 important variables have their values copied into their global
19076 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
19077 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
19079 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
19080 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
19081 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
19082 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
19083 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
19087 @cindex highlighting
19088 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
19089 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
19090 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
19091 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
19092 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
19093 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
19096 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
19097 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
19098 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
19099 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
19101 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
19102 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
19103 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
19104 to stop doing it the old way.
19106 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
19108 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
19110 @cindex reporting bugs
19112 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
19113 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
19114 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
19116 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
19117 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
19118 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
19119 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
19124 @subsection Conformity
19126 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
19127 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
19134 There are no known breaches of this standard.
19138 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
19140 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
19141 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
19142 We do have some breaches to this one.
19148 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
19149 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
19150 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
19151 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
19152 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
19157 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
19158 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
19159 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
19160 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
19164 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
19165 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
19170 @subsection Emacsen
19176 Gnus should work on :
19184 XEmacs 21.1.1 and up.
19188 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
19189 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
19190 Emacs versions. However, T-gnus does support ``Mule 2.3 based on Emacs
19191 19.34'' and possibly the versions of XEmacs prior to 21.1.1, e.g. 20.4.
19192 See the file ``README'' in the T-gnus distribution for more details.
19194 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
19195 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
19196 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
19200 @node Gnus Development
19201 @subsection Gnus Development
19203 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
19204 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
19205 propose changes and new features, post patches and new backends. This
19206 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
19207 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
19208 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
19209 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
19210 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
19212 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
19213 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
19214 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
19215 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
19216 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
19219 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
19220 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
19221 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
19222 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
19223 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
19225 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
19226 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
19227 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
19228 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
19229 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
19230 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
19231 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
19232 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
19233 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
19234 can't be assumed to do so.
19239 @subsection Contributors
19240 @cindex contributors
19242 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
19243 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
19244 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
19245 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
19246 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
19247 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
19248 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
19249 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
19250 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
19251 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
19253 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
19259 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
19262 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
19263 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
19264 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
19265 functionality and stuff.
19268 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
19269 well as numerous other things).
19272 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
19275 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
19278 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
19281 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
19282 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
19285 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
19288 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
19289 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
19292 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
19295 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
19298 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
19301 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
19304 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
19305 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
19308 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
19311 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
19314 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
19317 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
19321 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
19324 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
19327 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
19330 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
19331 well as autoconf support.
19335 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
19336 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
19338 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
19347 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
19351 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
19361 Alexei V. Barantsev,
19376 Massimo Campostrini,
19381 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
19382 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
19386 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
19389 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
19395 Michael Welsh Duggan,
19400 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
19404 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
19412 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
19414 Michelangelo Grigni,
19418 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
19420 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
19422 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
19429 François Felix Ingrand,
19430 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
19431 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
19433 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
19444 Peter Skov Knudsen,
19445 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
19447 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
19448 Thor Kristoffersen,
19451 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
19469 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
19470 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
19477 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
19482 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
19486 John McClary Prevost,
19492 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
19497 Christian von Roques,
19500 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
19507 Philippe Schnoebelen,
19509 Randal L. Schwartz,
19523 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
19528 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
19544 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
19549 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
19550 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
19551 (550kB and counting).
19553 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
19556 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
19557 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
19561 @subsection New Features
19562 @cindex new features
19565 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
19566 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
19567 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
19568 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
19569 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
19572 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
19573 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
19574 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
19577 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
19579 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
19584 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
19585 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
19588 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
19589 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
19592 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
19595 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
19596 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
19597 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
19600 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
19601 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
19602 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
19603 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
19606 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
19607 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19610 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
19611 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
19612 (@pxref{The Active File}).
19615 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
19616 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
19619 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
19620 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
19621 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
19624 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
19625 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
19626 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
19629 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
19630 the @file{.emacs} file.
19633 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
19634 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
19637 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
19638 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
19641 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
19642 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19645 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
19646 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
19649 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
19650 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
19653 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
19656 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
19657 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
19660 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
19661 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
19664 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
19665 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
19668 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
19671 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
19672 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
19675 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
19679 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
19683 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
19684 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
19687 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
19693 @node September Gnus
19694 @subsubsection September Gnus
19698 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/september.ps,height=20cm}}
19702 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
19707 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
19708 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
19712 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
19713 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
19717 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
19721 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
19722 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
19725 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
19729 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
19732 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
19735 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
19738 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
19742 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
19743 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
19746 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
19750 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
19754 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
19758 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
19762 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
19765 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
19766 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
19769 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
19773 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
19774 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
19777 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
19780 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
19781 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
19782 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
19785 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
19789 The Gnus cache is much faster.
19792 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
19796 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
19797 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
19800 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
19801 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
19804 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
19805 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
19808 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
19809 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
19810 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
19813 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
19814 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
19817 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
19820 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
19823 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
19826 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
19829 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
19830 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
19833 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
19837 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
19840 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}}
19845 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
19848 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
19852 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19855 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
19859 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
19862 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
19865 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
19866 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
19869 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
19870 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
19874 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
19875 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
19878 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
19882 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
19883 buffer to allow easier treatment.
19886 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
19889 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
19893 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
19897 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
19898 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
19901 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
19905 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
19906 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
19909 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
19910 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
19913 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
19917 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
19920 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
19923 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
19929 @subsubsection Red Gnus
19931 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
19935 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/red.ps,height=20cm}}
19942 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
19945 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
19946 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
19949 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
19950 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
19954 Article washing status can be displayed in the
19955 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
19958 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
19961 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
19962 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
19965 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
19969 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
19970 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
19974 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
19975 Server Internals}).
19978 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
19982 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
19985 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
19986 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
19989 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
19990 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
19991 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
19994 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
19995 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
19998 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
19999 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
20002 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
20006 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
20007 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
20010 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
20011 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
20014 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
20018 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
20021 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
20025 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
20026 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
20029 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
20030 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
20033 A new command for reading collections of documents
20034 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
20035 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
20038 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
20042 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
20043 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
20046 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
20047 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
20048 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
20051 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
20052 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
20056 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
20060 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
20064 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}}
20069 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
20073 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
20077 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
20078 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
20081 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
20087 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
20089 New features in Gnus 5.6:
20094 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
20095 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
20096 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
20099 The @code{nndraft} backend has returned, but works differently than
20100 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
20101 group, which is created automatically.
20104 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
20108 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
20111 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
20112 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
20115 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
20119 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
20122 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
20123 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
20126 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
20129 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
20130 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
20133 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
20134 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
20137 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
20138 control over simplification.
20141 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
20144 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
20148 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
20151 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
20154 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
20155 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
20156 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
20159 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
20160 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
20163 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
20167 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
20168 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
20171 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
20172 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
20175 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
20179 A history of where mails have been split is available.
20182 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
20185 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
20186 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
20189 A new function for citing in Message has been
20190 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
20193 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
20196 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
20200 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
20201 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
20204 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
20205 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
20208 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} backend.
20211 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
20215 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
20216 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
20218 New features in Gnus 5.8:
20222 @item The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
20223 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
20225 If you used procmail like in
20228 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
20229 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
20230 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
20231 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
20234 this now has changed to
20238 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
20242 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
20243 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
20245 @item Gnus is now a MIME-capable reader. This affects many parts of
20246 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
20248 @item Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
20249 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
20251 @item @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
20252 called to position point.
20254 @item The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
20255 summary buffers and NOV files.
20257 @item @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
20258 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
20260 @item The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
20261 subtly different manner.
20263 @item New web-based backends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
20264 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
20265 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
20267 @item Gnus can now read IMAP mail via @code{nnimap}.
20275 @section The Manual
20279 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
20280 either @code{texi2dvi}
20282 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
20283 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
20285 to get what you hold in your hands now.
20287 The following conventions have been used:
20292 This is a @samp{string}
20295 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
20298 This is a @file{file}
20301 This is a @code{symbol}
20305 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
20309 (setq flargnoze "yes")
20312 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
20315 (setq flumphel 'yes)
20318 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
20319 ever get them confused.
20323 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
20324 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
20325 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
20326 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
20327 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
20328 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
20329 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
20335 @node On Writing Manuals
20336 @section On Writing Manuals
20338 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
20339 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
20340 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
20341 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
20342 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
20343 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
20346 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
20347 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
20348 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
20351 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
20352 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
20357 @section Terminology
20359 @cindex terminology
20364 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
20365 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
20366 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
20367 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
20368 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
20372 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
20373 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
20374 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
20375 not posting, and replying is not following up.
20379 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
20383 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
20388 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
20389 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
20390 is all done by the backends.
20394 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
20395 default, way of getting news.
20399 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
20400 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
20405 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
20406 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
20410 A message that has been posted as news.
20413 @cindex mail message
20414 A message that has been mailed.
20418 A mail message or news article
20422 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
20427 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
20432 A line from the head of an article.
20436 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
20437 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
20441 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
20442 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
20443 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
20444 normal @sc{head} format.
20448 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
20449 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
20450 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
20451 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
20452 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
20453 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
20455 @item killed groups
20456 @cindex killed groups
20457 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
20458 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
20460 @item zombie groups
20461 @cindex zombie groups
20462 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
20465 @cindex active file
20466 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
20467 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
20468 is rather large, as you might surmise.
20471 @cindex bogus groups
20472 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
20473 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
20474 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
20477 @cindex activating groups
20478 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
20479 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
20480 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
20484 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
20486 @item select method
20487 @cindex select method
20488 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
20491 @item virtual server
20492 @cindex virtual server
20493 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
20494 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
20495 whole is a virtual server.
20499 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
20500 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
20503 @item ephemeral groups
20504 @cindex ephemeral groups
20505 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
20506 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
20507 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
20510 @cindex solid groups
20511 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
20512 group buffer are solid groups.
20514 @item sparse articles
20515 @cindex sparse articles
20516 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
20517 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
20521 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
20522 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
20526 @cindex thread root
20527 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
20528 articles in the thread.
20532 An article that has responses.
20536 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
20540 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
20541 specified by RFC 1153.
20547 @node Customization
20548 @section Customization
20549 @cindex general customization
20551 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
20552 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
20553 for some quite common situations.
20556 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
20557 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
20558 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
20559 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
20563 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
20564 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
20566 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
20567 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
20568 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
20572 @item gnus-read-active-file
20573 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
20574 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
20575 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
20576 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
20577 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
20579 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
20580 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
20581 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
20582 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
20586 @node Slow Terminal Connection
20587 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
20589 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
20590 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
20591 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
20595 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
20596 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
20597 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
20598 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
20599 horizontal and vertical recentering.
20601 @item gnus-visible-headers
20602 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
20603 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
20604 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
20605 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
20607 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
20609 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
20610 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
20611 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
20614 @item gnus-use-full-window
20615 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
20616 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
20617 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
20618 want to read them anyway.
20620 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
20621 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
20624 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
20625 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
20626 lines, which might save some time.
20630 @node Little Disk Space
20631 @subsection Little Disk Space
20634 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
20635 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
20639 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
20640 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
20641 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
20642 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20645 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
20646 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
20647 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
20648 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20651 @item gnus-save-killed-list
20652 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
20653 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
20654 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
20655 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
20661 @subsection Slow Machine
20662 @cindex slow machine
20664 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
20665 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
20667 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
20668 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
20670 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
20671 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
20672 summary buffer faster.
20676 @node Troubleshooting
20677 @section Troubleshooting
20678 @cindex troubleshooting
20680 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
20688 Make sure your computer is switched on.
20691 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
20692 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
20696 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
20697 like @samp{T-gnus 6.15.* (based on Oort Gnus v0.*; for SEMI 1.1*, FLIM
20698 1.1*)} you have the right files loaded. If, on the other hand, you get
20699 something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp flee}, you have some old
20700 @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
20703 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
20707 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
20708 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
20709 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
20710 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
20711 something like that.
20714 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
20717 @cindex reporting bugs
20719 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
20721 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
20722 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
20723 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
20724 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
20726 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
20727 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
20728 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
20729 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
20732 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
20733 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
20734 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
20735 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
20736 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
20737 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
20739 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
20740 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
20741 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
20744 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
20745 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
20747 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
20748 @cindex ding mailing list
20749 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
20750 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
20754 @node Gnus Reference Guide
20755 @section Gnus Reference Guide
20757 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
20758 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
20759 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
20760 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
20763 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
20764 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
20765 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
20766 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
20767 and general methods of operation.
20770 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
20771 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
20772 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
20773 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
20774 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
20775 * Group Info:: The group info format.
20776 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
20777 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
20778 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
20782 @node Gnus Utility Functions
20783 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
20784 @cindex Gnus utility functions
20785 @cindex utility functions
20787 @cindex internal variables
20789 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
20790 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
20791 Below is a list of the most common ones.
20795 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
20796 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
20797 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
20799 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
20800 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
20801 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
20803 @item gnus-group-real-name
20804 @findex gnus-group-real-name
20805 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
20808 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
20809 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
20810 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
20811 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
20813 @item gnus-get-info
20814 @findex gnus-get-info
20815 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
20817 @item gnus-group-unread
20818 @findex gnus-group-unread
20819 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
20823 @findex gnus-active
20824 The active entry for @var{group}.
20826 @item gnus-set-active
20827 @findex gnus-set-active
20828 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
20830 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
20831 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
20832 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
20835 @item gnus-continuum-version
20836 @findex gnus-continuum-version
20837 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
20838 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
20841 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
20842 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
20843 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
20845 @item gnus-news-group-p
20846 @findex gnus-news-group-p
20847 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
20849 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
20850 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
20851 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
20853 @item gnus-server-to-method
20854 @findex gnus-server-to-method
20855 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
20857 @item gnus-server-equal
20858 @findex gnus-server-equal
20859 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
20861 @item gnus-group-native-p
20862 @findex gnus-group-native-p
20863 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
20865 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
20866 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
20867 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
20869 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
20870 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
20871 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
20873 @item group-group-find-parameter
20874 @findex group-group-find-parameter
20875 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
20876 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
20878 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
20879 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
20880 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
20882 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
20883 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
20884 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
20886 @item gnus-check-backend-function
20887 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
20888 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
20889 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
20892 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
20896 @item gnus-read-method
20897 @findex gnus-read-method
20898 Prompts the user for a select method.
20903 @node Backend Interface
20904 @subsection Backend Interface
20906 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
20907 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
20908 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
20909 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
20910 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
20911 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
20913 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
20914 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
20915 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
20916 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
20917 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
20918 been opened, the function should fail.
20920 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
20921 name. Take this example:
20925 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
20926 (nntp-port-number 4324))
20929 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
20930 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
20932 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
20933 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
20934 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
20936 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
20937 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
20938 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
20940 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
20941 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
20942 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
20943 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
20944 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
20945 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
20948 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
20949 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
20950 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
20951 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
20954 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
20957 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
20960 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
20961 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
20962 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
20963 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
20964 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
20965 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
20969 @node Required Backend Functions
20970 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
20974 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
20976 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
20977 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
20978 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
20979 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
20981 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
20982 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
20983 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
20984 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
20986 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
20987 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
20988 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
20989 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
20990 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
20991 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
20992 number, do maximum fetches.
20994 Here's an example HEAD:
20997 221 1056 Article retrieved.
20998 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
20999 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
21000 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
21001 Subject: Re: Something very droll
21002 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
21003 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
21005 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
21006 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
21007 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
21011 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
21012 these in the data buffer.
21014 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
21018 head = error / valid-head
21019 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
21020 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
21021 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
21022 header = <text> eol
21025 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
21026 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
21030 nov-buffer = *nov-line
21031 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
21032 field = <text except TAB>
21035 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
21039 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
21041 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
21042 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
21044 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
21045 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
21046 server. In fact, it should do so.
21048 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
21049 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
21052 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
21054 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
21055 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
21058 There should be no data returned.
21061 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
21063 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
21064 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
21065 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
21066 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
21068 There should be no data returned.
21071 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
21073 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
21074 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
21075 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
21076 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
21078 There should be no data returned.
21081 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
21083 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
21085 There should be no data returned.
21088 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
21090 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
21091 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
21092 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
21093 it would be nice if that were possible.
21095 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
21096 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
21097 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
21098 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
21099 into its article buffer.
21101 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
21102 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
21103 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
21104 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
21105 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
21106 on successful article retrieval.
21109 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
21111 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
21112 making @var{group} the current group.
21114 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
21117 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
21120 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
21123 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
21124 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
21125 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
21126 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
21127 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
21128 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
21129 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
21130 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
21133 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
21134 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
21135 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
21139 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
21141 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
21142 a no-op on most backends.
21144 There should be no data returned.
21147 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
21149 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
21152 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
21155 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
21156 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
21159 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
21160 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
21163 active-file = *active-line
21164 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
21166 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
21169 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
21170 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
21171 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
21174 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
21176 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
21177 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
21178 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
21179 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
21180 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
21181 clear if the posting could not be completed.
21183 There should be no result data from this function.
21188 @node Optional Backend Functions
21189 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
21193 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
21195 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
21196 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
21197 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
21199 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
21200 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
21201 former is in the same format as the data from
21202 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
21203 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
21206 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
21210 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
21212 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
21213 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
21214 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
21215 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
21216 should return the (altered) group info.
21218 There should be no result data from this function.
21221 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
21223 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
21224 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
21225 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
21226 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
21227 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
21228 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
21229 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
21230 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
21232 There should be no result data from this function.
21235 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
21237 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
21238 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
21239 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some backends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
21240 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
21241 propagate the mark information to the server.
21243 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
21246 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
21249 Range is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. Action is
21250 @code{set}, @code{add} or @code{del}, respectively used for removing all
21251 existing marks and setting them as specified, adding (preserving the
21252 marks not mentioned) mark and removing (preserving the marks not
21253 mentioned) marks. Mark is a list of marks; where each mark is a symbol.
21254 Currently used marks are @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply},
21255 @code{expire}, @code{killed}, @code{dormant}, @code{save},
21256 @code{download} and @code{unsend}, but your backend should, if possible,
21257 not limit itself to these.
21259 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
21260 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
21261 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
21262 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
21264 An example action list:
21267 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
21268 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
21269 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
21272 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
21273 mark on (currently not used for anything).
21275 There should be no result data from this function.
21277 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
21279 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
21280 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
21281 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
21282 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
21283 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
21285 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
21286 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
21287 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
21290 There should be no result data from this function.
21293 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
21295 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
21296 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
21297 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
21298 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
21299 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
21300 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
21301 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
21303 There should be no result data from this function.
21306 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
21308 The result data from this function should be a description of
21312 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
21314 description = <text>
21317 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
21319 The result data from this function should be the description of all
21320 groups available on the server.
21323 description-buffer = *description-line
21327 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
21329 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
21330 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
21331 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
21334 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
21336 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
21338 There should be no return data.
21341 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
21343 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
21344 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
21345 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
21346 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
21347 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
21350 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
21353 There should be no result data returned.
21356 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
21359 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
21360 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
21362 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
21363 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
21364 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
21365 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
21366 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
21367 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
21369 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
21370 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
21373 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
21374 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
21376 There should be no data returned.
21379 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
21381 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
21382 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
21383 this function in short order.
21385 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
21386 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
21388 There should be no data returned.
21391 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
21393 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
21394 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
21396 There should be no data returned.
21399 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
21401 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
21402 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
21403 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
21405 There should be no data returned.
21408 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
21410 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
21411 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
21413 There should be no data returned.
21418 @node Error Messaging
21419 @subsubsection Error Messaging
21421 @findex nnheader-report
21422 @findex nnheader-get-report
21423 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
21424 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
21425 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
21426 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
21427 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
21428 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
21431 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
21433 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
21436 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
21437 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
21438 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
21439 takes one argument---the server symbol.
21441 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
21442 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
21443 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
21446 @node Writing New Backends
21447 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
21449 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
21450 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
21451 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
21452 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
21453 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
21456 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
21457 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
21458 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
21460 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
21461 package called @code{nnoo}.
21463 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
21464 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
21470 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
21471 parameters. For instance:
21474 (nnoo-declare nndir
21478 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
21479 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
21482 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
21483 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
21484 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
21486 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
21487 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
21488 a function in those backends.
21491 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
21492 "Where nndir will look for groups."
21493 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
21496 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
21497 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
21498 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
21500 @item nnoo-define-basics
21501 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
21505 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
21509 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
21510 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
21511 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
21513 @item nnoo-map-functions
21514 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
21515 functions from the parent backends.
21518 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
21519 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
21520 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
21523 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
21524 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
21525 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
21526 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
21529 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
21530 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
21531 haven't already been defined.
21537 nnmh-request-newgroups)
21541 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
21542 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
21543 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
21548 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
21551 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
21552 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
21556 (require 'nnheader)
21560 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
21562 (nnoo-declare nndir
21565 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
21566 "Where nndir will look for groups."
21567 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
21569 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
21570 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
21573 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
21574 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
21575 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
21577 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
21578 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
21580 ;;; Interface functions.
21582 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
21584 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
21585 (setq nndir-directory
21586 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
21588 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
21589 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
21590 (push `(nndir-current-group
21591 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
21593 (push `(nndir-top-directory
21594 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
21596 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
21598 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
21599 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
21600 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
21601 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
21602 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
21606 nnmh-status-message
21608 nnmh-request-newgroups))
21614 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
21615 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
21617 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
21618 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
21619 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
21620 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
21622 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
21623 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
21628 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
21631 The abilities can be:
21635 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
21637 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
21639 This backend supports both mail and news.
21641 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
21644 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
21645 articles and groups.
21647 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
21648 true for almost all backends.
21649 @item prompt-address
21650 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
21651 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
21652 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
21656 @node Mail-like Backends
21657 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
21659 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
21660 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
21661 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
21662 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
21665 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
21666 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
21667 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
21670 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
21671 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
21674 This function takes four parameters.
21678 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
21681 @item exit-function
21682 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
21684 @item temp-directory
21685 Where the temporary files should be stored.
21688 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
21689 performed for one group only.
21692 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
21693 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
21694 find the article number assigned to this article.
21696 The function also uses the following variables:
21697 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
21698 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
21699 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
21700 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
21704 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
21705 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
21709 @node Score File Syntax
21710 @subsection Score File Syntax
21712 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
21713 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
21714 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
21716 Here's a typical score file:
21720 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
21727 BNF definition of a score file:
21730 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
21731 element = rule / atom
21732 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
21733 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
21734 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
21735 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
21737 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
21738 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
21739 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
21740 date-header = "date"
21741 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
21742 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
21743 score = "nil" / <integer>
21744 date = "nil" / <natural number>
21745 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
21746 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
21747 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
21748 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
21749 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
21750 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
21751 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
21752 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
21753 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
21754 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
21755 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
21756 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
21757 exclude-files / read-only / touched
21758 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
21759 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
21760 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
21761 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
21762 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
21763 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
21764 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
21765 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
21766 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
21767 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
21768 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
21769 eval = "eval" space <form>
21770 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
21773 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
21776 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
21777 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
21778 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
21779 one looong line, then that's ok.
21781 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
21782 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
21786 @subsection Headers
21788 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
21789 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
21790 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
21791 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
21793 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
21794 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
21795 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
21796 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
21797 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
21798 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
21799 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
21801 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
21802 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
21803 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
21804 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
21805 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
21807 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
21808 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
21814 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
21815 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
21817 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
21818 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
21819 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
21820 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
21822 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
21826 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
21829 is transformed into
21832 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
21835 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
21836 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
21839 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
21842 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
21843 is slightly tricky:
21846 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
21852 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
21855 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
21861 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
21868 and is equal to the previous range.
21870 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
21871 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
21872 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
21876 range = simple-range / normal-range
21877 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
21878 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
21879 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
21880 number *[ " " contents ]
21883 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
21884 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
21885 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
21886 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
21887 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
21892 @subsection Group Info
21894 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
21895 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
21896 describes the group.
21898 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
21899 second is a more complex one:
21902 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
21904 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
21905 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
21907 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
21910 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
21911 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
21912 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
21913 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
21914 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
21915 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
21916 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
21917 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
21918 this section is about.
21920 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
21921 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
21922 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
21924 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
21927 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
21928 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
21929 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
21930 group = quote <string> quote
21931 ralevel = rank / level
21932 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
21933 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
21934 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
21936 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
21937 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
21938 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
21939 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
21942 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
21943 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
21946 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
21947 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
21950 @item gnus-info-group
21951 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
21952 @findex gnus-info-group
21953 @findex gnus-info-set-group
21954 Get/set the group name.
21956 @item gnus-info-rank
21957 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
21958 @findex gnus-info-rank
21959 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
21960 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
21962 @item gnus-info-level
21963 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
21964 @findex gnus-info-level
21965 @findex gnus-info-set-level
21966 Get/set the group level.
21968 @item gnus-info-score
21969 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
21970 @findex gnus-info-score
21971 @findex gnus-info-set-score
21972 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
21974 @item gnus-info-read
21975 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
21976 @findex gnus-info-read
21977 @findex gnus-info-set-read
21978 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
21980 @item gnus-info-marks
21981 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
21982 @findex gnus-info-marks
21983 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
21984 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
21986 @item gnus-info-method
21987 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
21988 @findex gnus-info-method
21989 @findex gnus-info-set-method
21990 Get/set the group select method.
21992 @item gnus-info-params
21993 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
21994 @findex gnus-info-params
21995 @findex gnus-info-set-params
21996 Get/set the group parameters.
21999 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
22000 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
22002 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
22003 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
22004 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
22005 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
22008 @node Extended Interactive
22009 @subsection Extended Interactive
22010 @cindex interactive
22011 @findex gnus-interactive
22013 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
22014 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
22015 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
22018 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
22019 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
22024 The best thing to do would have been to implement
22025 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
22026 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
22027 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
22028 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
22029 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
22030 @code{interactive}.
22032 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
22037 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
22038 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
22042 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
22043 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
22044 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
22047 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
22051 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
22055 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
22061 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
22062 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
22066 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
22067 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
22068 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
22070 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
22071 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
22072 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
22073 Gnus, that's very useful.
22075 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
22076 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
22077 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
22078 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
22079 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
22080 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
22081 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
22082 following function:
22085 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
22089 (,function ,@@args))
22093 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
22094 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
22095 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
22098 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
22099 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
22100 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
22102 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
22103 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
22104 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
22107 @node Various File Formats
22108 @subsection Various File Formats
22111 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
22112 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
22116 @node Active File Format
22117 @subsubsection Active File Format
22119 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
22120 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
22123 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
22126 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
22127 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
22128 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
22129 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
22130 no.general 1000 900 y
22133 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
22136 active = *group-line
22137 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
22138 group = <non-white-space string>
22140 high-number = <non-negative integer>
22141 low-number = <positive integer>
22142 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
22145 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
22146 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
22149 @node Newsgroups File Format
22150 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
22152 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
22153 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
22154 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
22157 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
22158 Here's the definition:
22162 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
22163 group = <non-white-space string>
22165 description = <string>
22170 @node Emacs for Heathens
22171 @section Emacs for Heathens
22173 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
22174 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
22175 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
22176 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
22177 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
22178 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
22179 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
22183 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
22184 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
22189 @subsection Keystrokes
22193 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
22196 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
22199 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
22200 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
22201 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
22202 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
22203 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
22204 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
22206 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
22207 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
22208 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
22209 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
22210 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
22211 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
22212 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
22214 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
22215 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
22216 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
22217 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
22218 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
22219 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
22220 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
22222 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
22223 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
22224 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
22225 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
22226 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
22232 @subsection Emacs Lisp
22234 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
22235 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
22236 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
22237 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
22239 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
22240 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
22241 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
22242 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
22243 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
22244 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
22245 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
22248 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
22249 write the following:
22252 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
22255 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
22256 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
22257 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
22260 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
22261 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
22262 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
22263 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
22264 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
22266 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
22267 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
22268 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
22272 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
22276 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
22279 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
22280 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
22283 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
22286 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
22287 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
22290 @include gnus-faq.texi
22311 % LocalWords: Backend BNF mucho Backends backends detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
22312 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
22313 % LocalWords: nnmbox backend newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
22314 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
22315 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref