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4 @settitle Quassia Gnus 0.16 Manual
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259 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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268 Copyright \copyright{} 1995,96,97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
270 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
271 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
272 are preserved on all copies.
274 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
275 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
276 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
277 permission notice identical to this one.
279 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
280 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
289 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
291 Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
293 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
294 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
295 are preserved on all copies.
298 Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
299 results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
300 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
301 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
304 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
305 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the
306 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
307 permission notice identical to this one.
309 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
310 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
316 @title Quassia Gnus 0.16 Manual
318 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
321 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
322 Copyright @copyright{} 1995,96,97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
324 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
325 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
326 are preserved on all copies.
328 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
329 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
330 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
331 permission notice identical to this one.
333 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
334 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
343 @top The Gnus Newsreader
347 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
348 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
349 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
352 This manual corresponds to Quassia Gnus 0.16.
363 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
364 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
366 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
367 being accused of plagiarism:
369 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
370 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
371 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you can
372 even read news with it!
374 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
375 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
376 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
377 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
378 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
385 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
386 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
387 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
388 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
389 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
390 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
391 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
392 * Various:: General purpose settings.
393 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
394 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
395 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
396 * Key Index:: Key Index.
400 @chapter Starting Gnus
405 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
406 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
409 @findex gnus-other-frame
410 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
411 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
412 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
414 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
415 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
416 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
419 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
420 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
421 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
422 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
423 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
424 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
425 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
426 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
427 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
428 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
429 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
433 @node Finding the News
434 @section Finding the News
437 @vindex gnus-select-method
439 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
440 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
441 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
442 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
445 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
446 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
449 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
452 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
455 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
458 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
459 certainly be much faster.
461 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
463 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
464 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
465 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
466 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
467 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
468 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
470 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
471 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
472 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
473 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
475 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
476 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
477 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
478 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
479 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
480 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting.
482 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
484 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
485 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
486 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
487 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
488 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
489 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
491 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
493 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
494 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
495 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
496 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
497 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
498 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
501 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
502 would typically set this variable to
505 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
510 @section The First Time
511 @cindex first time usage
513 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
514 be subscribed by default.
516 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
517 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
518 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
519 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
522 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
523 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
524 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
526 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
527 help you with most common problems.
529 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
530 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
534 @node The Server is Down
535 @section The Server is Down
536 @cindex server errors
538 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
539 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
540 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
542 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
543 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
544 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
545 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
546 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
547 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
548 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
550 @findex gnus-no-server
551 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
553 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
554 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
555 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
556 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
557 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
558 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
563 @section Slave Gnusae
566 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
567 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
568 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
569 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
571 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
574 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
575 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
576 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
577 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
578 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
579 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
580 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
582 Anyways, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
583 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
584 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
585 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
586 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
587 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
588 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
589 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
591 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
592 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
595 @node Fetching a Group
596 @section Fetching a Group
597 @cindex fetching a group
599 @findex gnus-fetch-group
600 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
601 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
602 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
603 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
604 It takes the group name as a parameter.
612 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
613 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
614 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
615 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
616 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
617 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
618 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
619 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the backends for new groups even
620 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
623 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
624 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
625 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
629 @node Checking New Groups
630 @subsection Checking New Groups
632 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
633 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
634 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
635 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
636 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
637 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
638 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
639 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
640 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
641 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
643 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
644 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
645 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
646 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
647 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
648 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
649 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
650 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
651 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
652 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
653 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
655 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
656 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
657 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
658 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
659 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
660 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
663 @node Subscription Methods
664 @subsection Subscription Methods
666 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
667 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
668 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
670 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
671 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
673 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
677 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
678 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
679 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
680 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
681 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
683 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
684 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
685 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
686 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the grop buffer.
688 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
689 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
690 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
692 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
693 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
694 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
695 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
696 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
697 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into it's
698 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
699 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
700 up. Or something like that.
702 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
703 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
704 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
705 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
706 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
708 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
709 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
714 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
715 A closely related variable is
716 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
717 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
718 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
719 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
722 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
723 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
724 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
725 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
728 @node Filtering New Groups
729 @subsection Filtering New Groups
731 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
732 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
733 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
736 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
739 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
740 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
741 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
742 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
743 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
744 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
745 subscribing these groups.
746 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
747 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
749 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
750 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
751 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
752 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
753 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
754 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
755 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
756 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
758 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
759 Yet another variable that meddles here is
760 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
761 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
762 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
763 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
764 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
765 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
766 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
767 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
769 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
770 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
773 @node Changing Servers
774 @section Changing Servers
775 @cindex changing servers
777 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
778 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
779 very flaky and you want to use another.
781 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
782 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
786 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
787 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
788 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
789 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
792 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
793 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
794 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
795 functions more than absolutely necessary.
797 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
798 @findex gnus-change-server
799 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
800 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
801 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
802 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
803 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
805 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
806 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
807 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
808 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
809 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
811 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
812 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
813 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
814 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
815 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
816 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
820 @section Startup Files
821 @cindex startup files
826 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
827 information is traditionally stored in this file.
829 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
830 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
831 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
832 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
833 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
834 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
835 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
837 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
838 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
839 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
840 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
841 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
842 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
844 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
845 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
846 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
847 the file and save some space, as well as making exit from Gnus faster.
848 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
849 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right?
851 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
852 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
853 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
854 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
855 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
856 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
857 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
858 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
859 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
860 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
861 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
862 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
864 @vindex gnus-startup-file
865 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
866 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
867 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
869 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
870 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
871 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
872 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
873 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
874 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
875 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
876 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
877 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
878 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
881 (defun turn-off-backup ()
882 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
884 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
885 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
888 @vindex gnus-init-file
889 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
890 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
891 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
892 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
893 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
894 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
895 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
896 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
897 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
906 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
907 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
908 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
909 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
910 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
913 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
914 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
917 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
918 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
919 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
921 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
922 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
923 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
924 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
925 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
926 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
929 @node The Active File
930 @section The Active File
932 @cindex ignored groups
934 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
935 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
936 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
938 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
939 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
940 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
941 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
942 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
943 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
944 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
947 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
948 @c if you set it to anything else.
950 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
952 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
953 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
954 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
956 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
957 you actually subscribe to.
959 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
960 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
961 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
962 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
964 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
965 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
966 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
967 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
968 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
969 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
971 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
972 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
973 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
974 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
975 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
976 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
978 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
979 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
981 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
982 secondary select methods.
985 @node Startup Variables
986 @section Startup Variables
991 @vindex gnus-load-hook
992 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
993 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
994 times you start Gnus.
996 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
997 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
998 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1000 @item gnus-startup-hook
1001 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1002 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1004 @item gnus-started-hook
1005 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1006 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1009 @item gnus-started-hook
1010 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1011 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1012 generating the group buffer.
1014 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1015 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1016 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1017 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1018 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1019 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1020 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1021 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1023 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1024 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1025 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1026 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1027 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1028 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1030 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1031 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1032 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1034 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1035 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1036 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1038 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1039 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1040 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1041 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1046 @node The Group Buffer
1047 @chapter The Group Buffer
1048 @cindex group buffer
1050 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1051 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1052 long as Gnus is active.
1056 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1057 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1058 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1059 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1060 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1061 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1062 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1063 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1069 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1070 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1071 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1072 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1073 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1074 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1075 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1076 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1077 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1078 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1079 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1080 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1081 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1082 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1083 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1084 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1085 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1089 @node Group Buffer Format
1090 @section Group Buffer Format
1093 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1094 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1095 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1099 @node Group Line Specification
1100 @subsection Group Line Specification
1101 @cindex group buffer format
1103 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1104 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1106 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1109 25: news.announce.newusers
1110 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1115 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1116 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1117 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1118 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1120 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1121 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1122 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1123 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1124 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1125 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1127 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1129 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1130 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1131 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1132 never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1135 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1136 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1137 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1139 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1144 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1147 Whether the group is subscribed.
1150 Level of subscribedness.
1153 Number of unread articles.
1156 Number of dormant articles.
1159 Number of ticked articles.
1162 Number of read articles.
1165 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1166 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1169 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1172 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1181 Newsgroup description.
1184 @samp{m} if moderated.
1187 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1196 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1200 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1203 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1204 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1205 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1206 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1207 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.emacs.gnus}.
1210 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1212 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1216 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1220 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1221 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1222 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1223 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1224 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1225 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1230 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1231 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1232 group, or a bogus native group.
1235 @node Group Modeline Specification
1236 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1237 @cindex group modeline
1239 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1240 The mode line can be changed by setting
1241 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). It
1242 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1246 The native news server.
1248 The native select method.
1252 @node Group Highlighting
1253 @subsection Group Highlighting
1254 @cindex highlighting
1255 @cindex group highlighting
1257 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1258 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1259 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1260 that look like @var{(form . face)}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1261 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1263 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1267 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-1 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))))
1268 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-2 '((t (:foreground "SeaGreen" :bold t))))
1269 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-3 '((t (:foreground "SpringGreen" :bold t))))
1270 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-4 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))))
1271 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-5 '((t (:foreground "SkyBlue" :bold t))))
1273 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1274 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1275 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1276 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1277 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1278 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1280 ,(custom-face-lookup "Red" nil nil t nil nil))
1281 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) .
1282 ,(custom-face-lookup "SeaGreen" nil nil t nil nil))
1284 ,(custom-face-lookup "SpringGreen" nil nil t nil nil))
1286 ,(custom-face-lookup "SteelBlue" nil nil t nil nil))
1288 ,(custom-face-lookup "SkyBlue" nil nil t nil nil))))
1289 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1292 Also @pxref{Faces & Fonts}.
1294 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1301 The number of unread articles in the group.
1305 Whether the group is a mail group.
1307 The level of the group.
1309 The score of the group.
1311 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1313 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1314 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1316 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1317 topic being inserted.
1320 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1321 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1322 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1324 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1325 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1326 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1327 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1328 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1331 @node Group Maneuvering
1332 @section Group Maneuvering
1333 @cindex group movement
1335 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1336 expected, hopefully.
1342 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1343 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1344 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1350 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1351 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1352 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1356 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1357 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1361 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1362 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1366 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1367 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1368 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1372 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1373 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1374 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1377 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1383 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1384 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1385 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1390 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1391 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1392 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1396 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1397 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1398 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1401 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1402 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1403 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1404 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1408 @node Selecting a Group
1409 @section Selecting a Group
1410 @cindex group selection
1415 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1416 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1417 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1418 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1419 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1420 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1421 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1422 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1423 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1424 negative, Gnus fetches the @var{abs(N)} oldest articles.
1428 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1429 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1430 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1431 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1432 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1436 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1437 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1438 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1439 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1440 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1441 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1442 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1443 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1444 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1445 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1448 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1449 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1450 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1451 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1452 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1455 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1456 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1457 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1458 doing any processing of its contents
1459 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1460 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1461 manner will have no permanent effects.
1465 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1466 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
1467 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1468 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
1469 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
1470 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
1471 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
1472 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
1475 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
1476 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
1477 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
1478 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
1483 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
1484 full summary buffer.
1487 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
1490 Select the most high-scored article in the group when entering the
1494 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
1495 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
1496 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
1500 @node Subscription Commands
1501 @section Subscription Commands
1502 @cindex subscription
1510 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
1511 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
1512 Toggle subscription to the current group
1513 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
1519 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
1520 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
1521 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
1522 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
1528 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
1529 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
1530 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
1536 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
1537 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
1540 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
1541 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
1542 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
1543 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
1544 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
1550 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
1551 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
1555 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
1556 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
1559 @kindex S C-k (Group)
1560 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
1561 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
1562 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
1563 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
1564 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
1565 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
1566 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
1567 @file{.newsrc} file.
1571 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1581 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
1582 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
1583 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
1584 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
1585 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
1586 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
1591 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
1592 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
1593 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
1597 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1598 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
1599 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1601 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1602 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1603 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1604 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
1605 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
1606 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
1613 @section Group Levels
1617 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
1618 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
1619 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
1620 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
1621 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1623 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
1629 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
1630 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
1631 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
1632 prompted for a level.
1635 @vindex gnus-level-killed
1636 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
1637 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
1638 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
1639 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
1640 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
1641 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
1642 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
1643 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
1644 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
1645 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
1646 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
1647 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
1648 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
1649 reasons of efficiency.
1651 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
1652 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
1654 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
1655 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
1656 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
1658 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
1659 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
1660 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
1661 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
1662 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
1663 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
1664 relevant valid ranges.
1666 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
1667 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
1668 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
1669 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
1670 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
1671 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
1674 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
1675 All groups with a level less than or equal to
1676 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
1679 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
1680 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
1681 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
1682 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
1685 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
1686 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
1687 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
1688 use this level as the ``work'' level.
1690 @vindex gnus-activate-level
1691 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
1692 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
1693 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
1694 to 5. The default is 6.
1698 @section Group Score
1701 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
1702 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
1703 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
1706 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can assign a score to each
1707 group. You can then sort the group buffer based on this score.
1708 Alternatively, you can sort on score and then level. (Taken together,
1709 the level and the score is called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group
1710 that is on level 4 and has a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group
1711 on level 5 that has a score of 300. (The level is the most significant
1712 part and the score is the least significant part.))
1714 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
1715 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
1716 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
1717 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
1718 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
1719 action after each summary exit, you can add
1720 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
1721 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
1722 slow things down somewhat.
1725 @node Marking Groups
1726 @section Marking Groups
1727 @cindex marking groups
1729 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
1730 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
1731 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
1732 bidding on those groups.
1734 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
1735 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
1736 with the process mark and then execute the command.
1744 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
1745 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
1751 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
1752 Remove the mark from the current group
1753 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
1757 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
1758 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
1762 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
1763 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
1767 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
1768 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
1772 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
1773 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
1774 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
1777 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
1779 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
1780 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
1781 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
1782 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
1783 the command to be executed.
1786 @node Foreign Groups
1787 @section Foreign Groups
1788 @cindex foreign groups
1790 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
1791 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
1792 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
1793 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
1800 @findex gnus-group-make-group
1801 @cindex making groups
1802 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
1803 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
1804 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
1808 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
1809 @cindex renaming groups
1810 Rename the current group to something else
1811 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
1812 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
1818 @findex gnus-group-customize
1819 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
1823 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
1824 @cindex renaming groups
1825 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
1826 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
1830 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
1831 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
1832 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
1836 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
1837 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
1838 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
1842 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
1844 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
1845 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
1850 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
1851 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
1855 @cindex (ding) archive
1856 @cindex archive group
1857 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
1858 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
1859 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
1860 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
1861 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
1862 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
1863 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
1867 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
1869 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
1870 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
1871 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
1872 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
1876 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
1878 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
1879 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
1880 @xref{Anything Groups}.
1884 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
1885 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
1887 Make a group based on some file or other
1888 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1889 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
1890 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
1891 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
1892 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, and @code{forward}. If you run
1893 this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file type.
1894 @xref{Document Groups}.
1898 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
1903 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
1904 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1905 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
1906 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
1907 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
1908 @xref{Web Searches}.
1911 @kindex G DEL (Group)
1912 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
1913 This function will delete the current group
1914 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
1915 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
1916 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
1917 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
1918 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
1922 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
1923 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
1924 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
1928 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
1929 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
1930 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
1933 @xref{Select Methods} for more information on the various select
1936 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
1937 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
1938 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
1939 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
1940 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers.
1943 @node Group Parameters
1944 @section Group Parameters
1945 @cindex group parameters
1947 The group parameters store information local to a particular group:
1952 If the group parameter list contains an element that looks like
1953 @code{(to-address . "some@@where.com")}, that address will be used by
1954 the backend when doing followups and posts. This is primarily useful in
1955 mail groups that represent closed mailing lists---mailing lists where
1956 it's expected that everybody that writes to the mailing list is
1957 subscribed to it. Since using this parameter ensures that the mail only
1958 goes to the mailing list itself, it means that members won't receive two
1959 copies of your followups.
1961 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
1962 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
1963 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
1964 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
1965 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
1966 list address instead.
1970 If the group parameter list has an element that looks like
1971 @code{(to-list . "some@@where.com")}, that address will be used when
1972 doing a @kbd{a} in that group. It is totally ignored when doing a
1973 followup---except that if it is present in a news group, you'll get mail
1974 group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
1976 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
1977 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
1978 sending the message.
1982 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
1983 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
1984 of whether it has any unread articles.
1986 @item broken-reply-to
1987 @cindex broken-reply-to
1988 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
1989 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
1990 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
1991 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
1992 broken behavior. So there!
1996 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
1997 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2001 If this symbol is present in the group parameter list, Gnus will treat
2002 all responses as if they were responses to news articles. This can be
2003 useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a news group.
2007 If this symbol is present in the group parameter list and set to
2008 @code{t}, newly composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current
2009 group. If it is present and set to @code{none}, no @code{Gcc:} header
2010 will be generated, if it is present and a string, this string will be
2011 inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header (this symbol takes precedence
2012 over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later). @xref{Archived
2017 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2018 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2019 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2022 @cindex total-expire
2023 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2024 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2025 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2026 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2031 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2032 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2033 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2034 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2035 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2036 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2039 @cindex score file group parameter
2040 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2041 @file{file} into the current adaptive score file for the group in
2042 question. All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2045 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2046 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2047 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2048 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2051 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2052 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2053 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2054 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2057 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2058 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2062 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2065 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2070 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2071 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2072 Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2075 @item @var{(variable form)}
2076 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2077 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2078 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2079 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2080 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2081 @code{eval}ed there.
2083 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2084 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2085 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2086 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2087 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2091 Use the @kbd{G p} command to edit group parameters of a group.
2093 @pxref{Topic Parameters}.
2095 Here's an example group parameter list:
2098 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2103 @node Listing Groups
2104 @section Listing Groups
2105 @cindex group listing
2107 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2115 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2116 List all groups that have unread articles
2117 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2118 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2119 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2120 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2127 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2128 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2129 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2130 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2131 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2132 unsubscribed groups).
2136 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2137 List all unread groups on a specific level
2138 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2139 with no unread articles.
2143 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2144 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2145 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2146 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2151 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2152 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2156 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2157 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2158 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2162 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2163 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2167 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2168 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2169 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2170 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2171 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2172 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2173 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2174 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2178 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2179 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2180 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2184 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2185 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2186 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2190 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2191 @cindex visible group parameter
2192 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2193 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2194 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2195 get the same effect.
2197 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2198 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2199 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2200 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2201 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2204 @node Sorting Groups
2205 @section Sorting Groups
2206 @cindex sorting groups
2208 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2209 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2210 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2211 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2212 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2213 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2218 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2219 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2220 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2222 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2223 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2224 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2226 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2227 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2228 Sort by group level.
2230 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2231 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2232 Sort by group score.
2234 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2235 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2236 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2237 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}.
2239 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2240 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2241 Sort by number of unread articles.
2243 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2244 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2245 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2250 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2251 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2255 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2256 some sorting criteria:
2260 @kindex G S a (Group)
2261 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2262 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2263 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2266 @kindex G S u (Group)
2267 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2268 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2269 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2272 @kindex G S l (Group)
2273 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2274 Sort the group buffer by group level
2275 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2278 @kindex G S v (Group)
2279 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2280 Sort the group buffer by group score
2281 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}).
2284 @kindex G S r (Group)
2285 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2286 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2287 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}).
2290 @kindex G S m (Group)
2291 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2292 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2293 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2297 When given a prefix, all these commands will sort in reverse order.
2299 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2303 @kindex G P a (Group)
2304 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
2305 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer alphabetically by
2306 group name (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
2309 @kindex G P u (Group)
2310 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
2311 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by the number of
2312 unread articles (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
2315 @kindex G P l (Group)
2316 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
2317 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group level
2318 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
2321 @kindex G P v (Group)
2322 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
2323 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group score
2324 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}).
2327 @kindex G P r (Group)
2328 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
2329 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group rank
2330 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}).
2333 @kindex G P m (Group)
2334 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
2335 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer alphabetically by
2336 backend name (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
2342 @node Group Maintenance
2343 @section Group Maintenance
2344 @cindex bogus groups
2349 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
2350 Find bogus groups and delete them
2351 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
2355 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
2356 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
2357 If given a prefix, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
2361 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
2362 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
2363 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
2364 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
2367 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
2368 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
2369 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
2370 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
2375 @node Browse Foreign Server
2376 @section Browse Foreign Server
2377 @cindex foreign servers
2378 @cindex browsing servers
2383 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
2384 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
2385 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
2386 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
2389 @findex gnus-browse-mode
2390 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
2391 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
2392 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
2394 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
2399 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2400 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2404 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2405 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2408 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
2409 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
2410 Enter the current group and display the first article
2411 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
2414 @kindex RET (Browse)
2415 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
2416 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
2420 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
2421 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
2422 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2428 @findex gnus-browse-exit
2429 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
2433 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
2434 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
2435 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
2440 @section Exiting Gnus
2441 @cindex exiting Gnus
2443 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
2448 @findex gnus-group-suspend
2449 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
2450 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
2451 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
2455 @findex gnus-group-exit
2456 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
2457 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
2461 @findex gnus-group-quit
2462 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
2463 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
2466 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
2467 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
2468 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
2469 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
2470 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
2475 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
2476 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
2477 trying to customize meta-variables.
2482 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
2483 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
2484 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
2490 @section Group Topics
2493 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
2494 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
2495 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
2496 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
2497 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
2498 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
2502 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
2503 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
2514 2: alt.religion.emacs
2517 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2519 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2520 13: comp.sources.unix
2523 @findex gnus-topic-mode
2525 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
2526 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
2527 is a toggling command.)
2529 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
2530 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
2531 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
2532 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
2535 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
2536 the hook for the group mode:
2539 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
2543 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
2544 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
2545 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
2546 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
2547 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
2551 @node Topic Variables
2552 @subsection Topic Variables
2553 @cindex topic variables
2555 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
2556 really neat, I think.
2558 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
2559 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
2560 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
2573 Number of groups in the topic.
2575 Number of unread articles in the topic.
2577 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
2580 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
2581 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
2582 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
2585 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
2586 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
2588 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
2589 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
2590 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
2593 @node Topic Commands
2594 @subsection Topic Commands
2595 @cindex topic commands
2597 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
2598 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
2599 definitions slightly.
2605 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
2606 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
2607 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
2611 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
2612 Move the current group to some other topic
2613 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2614 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2618 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
2619 Copy the current group to some other topic
2620 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2621 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2625 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
2626 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
2627 This command uses the process/prefix convention
2628 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2632 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
2633 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2634 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
2638 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
2639 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2640 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
2644 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
2645 Toggle hiding empty topics
2646 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
2650 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
2651 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
2652 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
2655 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
2656 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
2657 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
2658 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
2662 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
2664 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
2665 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
2666 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
2667 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
2668 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
2669 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
2672 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
2673 @findex gnus-topic-indent
2674 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2675 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
2676 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
2680 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
2681 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
2682 topic will be removed along with the topic.
2686 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
2687 Yank the previously killed group or topic
2688 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
2693 @findex gnus-topic-rename
2694 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
2697 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
2698 @findex gnus-topic-delete
2699 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
2703 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
2704 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
2705 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
2709 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
2710 @cindex group parameters
2711 @cindex topic parameters
2713 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
2714 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
2720 @subsection Topic Sorting
2721 @cindex topic sorting
2723 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
2729 @kindex T S a (Topic)
2730 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2731 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
2732 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2735 @kindex T S u (Topic)
2736 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
2737 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
2738 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2741 @kindex T S l (Topic)
2742 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
2743 Sort the current topic by group level
2744 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
2747 @kindex T S v (Topic)
2748 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
2749 Sort the current topic by group score
2750 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}).
2753 @kindex T S r (Topic)
2754 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
2755 Sort the current topic by group rank
2756 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}).
2759 @kindex T S m (Topic)
2760 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
2761 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
2762 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
2766 @xref{Sorting Groups} for more information about group sorting.
2769 @node Topic Topology
2770 @subsection Topic Topology
2771 @cindex topic topology
2774 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
2780 2: alt.religion.emacs
2783 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2785 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2786 13: comp.sources.unix
2789 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
2790 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
2791 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
2796 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
2797 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
2801 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
2802 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
2803 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
2804 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
2805 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
2806 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
2808 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
2809 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
2810 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
2813 @node Topic Parameters
2814 @subsection Topic Parameters
2815 @cindex topic parameters
2817 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
2818 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
2819 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
2821 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
2822 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
2823 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
2824 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
2830 2: alt.religion.emacs
2834 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2836 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2837 13: comp.sources.unix
2841 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
2842 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
2843 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
2844 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
2845 @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
2846 . "religion.SCORE")}.
2848 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
2849 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
2850 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
2851 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
2852 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
2854 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
2855 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
2856 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
2857 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
2858 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
2859 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
2860 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
2861 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
2864 @node Misc Group Stuff
2865 @section Misc Group Stuff
2868 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
2869 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
2870 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
2871 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
2878 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
2879 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
2880 @xref{The Server Buffer}.
2884 @findex gnus-group-post-news
2885 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
2886 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
2890 @findex gnus-group-mail
2891 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
2895 Variables for the group buffer:
2899 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
2900 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
2901 is called after the group buffer has been
2904 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
2905 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
2906 is called after the group buffer is
2907 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
2910 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2911 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2912 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
2913 whether they are empty or not.
2918 @node Scanning New Messages
2919 @subsection Scanning New Messages
2920 @cindex new messages
2921 @cindex scanning new news
2927 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
2928 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
2929 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
2930 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
2931 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
2932 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
2937 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
2938 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
2939 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
2940 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
2941 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
2942 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
2943 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
2945 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
2946 @cindex activating groups
2948 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
2949 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
2954 @findex gnus-group-restart
2955 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
2956 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
2957 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
2961 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
2962 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
2964 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
2965 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
2969 @node Group Information
2970 @subsection Group Information
2971 @cindex group information
2972 @cindex information on groups
2979 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
2980 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
2983 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
2984 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
2985 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
2986 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
2987 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
2988 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
2989 for fetching the file.
2991 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
2992 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
2996 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
2998 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
2999 @cindex describing groups
3000 @cindex group description
3001 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
3002 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
3003 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
3007 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
3008 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
3009 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
3016 @findex gnus-version
3017 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
3021 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
3022 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
3025 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
3028 @findex gnus-info-find-node
3029 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3033 @node Group Timestamp
3034 @subsection Group Timestamp
3036 @cindex group timestamps
3038 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
3039 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3040 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3043 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3046 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3048 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3049 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3052 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3053 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3056 This will result in lines looking like:
3059 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3060 0: custom 19961002T012713
3063 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3064 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3068 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3069 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3074 @subsection File Commands
3075 @cindex file commands
3081 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3082 @vindex gnus-init-file
3083 @cindex reading init file
3084 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3085 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3089 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3090 @cindex saving .newsrc
3091 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3092 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3093 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3096 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3097 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3098 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3103 @node The Summary Buffer
3104 @chapter The Summary Buffer
3105 @cindex summary buffer
3107 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3108 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3110 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3111 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3113 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3116 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3117 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3118 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3119 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3120 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3121 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
3122 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3123 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3124 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3125 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3126 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3127 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3128 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3129 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3130 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3131 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3132 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3133 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3134 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3135 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3136 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3137 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3138 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3139 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3140 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
3141 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3142 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3146 @node Summary Buffer Format
3147 @section Summary Buffer Format
3148 @cindex summary buffer format
3152 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
3153 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
3154 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
3160 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3161 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3162 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3165 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3166 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3167 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3168 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3169 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3170 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
3171 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3172 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
3173 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
3174 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
3175 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead.
3177 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3178 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3179 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3180 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
3183 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3184 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3186 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3187 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3188 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3189 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3190 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3192 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3194 The following format specification characters are understood:
3202 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
3203 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3204 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
3206 Full @code{From} header.
3208 The name (from the @code{From} header).
3210 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
3211 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
3212 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
3213 may be more thorough.
3215 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
3218 Number of lines in the article.
3220 Number of characters in the article.
3222 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3224 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
3225 pushes everything after it off the screen).
3227 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
3228 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3230 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
3231 for adopted articles.
3233 One space for each thread level.
3235 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
3241 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
3243 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
3244 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
3245 default level. If the difference between
3246 @code{gnus-summary-default-level} and the score is less than
3247 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
3255 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
3257 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
3263 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
3264 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
3266 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
3267 article has any children.
3273 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
3274 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
3275 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
3276 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
3277 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
3278 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
3281 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
3282 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
3283 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
3284 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
3285 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
3286 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
3288 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
3289 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
3291 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
3294 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
3295 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
3297 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
3298 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar. Set
3299 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you like. The default
3300 is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
3302 Here are the elements you can play with:
3308 Unprefixed group name.
3310 Current article number.
3314 Number of unread articles in this group.
3316 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
3319 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
3320 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
3321 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
3322 and no unselected ones.
3324 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
3325 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
3327 Subject of the current article.
3329 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
3331 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
3333 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3335 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3337 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
3339 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
3343 @node Summary Highlighting
3344 @subsection Summary Highlighting
3348 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3349 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3350 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
3351 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
3352 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3354 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
3355 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
3356 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
3357 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3359 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
3360 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
3361 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
3362 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
3364 @item gnus-summary-highlight
3365 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
3366 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
3367 list where the elements are of the format @var{(FORM . FACE)}. If you
3368 would, for instance, like ticked articles to be italic and high-scored
3369 articles to be bold, you could set this variable to something like
3371 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
3372 ((> score default) . bold))
3374 As you may have guessed, if @var{FORM} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
3375 @var{FACE} will be applied to the line.
3379 @node Summary Maneuvering
3380 @section Summary Maneuvering
3381 @cindex summary movement
3383 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
3384 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
3386 None of these commands select articles.
3391 @kindex M-n (Summary)
3392 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
3393 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
3394 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
3395 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
3399 @kindex M-p (Summary)
3400 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
3401 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
3402 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
3403 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
3408 @kindex G j (Summary)
3409 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
3410 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
3411 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
3414 @kindex G g (Summary)
3415 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
3416 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
3417 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
3420 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
3421 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
3422 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
3423 to the group buffer.
3425 Variables related to summary movement:
3429 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
3430 @item gnus-auto-select-next
3431 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
3432 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
3433 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
3434 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
3435 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
3436 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
3437 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the
3438 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
3439 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
3440 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
3441 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
3442 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
3444 @item gnus-auto-select-same
3445 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
3446 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
3447 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
3448 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
3449 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) This variable is not
3450 particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
3452 @item gnus-summary-check-current
3453 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
3454 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
3455 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
3456 Instead, they will choose the current article.
3458 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
3459 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
3460 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
3461 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
3462 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
3463 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
3464 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
3465 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
3471 @node Choosing Articles
3472 @section Choosing Articles
3473 @cindex selecting articles
3476 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
3477 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
3481 @node Choosing Commands
3482 @subsection Choosing Commands
3484 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
3485 and they all select and display an article.
3489 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3490 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3491 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
3492 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3497 @kindex G n (Summary)
3498 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
3499 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
3500 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
3505 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
3506 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
3507 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
3512 @kindex G N (Summary)
3513 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
3514 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
3519 @kindex G P (Summary)
3520 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
3521 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
3524 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
3525 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
3526 Go to the next article with the same subject
3527 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
3530 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
3531 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
3532 Go to the previous article with the same subject
3533 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
3537 @kindex G f (Summary)
3539 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
3540 Go to the first unread article
3541 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
3545 @kindex G b (Summary)
3547 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
3548 Go to the article with the highest score
3549 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
3554 @kindex G l (Summary)
3555 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
3556 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
3559 @kindex G o (Summary)
3560 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
3562 @cindex article history
3563 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
3564 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
3565 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
3566 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
3567 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
3568 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
3572 @node Choosing Variables
3573 @subsection Choosing Variables
3575 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
3578 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3579 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3580 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
3581 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
3582 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
3583 the server and display it in the article buffer.
3585 @item gnus-select-article-hook
3586 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
3587 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
3588 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
3590 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
3591 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
3592 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
3593 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
3594 @findex gnus-unread-mark
3595 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
3596 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
3597 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
3598 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
3599 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
3600 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
3601 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
3602 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
3603 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
3608 @node Paging the Article
3609 @section Scrolling the Article
3610 @cindex article scrolling
3615 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3616 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3617 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
3618 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
3619 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3622 @kindex DEL (Summary)
3623 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
3624 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
3627 @kindex RET (Summary)
3628 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
3629 Scroll the current article one line forward
3630 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
3634 @kindex A g (Summary)
3636 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
3637 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
3638 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
3639 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
3640 the way it came from the server.
3645 @kindex A < (Summary)
3646 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
3647 Scroll to the beginning of the article
3648 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
3653 @kindex A > (Summary)
3654 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
3655 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
3659 @kindex A s (Summary)
3661 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
3662 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
3663 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
3667 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
3668 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
3673 @node Reply Followup and Post
3674 @section Reply, Followup and Post
3677 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
3678 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
3682 @node Summary Mail Commands
3683 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
3685 @cindex composing mail
3687 Commands for composing a mail message:
3693 @kindex S r (Summary)
3695 @findex gnus-summary-reply
3696 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
3697 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
3698 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
3699 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
3704 @kindex S R (Summary)
3705 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
3706 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
3707 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
3708 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
3709 command uses the process/prefix convention.
3712 @kindex S w (Summary)
3713 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
3714 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
3715 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
3716 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
3717 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
3720 @kindex S W (Summary)
3721 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
3722 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
3723 message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This command uses
3724 the process/prefix convention.
3727 @kindex S o m (Summary)
3728 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
3729 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
3730 Forward the current article to some other person
3731 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3732 headers of the forwarded article.
3737 @kindex S m (Summary)
3738 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
3739 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
3740 Send a mail to some other person
3741 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
3744 @kindex S D b (Summary)
3745 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
3746 @cindex bouncing mail
3747 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
3748 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
3749 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
3750 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
3751 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
3752 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
3753 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
3754 very well fail, though.
3757 @kindex S D r (Summary)
3758 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
3759 Not to be confused with the previous command,
3760 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
3761 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
3762 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
3763 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
3764 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
3765 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
3766 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
3768 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
3769 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
3770 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
3771 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
3772 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
3774 This command understands the process/prefix convention
3775 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3778 @kindex S O m (Summary)
3779 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
3780 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
3781 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
3782 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3785 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
3786 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
3787 @cindex crossposting
3788 @cindex excessive crossposting
3789 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
3790 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
3792 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
3793 This command is provided as a way to fight back agains the current
3794 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
3795 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
3796 command understands the process/prefix convention
3797 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
3802 @node Summary Post Commands
3803 @subsection Summary Post Commands
3805 @cindex composing news
3807 Commands for posting a news article:
3813 @kindex S p (Summary)
3814 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
3815 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
3816 Post an article to the current group
3817 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
3822 @kindex S f (Summary)
3823 @findex gnus-summary-followup
3824 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
3825 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
3829 @kindex S F (Summary)
3831 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
3832 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
3833 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
3834 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
3835 process/prefix convention.
3838 @kindex S n (Summary)
3839 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
3840 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
3841 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
3844 @kindex S n (Summary)
3845 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
3846 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
3847 message through mail and include the original message
3848 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
3849 the process/prefix convention.
3852 @kindex S o p (Summary)
3853 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
3854 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
3855 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3856 headers of the forwarded article.
3859 @kindex S O p (Summary)
3860 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
3862 @cindex making digests
3863 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
3864 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
3865 process/prefix convention.
3868 @kindex S u (Summary)
3869 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
3870 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
3871 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
3872 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
3876 @node Canceling and Superseding
3877 @section Canceling Articles
3878 @cindex canceling articles
3879 @cindex superseding articles
3881 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
3882 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
3884 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
3886 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
3888 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
3889 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
3890 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
3891 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
3892 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
3893 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3895 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
3896 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
3899 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when cancelling. If you
3900 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
3901 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
3903 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
3904 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
3905 your original article.
3907 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
3909 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
3910 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
3911 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
3914 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
3915 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
3916 have posted almost the same article twice.
3918 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
3919 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
3920 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
3921 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
3922 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
3923 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
3924 header by substituting one of those words for the word
3925 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
3926 you would do normally. The previous article will be
3927 canceled/superseded.
3929 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
3932 @node Marking Articles
3933 @section Marking Articles
3934 @cindex article marking
3935 @cindex article ticking
3938 There are several marks you can set on an article.
3940 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
3941 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
3942 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
3944 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
3947 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
3948 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
3949 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
3953 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
3957 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
3958 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
3962 @node Unread Articles
3963 @subsection Unread Articles
3965 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
3970 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
3971 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
3973 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
3974 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
3975 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
3976 tick it. However, articles can be expired, so if you want to keep an
3977 article forever, you'll have to make it persistent (@pxref{Persistent
3981 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
3982 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
3984 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
3985 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
3986 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
3989 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
3990 Markes as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
3992 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
3997 @subsection Read Articles
3998 @cindex expirable mark
4000 All the following marks mark articles as read.
4005 @vindex gnus-del-mark
4006 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
4007 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
4010 @vindex gnus-read-mark
4011 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
4014 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
4015 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
4016 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
4019 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
4020 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
4023 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
4024 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
4027 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
4028 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
4031 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
4032 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
4035 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
4036 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
4039 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
4040 @sc{SOUP}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
4043 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
4044 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
4048 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
4049 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
4050 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
4054 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
4055 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
4057 One more special mark, though:
4061 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
4062 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
4064 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
4065 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
4066 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
4067 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
4073 @subsection Other Marks
4074 @cindex process mark
4077 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
4083 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
4084 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
4085 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
4086 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
4087 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}
4090 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
4091 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
4092 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
4093 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
4096 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
4097 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
4098 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}
4101 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
4102 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
4103 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
4104 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
4107 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
4108 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
4109 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
4110 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
4111 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
4114 @vindex gnus-process-mark
4115 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
4116 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
4117 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
4118 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
4119 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
4123 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
4124 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
4125 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
4127 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
4128 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
4129 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
4133 @subsection Setting Marks
4134 @cindex setting marks
4136 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
4141 @kindex M c (Summary)
4142 @kindex M-u (Summary)
4143 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
4144 @cindex mark as unread
4145 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
4146 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
4152 @kindex M t (Summary)
4153 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
4154 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
4155 @xref{Article Caching}
4160 @kindex M ? (Summary)
4161 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
4162 Mark the current article as dormant
4163 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}
4167 @kindex M d (Summary)
4169 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
4170 Mark the current article as read
4171 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
4175 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
4176 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
4177 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
4182 @kindex M k (Summary)
4183 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
4184 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
4185 and then select the next unread article
4186 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
4190 @kindex M K (Summary)
4191 @kindex C-k (Summary)
4192 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
4193 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
4194 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
4197 @kindex M C (Summary)
4198 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
4199 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
4200 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
4203 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
4204 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
4205 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
4206 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
4209 @kindex M H (Summary)
4210 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
4211 Catchup the current group to point
4212 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
4215 @kindex C-w (Summary)
4216 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
4217 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
4218 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
4221 @kindex M V k (Summary)
4222 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
4223 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
4224 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
4228 @kindex M e (Summary)
4230 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
4231 Mark the current article as expirable
4232 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
4235 @kindex M b (Summary)
4236 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
4237 Set a bookmark in the current article
4238 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
4241 @kindex M B (Summary)
4242 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
4243 Remove the bookmark from the current article
4244 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
4247 @kindex M V c (Summary)
4248 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
4249 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
4250 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4253 @kindex M V u (Summary)
4254 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
4255 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
4256 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
4259 @kindex M V m (Summary)
4260 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
4261 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
4262 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
4263 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4266 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
4267 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
4268 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
4269 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
4270 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
4271 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
4272 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
4273 The default is @code{t}.
4276 @node Setting Process Marks
4277 @subsection Setting Process Marks
4278 @cindex setting process marks
4285 @kindex M P p (Summary)
4286 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
4287 Mark the current article with the process mark
4288 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
4289 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
4293 @kindex M P u (Summary)
4294 @kindex M-# (Summary)
4295 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
4296 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
4299 @kindex M P U (Summary)
4300 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
4301 Remove the process mark from all articles
4302 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
4305 @kindex M P i (Summary)
4306 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
4307 Invert the list of process marked articles
4308 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
4311 @kindex M P R (Summary)
4312 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
4313 Mark articles by a regular expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
4316 @kindex M P r (Summary)
4317 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
4318 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
4321 @kindex M P t (Summary)
4322 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4323 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4324 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4327 @kindex M P T (Summary)
4328 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4329 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4330 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4333 @kindex M P v (Summary)
4334 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
4335 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
4336 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
4339 @kindex M P s (Summary)
4340 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
4341 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4344 @kindex M P S (Summary)
4345 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
4346 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
4347 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
4350 @kindex M P a (Summary)
4351 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
4352 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4355 @kindex M P b (Summary)
4356 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
4357 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
4358 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
4361 @kindex M P k (Summary)
4362 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
4363 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
4364 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
4367 @kindex M P y (Summary)
4368 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
4369 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
4370 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
4373 @kindex M P w (Summary)
4374 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
4375 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
4376 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
4385 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
4386 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
4387 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
4390 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
4391 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
4392 additional articles.
4398 @kindex / / (Summary)
4399 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
4400 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
4401 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
4404 @kindex / a (Summary)
4405 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
4406 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
4407 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
4411 @kindex / u (Summary)
4413 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
4414 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
4415 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
4416 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
4417 dormant articles will also be excluded.
4420 @kindex / m (Summary)
4421 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
4422 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have not been marked
4423 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
4426 @kindex / t (Summary)
4427 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
4428 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
4429 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}). If given a prefix, limit to
4430 articles younger than that number of days.
4433 @kindex / n (Summary)
4434 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
4435 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
4436 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
4437 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4440 @kindex / w (Summary)
4441 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
4442 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
4443 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
4447 @kindex / v (Summary)
4448 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
4449 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
4450 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
4454 @kindex M S (Summary)
4455 @kindex / E (Summary)
4456 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
4457 Display all expunged articles
4458 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
4461 @kindex / D (Summary)
4462 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
4463 Display all dormant articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
4466 @kindex / d (Summary)
4467 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
4468 Hide all dormant articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
4471 @kindex / T (Summary)
4472 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
4473 Include all the articles in the current thread.
4476 @kindex / c (Summary)
4477 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
4478 Hide all dormant articles that have no children
4479 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
4482 @kindex / C (Summary)
4483 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
4484 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
4485 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
4486 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
4494 @cindex article threading
4496 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
4497 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
4498 hierarchical fashion.
4500 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
4501 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
4502 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
4503 or simply missing. Weird news propagration excarcerbates the problem,
4504 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
4505 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
4506 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
4508 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
4512 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
4515 A tree-like article structure.
4518 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
4521 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
4522 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
4523 summary buffer. We then typicall have many sub-threads that really
4524 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
4525 called loose threads.
4527 @item thread gathering
4528 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
4530 @item sparse threads
4531 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
4532 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
4538 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
4539 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
4543 @node Customizing Threading
4544 @subsection Customizing Threading
4545 @cindex customizing threading
4548 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
4549 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
4550 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
4551 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
4556 @subsubsection Loose Threads
4559 @cindex loose threads
4562 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
4563 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
4564 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
4565 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
4566 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
4567 read or killed the root in a previous session.
4569 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
4570 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
4571 There are four possible values:
4575 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
4576 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
4577 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4578 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4579 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4584 @cindex adopting articles
4589 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
4590 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
4591 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
4592 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
4595 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
4596 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
4597 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
4598 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
4599 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
4600 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
4601 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
4604 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
4605 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
4606 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
4610 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
4611 display them after one another.
4614 Don't gather loose threads.
4617 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4618 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4619 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
4620 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
4621 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
4622 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
4623 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
4624 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
4625 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
4626 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
4627 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
4629 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
4630 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
4631 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
4634 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4635 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4636 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
4637 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
4638 simplification is used.
4640 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4641 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4642 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
4643 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
4645 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
4647 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4653 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
4654 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
4655 "answer" "reference" "announce"
4656 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
4661 (mapconcat 'identity
4662 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
4664 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
4667 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
4670 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
4671 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
4672 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
4673 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
4674 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
4675 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
4677 Useful functions to put in this list include:
4680 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
4681 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
4682 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
4684 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
4685 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
4688 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
4689 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
4690 Remove excessive whitespace.
4693 You may also write your own functions, of course.
4696 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4697 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4698 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
4699 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
4700 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
4701 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
4702 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
4703 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
4705 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4706 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4707 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
4708 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
4709 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
4710 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
4711 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
4712 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
4713 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
4717 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4718 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4719 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
4720 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
4722 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4723 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4724 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
4727 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
4731 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4732 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
4738 @node Filling In Threads
4739 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
4742 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
4743 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
4744 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
4745 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
4746 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
4747 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
4748 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
4749 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
4750 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
4751 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
4752 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
4753 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
4755 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
4756 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
4757 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
4759 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
4760 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
4761 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
4762 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
4763 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
4764 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
4765 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
4766 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
4767 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
4768 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
4769 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
4770 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
4771 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
4772 @code{nil} by default.
4777 @node More Threading
4778 @subsubsection More Threading
4781 @item gnus-show-threads
4782 @vindex gnus-show-threads
4783 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
4784 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
4785 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
4786 slower and more awkward.
4788 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4789 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4790 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
4793 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
4794 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
4795 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
4796 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
4797 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
4798 threads are expunged.
4800 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
4801 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
4802 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
4805 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
4806 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
4807 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
4808 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
4809 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
4812 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
4813 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
4814 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
4820 @node Low-Level Threading
4821 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
4825 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
4826 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
4827 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
4828 @code{(gnus-decode-rfc1522)}, which means that QPized headers will be
4829 slightly decoded in a hackish way. This is likely to change in the
4830 future when Gnus becomes @sc{MIME}ified.
4832 @item gnus-alter-header-function
4833 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
4834 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
4835 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
4836 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
4837 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
4838 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
4839 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
4840 meaningful. Here's one example:
4843 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
4845 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
4846 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
4848 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
4850 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
4857 @node Thread Commands
4858 @subsection Thread Commands
4859 @cindex thread commands
4865 @kindex T k (Summary)
4866 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
4867 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
4868 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
4869 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
4870 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
4875 @kindex T l (Summary)
4876 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
4877 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
4878 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
4879 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
4882 @kindex T i (Summary)
4883 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
4884 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
4885 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
4888 @kindex T # (Summary)
4889 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4890 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
4891 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4894 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
4895 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4896 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
4897 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4900 @kindex T T (Summary)
4901 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
4902 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
4905 @kindex T s (Summary)
4906 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
4907 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
4908 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
4911 @kindex T h (Summary)
4912 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
4913 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
4916 @kindex T S (Summary)
4917 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
4918 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
4921 @kindex T H (Summary)
4922 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
4923 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
4926 @kindex T t (Summary)
4927 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
4928 Re-thread the current article's thread
4929 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
4930 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
4933 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
4934 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
4935 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
4936 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
4940 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
4941 understand the numeric prefix.
4946 @kindex T n (Summary)
4947 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
4948 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
4951 @kindex T p (Summary)
4952 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
4953 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
4956 @kindex T d (Summary)
4957 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
4958 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
4961 @kindex T u (Summary)
4962 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
4963 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
4966 @kindex T o (Summary)
4967 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
4968 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
4971 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
4972 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
4973 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
4974 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
4975 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
4976 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
4977 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
4978 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
4979 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
4980 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
4981 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
4982 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
4989 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
4990 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
4991 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
4992 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
4993 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
4994 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
4995 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
4996 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
4997 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which is a list of functions.
4998 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
4999 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
5000 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
5001 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
5002 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
5004 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
5005 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
5006 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread. If you use
5007 more than one function, the primary sort key should be the last function
5008 in the list. You should probably always include
5009 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
5010 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
5011 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
5012 ascending article order.
5014 If you would like to sort by score, then by subject, and finally by
5015 number, you could do something like:
5018 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5019 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5020 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5021 gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score))
5024 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
5025 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
5026 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
5027 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
5028 which the articles arrived.
5030 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
5034 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5036 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t2 t1)))
5037 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
5040 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
5041 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
5042 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
5043 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
5046 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
5047 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
5048 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
5049 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
5050 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
5051 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
5052 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
5053 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
5054 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
5055 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
5056 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
5057 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
5058 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
5060 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
5064 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
5065 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
5066 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
5071 @node Asynchronous Fetching
5072 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
5073 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
5074 @cindex article pre-fetch
5077 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
5078 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
5079 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
5080 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
5081 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
5083 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
5084 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
5086 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
5087 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
5088 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
5089 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
5090 connection is blocked.
5092 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
5093 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
5094 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
5095 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
5097 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
5098 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
5099 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
5100 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
5103 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
5106 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
5107 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
5108 happen automatically.
5110 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
5111 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
5112 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
5113 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
5114 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
5115 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
5116 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
5118 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
5119 @findex gnus-async-read-p
5120 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
5121 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
5122 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
5123 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
5124 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
5125 data structure as the only parameter.
5127 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
5130 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
5131 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
5132 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
5133 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
5136 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
5139 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
5140 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
5141 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
5143 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
5144 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
5145 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
5146 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
5150 Remove articles when they are read.
5153 Remove articles when exiting the group.
5156 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
5158 @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
5159 If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
5160 from the next group.
5163 @node Article Caching
5164 @section Article Caching
5165 @cindex article caching
5168 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
5169 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
5170 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
5171 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
5172 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
5174 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
5176 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5177 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
5178 @vindex gnus-use-cache
5179 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
5180 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
5181 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
5182 cache is flat or hierarchal is controlled by the
5183 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
5185 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
5186 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
5187 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
5188 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
5189 as dormant, and don't worry.
5191 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
5193 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
5194 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
5195 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
5196 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
5197 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
5198 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
5199 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
5200 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
5201 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
5202 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
5204 @findex gnus-jog-cache
5205 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
5206 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
5207 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
5208 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
5209 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
5210 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
5211 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
5212 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
5213 not then be downloaded by this command.
5215 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
5216 It is likely that you do not want caching on some groups. For instance,
5217 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
5218 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
5219 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space. To limit the caching,
5220 you could set the @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to
5221 @samp{^nnml}, for instance. This variable is @code{nil} by
5224 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
5225 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
5226 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
5227 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
5228 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
5229 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
5230 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
5231 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
5232 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
5236 @node Persistent Articles
5237 @section Persistent Articles
5238 @cindex persistent articles
5240 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
5241 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
5242 useful in my opinion.
5244 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
5245 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
5246 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
5247 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
5248 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
5249 the expiry going on at the news server.
5251 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
5252 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
5253 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
5259 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
5260 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
5263 @kindex M-* (Summary)
5264 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
5265 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
5266 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
5270 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
5272 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
5273 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
5274 interested in persistent articles:
5277 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
5281 @node Article Backlog
5282 @section Article Backlog
5284 @cindex article backlog
5286 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
5287 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
5288 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
5289 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
5290 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
5291 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
5292 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
5293 increase memory usage some.
5295 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
5296 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
5297 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
5298 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
5299 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
5300 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
5301 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
5303 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
5306 @node Saving Articles
5307 @section Saving Articles
5308 @cindex saving articles
5310 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
5311 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
5312 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
5313 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
5314 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
5316 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
5317 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
5318 unwanted headers before saving the article.
5320 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
5321 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
5322 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
5323 deleted before saving.
5329 @kindex O o (Summary)
5331 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
5332 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
5333 Save the current article using the default article saver
5334 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
5337 @kindex O m (Summary)
5338 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
5339 Save the current article in mail format
5340 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
5343 @kindex O r (Summary)
5344 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
5345 Save the current article in rmail format
5346 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
5349 @kindex O f (Summary)
5350 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
5351 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
5352 Save the current article in plain file format
5353 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
5356 @kindex O F (Summary)
5357 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
5358 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
5359 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
5362 @kindex O b (Summary)
5363 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
5364 Save the current article body in plain file format
5365 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
5368 @kindex O h (Summary)
5369 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
5370 Save the current article in mh folder format
5371 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
5374 @kindex O v (Summary)
5375 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
5376 Save the current article in a VM folder
5377 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
5380 @kindex O p (Summary)
5381 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
5382 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
5383 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
5386 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
5387 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
5388 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
5389 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
5390 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
5391 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
5392 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
5393 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
5394 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
5395 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
5396 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
5397 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
5401 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
5402 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
5403 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the four ready-made
5404 functions below, or you can create your own.
5408 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5409 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5410 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
5411 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5412 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
5413 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5414 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5416 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5417 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5418 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
5419 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
5420 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5421 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5423 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
5424 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
5425 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
5426 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5427 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
5428 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5429 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5431 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5432 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5433 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
5434 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5435 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5437 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5438 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5439 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
5440 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
5441 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
5444 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
5445 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
5446 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
5447 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
5448 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
5450 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5451 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5452 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
5453 reader to use this setting.
5456 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
5457 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
5458 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
5459 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
5462 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
5463 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
5464 available functions that generate names:
5468 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
5469 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
5470 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5472 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
5473 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5474 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5476 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
5477 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
5478 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5480 @item gnus-plain-save-name
5481 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5482 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5485 @vindex gnus-split-methods
5486 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
5487 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
5488 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
5489 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
5493 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
5494 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
5495 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
5496 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
5499 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
5500 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
5501 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
5502 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
5503 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
5504 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
5505 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
5506 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
5507 called returns a string or a list of strings.
5509 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
5510 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
5511 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
5512 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
5514 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
5515 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
5516 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
5519 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
5520 lots of mail groups called things like
5521 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
5522 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
5523 following will do just that:
5526 (defun my-save-name (group)
5527 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
5528 (substring group (match-end 0))))
5530 (setq gnus-split-methods
5531 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
5536 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5537 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
5538 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
5539 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
5540 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
5541 all the files in the toplevel directory
5542 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
5543 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
5544 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
5545 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
5547 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
5548 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
5549 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
5550 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
5551 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
5554 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
5558 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
5559 (setq gnus-default-article-saver 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
5562 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
5563 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
5564 the toplevel directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
5565 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
5568 @node Decoding Articles
5569 @section Decoding Articles
5570 @cindex decoding articles
5572 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
5573 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
5576 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
5577 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
5578 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
5579 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
5580 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
5581 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
5585 @cindex article series
5586 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
5587 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
5588 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
5589 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
5590 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
5592 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
5593 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
5594 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
5596 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
5597 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
5598 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
5600 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
5601 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
5602 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
5605 @node Uuencoded Articles
5606 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
5608 @cindex uuencoded articles
5613 @kindex X u (Summary)
5614 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
5615 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
5616 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
5619 @kindex X U (Summary)
5620 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
5621 Uudecodes and saves the current series
5622 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5625 @kindex X v u (Summary)
5626 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
5627 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
5630 @kindex X v U (Summary)
5631 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
5632 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
5633 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
5637 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
5638 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
5639 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
5640 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
5641 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5643 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
5644 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
5645 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
5646 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
5649 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
5650 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
5651 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
5652 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
5653 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
5654 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
5658 @node Shell Archives
5659 @subsection Shell Archives
5661 @cindex shell archives
5662 @cindex shared articles
5664 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
5665 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
5666 some commands to deal with these:
5671 @kindex X s (Summary)
5672 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
5673 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
5676 @kindex X S (Summary)
5677 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
5678 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
5681 @kindex X v s (Summary)
5682 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
5683 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
5686 @kindex X v S (Summary)
5687 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
5688 Unshars, views and saves the current series
5689 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
5693 @node PostScript Files
5694 @subsection PostScript Files
5700 @kindex X p (Summary)
5701 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
5702 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
5705 @kindex X P (Summary)
5706 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
5707 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
5708 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
5711 @kindex X v p (Summary)
5712 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
5713 View the current PostScript series
5714 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
5717 @kindex X v P (Summary)
5718 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
5719 View and save the current PostScript series
5720 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
5725 @subsection Other Files
5729 @kindex X o (Summary)
5730 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
5731 Save the current series
5732 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
5735 @kindex X b (Summary)
5736 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
5737 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
5738 doesn't really work yet.
5742 @node Decoding Variables
5743 @subsection Decoding Variables
5745 Adjective, not verb.
5748 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
5749 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
5750 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
5754 @node Rule Variables
5755 @subsubsection Rule Variables
5756 @cindex rule variables
5758 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
5759 variables are of the form
5762 (list '(regexp1 command2)
5769 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5770 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5772 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
5773 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
5776 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5777 (list '(\"\\\\.au$\" \"sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio\")))
5780 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5781 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5782 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
5783 user and default view rules.
5785 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5786 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5787 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
5792 @node Other Decode Variables
5793 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
5796 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
5798 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
5799 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
5800 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
5801 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
5802 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
5806 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
5807 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
5810 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
5811 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
5812 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
5815 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
5816 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
5817 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
5818 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
5819 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
5822 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
5823 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
5824 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
5826 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
5827 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
5828 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
5829 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
5830 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
5833 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
5834 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
5835 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
5837 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
5838 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
5839 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
5840 looking for files to display.
5842 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
5843 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
5844 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
5847 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
5848 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
5849 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
5852 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
5853 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
5854 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
5857 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
5858 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
5859 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
5862 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
5863 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
5864 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
5865 decoded articles as unread.
5867 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
5868 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
5869 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
5870 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
5872 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
5873 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
5875 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
5876 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
5877 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
5878 @code{metamail} for viewing.
5880 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
5881 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
5882 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
5883 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
5884 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
5885 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC1153---no easy way
5886 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
5887 simply dropped them.
5892 @node Uuencoding and Posting
5893 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
5897 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
5898 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
5899 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
5900 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
5901 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
5902 for you when you post the article.
5904 @item gnus-uu-post-length
5905 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
5906 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
5907 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
5909 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
5910 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
5911 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
5912 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
5913 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
5914 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
5915 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
5917 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
5918 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
5919 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
5920 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
5921 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
5922 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
5923 Default is @code{t}.
5929 @subsection Viewing Files
5930 @cindex viewing files
5931 @cindex pseudo-articles
5933 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
5934 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
5935 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
5936 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
5937 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
5938 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
5939 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
5941 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
5942 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
5943 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
5944 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
5946 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
5947 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
5948 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
5950 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
5951 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
5952 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
5953 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
5954 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
5956 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
5957 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
5958 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
5959 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
5960 a list of parameters to that command.
5962 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
5963 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
5964 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
5966 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
5967 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
5968 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
5971 @node Article Treatment
5972 @section Article Treatment
5974 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
5975 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
5976 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
5977 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
5978 these articles easier.
5981 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
5982 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look niced.
5983 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
5984 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
5985 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
5986 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
5987 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
5991 @node Article Highlighting
5992 @subsection Article Highlighting
5995 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
5996 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
6001 @kindex W H a (Summary)
6002 @findex gnus-article-highlight
6003 Highlight the current article (@code{gnus-article-highlight}).
6006 @kindex W H h (Summary)
6007 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
6008 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
6009 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
6010 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
6011 variable, which is a list where each element has the form @var{(regexp
6012 name content)}. @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
6013 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
6014 (@pxref{Faces & Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
6015 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
6016 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
6019 @kindex W H c (Summary)
6020 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
6021 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
6023 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
6026 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6028 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6029 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
6030 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
6032 @item gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6033 @vindex gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6034 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
6036 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
6037 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
6038 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
6040 @item gnus-cite-face-list
6041 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
6042 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces & Fonts}).
6043 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
6044 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
6045 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
6047 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
6048 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
6049 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
6051 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6052 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6053 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
6055 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6056 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6057 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
6058 that it's a citation.
6060 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6061 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6062 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
6064 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6065 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6066 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
6068 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
6069 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
6070 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
6071 cited text belonging to the attribution.
6077 @kindex W H s (Summary)
6078 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6079 @vindex gnus-signature-face
6080 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
6081 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
6082 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
6083 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
6084 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
6090 @node Article Fontisizing
6091 @subsection Article Fontisizing
6093 @cindex article emphasis
6095 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
6096 @kindex W e (Summary)
6097 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
6098 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*}. Gnus can make this look nicer by
6099 running the article through the @kbd{W e}
6100 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
6102 @vindex gnus-article-emphasis
6103 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
6104 @code{gnus-article-emphasis} variable. This is an alist where the first
6105 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
6106 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
6107 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
6108 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
6109 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
6113 (setq gnus-article-emphasis
6114 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
6115 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
6118 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
6119 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
6120 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
6121 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
6122 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
6123 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
6124 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
6125 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
6126 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
6127 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
6128 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
6129 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
6130 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
6132 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
6133 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
6134 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
6138 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
6142 @node Article Hiding
6143 @subsection Article Hiding
6144 @cindex article hiding
6146 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
6147 too much cruft in most articles.
6152 @kindex W W a (Summary)
6153 @findex gnus-article-hide
6154 Do maximum hiding on the summary buffer (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}).
6157 @kindex W W h (Summary)
6158 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
6159 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
6163 @kindex W W b (Summary)
6164 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
6165 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
6166 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
6169 @kindex W W s (Summary)
6170 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
6171 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
6175 @kindex W W p (Summary)
6176 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
6177 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
6178 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
6179 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
6180 signature has been hidden.
6183 @kindex W W P (Summary)
6184 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
6185 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
6186 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
6189 @kindex W W c (Summary)
6190 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
6191 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
6192 customizing the hiding:
6196 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6197 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6198 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
6199 50), hide the cited text.
6201 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6202 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6203 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
6206 @item gnus-cited-text-button-line-format
6207 @vindex gnus-cited-text-button-line-format
6208 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
6209 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
6210 by this format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
6215 Start point of the hidden text.
6217 End point of the hidden text.
6219 Length of the hidden text.
6222 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
6223 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
6224 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave shown.
6229 @kindex W W C (Summary)
6230 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
6231 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
6232 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
6233 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
6234 in @code{gnus-article-display-hook} (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
6238 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
6239 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
6240 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
6242 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
6243 citation customization.
6246 @node Article Washing
6247 @subsection Article Washing
6249 @cindex article washing
6251 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
6252 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
6254 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
6255 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
6261 @kindex W l (Summary)
6262 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
6263 Remove page breaks from the current article
6264 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}).
6267 @kindex W r (Summary)
6268 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
6269 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
6270 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
6271 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
6272 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
6273 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
6275 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
6276 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
6277 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
6278 is rumoured to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
6281 @kindex W t (Summary)
6282 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
6283 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
6284 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
6287 @kindex W v (Summary)
6288 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
6289 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
6290 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
6293 @kindex W m (Summary)
6294 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
6295 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
6296 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
6299 @kindex W o (Summary)
6300 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
6301 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
6304 @kindex W d (Summary)
6305 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
6306 Treat M******** sm*rtq**t*s (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}).
6309 @kindex W w (Summary)
6310 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
6311 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}). If you use this
6312 function in @code{gnus-article-display-hook}, it should be run fairly
6313 late and certainly after any highlighting.
6315 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
6319 @kindex W c (Summary)
6320 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
6321 Remove CR (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines)
6322 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
6325 @kindex W q (Summary)
6326 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
6327 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
6328 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
6329 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
6330 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
6334 @kindex W f (Summary)
6336 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
6337 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
6338 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
6339 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
6345 Look for and display any X-Face headers
6346 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
6347 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
6348 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
6349 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
6350 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
6351 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
6352 The default action under Emacs is to fork off an @code{xv} to view the
6353 face; under XEmacs the default action is to display the face before the
6354 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
6355 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
6356 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
6357 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends.) If you
6358 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
6362 @kindex W b (Summary)
6363 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
6364 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
6365 @xref{Article Buttons}
6368 @kindex W B (Summary)
6369 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
6370 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
6371 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
6374 @kindex W E l (Summary)
6375 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
6376 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
6377 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
6380 @kindex W E m (Summary)
6381 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
6382 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
6383 lines with a single empty line.
6384 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
6387 @kindex W E t (Summary)
6388 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
6389 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
6390 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
6393 @kindex W E a (Summary)
6394 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
6395 Do all the three commands above
6396 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
6399 @kindex W E s (Summary)
6400 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
6401 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
6402 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
6407 @node Article Buttons
6408 @subsection Article Buttons
6411 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
6412 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
6413 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
6414 button on these references.
6416 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
6417 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
6418 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
6423 @item gnus-button-alist
6424 @vindex gnus-button-alist
6425 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
6428 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6434 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
6435 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
6436 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
6439 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
6440 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
6441 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
6444 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
6445 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
6446 avoid false matches.
6449 This function will be called when you click on this button.
6452 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
6453 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
6457 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
6460 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
6463 @item gnus-header-button-alist
6464 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
6465 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
6466 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
6467 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
6470 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6473 @var{HEADER} is a regular expression.
6475 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
6476 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
6477 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
6478 default values of the variables above.
6480 @item gnus-article-button-face
6481 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
6482 Face used on buttons.
6484 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
6485 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
6486 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
6492 @subsection Article Date
6494 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
6495 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
6496 when the article was sent.
6501 @kindex W T u (Summary)
6502 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
6503 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
6504 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
6507 @kindex W T l (Summary)
6508 @findex gnus-article-date-local
6509 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
6512 @kindex W T s (Summary)
6513 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
6514 @findex gnus-article-date-user
6515 @findex format-time-string
6516 Display the date using a user-defined format
6517 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
6518 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
6519 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
6520 for a list of possible format specs.
6523 @kindex W T e (Summary)
6524 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
6525 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
6526 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
6527 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
6528 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). If you want to have this line
6529 updated continually, you can put
6532 (gnus-start-date-timer)
6535 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
6536 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
6540 @kindex W T o (Summary)
6541 @findex gnus-article-date-original
6542 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
6543 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
6544 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
6545 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
6546 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
6551 @node Article Signature
6552 @subsection Article Signature
6554 @cindex article signature
6556 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6557 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
6558 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
6559 that says what is to be considered a signature is
6560 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
6561 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
6562 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
6563 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
6564 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
6567 (setq gnus-signature-separator
6568 '("^-- $" ; The standard
6569 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
6570 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
6571 ; line of dashes. Shame!
6572 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
6573 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
6574 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
6577 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
6580 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
6581 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
6586 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
6589 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
6592 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
6593 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
6595 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
6596 in question is not a signature.
6599 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
6600 listed above. Here's an example:
6603 (setq gnus-signature-limit
6604 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
6607 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
6608 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
6609 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
6610 signature after all.
6613 @node Article Commands
6614 @section Article Commands
6621 @kindex A P (Summary)
6622 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
6623 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
6624 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
6625 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
6626 run just before printing the buffer.
6631 @node Summary Sorting
6632 @section Summary Sorting
6633 @cindex summary sorting
6635 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
6636 can't really see why you'd want that.
6641 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
6642 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
6643 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
6646 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
6647 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
6648 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
6651 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
6652 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
6653 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
6656 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
6657 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
6658 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
6661 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
6662 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
6663 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
6666 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
6667 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
6668 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
6671 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
6672 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
6673 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
6674 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
6675 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
6679 @node Finding the Parent
6680 @section Finding the Parent
6681 @cindex parent articles
6682 @cindex referring articles
6687 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
6688 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
6689 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
6690 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
6691 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
6692 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
6693 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
6694 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
6695 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
6697 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
6698 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
6699 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
6700 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
6701 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
6705 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
6706 @kindex A R (Summary)
6707 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
6708 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
6711 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
6712 @kindex A T (Summary)
6713 Display the full thread where the current article appears
6714 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
6715 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
6716 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
6717 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
6718 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
6719 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
6721 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
6722 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
6723 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
6724 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
6725 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
6726 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
6729 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
6730 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
6732 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
6733 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
6734 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
6735 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
6736 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
6737 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
6738 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
6741 The current select method will be used when fetching by
6742 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
6743 by giving this command a prefix.
6745 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
6746 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
6747 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
6748 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
6749 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
6750 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
6753 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
6754 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
6755 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
6756 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
6757 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
6758 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
6761 @node Alternative Approaches
6762 @section Alternative Approaches
6764 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
6765 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
6768 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
6769 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
6774 @subsection Pick and Read
6775 @cindex pick and read
6777 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
6778 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
6779 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
6780 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
6782 @findex gnus-pick-mode
6783 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
6784 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
6785 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
6786 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
6787 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
6789 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
6794 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6795 Pick the article on the current line
6796 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}). If given a numerical prefix,
6797 go to that article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
6798 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
6801 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
6802 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
6803 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
6804 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
6808 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6809 Unpick the article (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6813 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6814 Unpick all articles (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6818 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6819 Pick the thread (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6823 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6824 Unpick the thread (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6828 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6829 Pick the region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6833 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6834 Unpick the region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6838 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6839 Pick articles that match a regexp (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6843 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6844 Unpick articles that match a regexp (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6848 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6849 Pick the buffer (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6853 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-buffer
6854 Unpick the buffer (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-buffer}).
6858 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
6859 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
6860 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
6861 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
6862 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
6863 will still be visible when you are reading.
6867 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
6870 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
6873 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
6874 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
6876 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
6877 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
6878 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
6880 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
6881 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
6882 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
6883 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
6884 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
6885 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
6886 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
6890 @subsection Binary Groups
6891 @cindex binary groups
6893 @findex gnus-binary-mode
6894 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
6895 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
6896 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
6897 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
6898 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
6899 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
6902 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
6903 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
6904 command, when you have turned on this mode
6905 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
6907 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
6908 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
6912 @section Tree Display
6915 @vindex gnus-use-trees
6916 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
6917 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
6918 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
6921 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
6924 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
6925 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
6926 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
6928 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
6929 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
6930 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers. The default
6931 is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list of valid specs, @pxref{Summary
6934 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
6935 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
6936 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
6937 default is @code{modeline}.
6939 @item gnus-tree-line-format
6940 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
6941 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
6942 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
6943 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
6944 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
6945 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
6951 The name of the poster.
6953 The @code{From} header.
6955 The number of the article.
6957 The opening bracket.
6959 The closing bracket.
6964 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6966 Variables related to the display are:
6969 @item gnus-tree-brackets
6970 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
6971 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
6972 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @var{((real-open . real-close)
6973 (sparse-open . sparse-close) (dummy-open . dummy-close))}, and the
6974 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
6976 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
6977 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
6978 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
6979 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
6983 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
6984 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
6985 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
6986 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
6987 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
6988 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
6989 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
6990 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
6991 other windows displayed next to it.
6993 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
6994 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
6995 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
6996 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
6997 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
6998 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
6999 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
7003 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
7006 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
7016 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
7020 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
7021 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
7023 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
7025 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
7030 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
7031 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
7032 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
7035 (setq gnus-use-trees t
7036 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
7037 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
7038 (gnus-add-configuration
7042 (summary 0.75 point)
7047 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
7050 @node Mail Group Commands
7051 @section Mail Group Commands
7052 @cindex mail group commands
7054 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
7055 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
7057 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
7058 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7063 @kindex B e (Summary)
7064 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
7065 Expire all expirable articles in the group
7066 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
7069 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
7070 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
7071 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
7072 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
7073 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
7074 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
7077 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
7078 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
7079 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
7080 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
7081 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
7082 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
7085 @kindex B m (Summary)
7087 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
7088 Move the article from one mail group to another
7089 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
7092 @kindex B c (Summary)
7094 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
7095 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
7096 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
7097 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}).
7100 @kindex B C (Summary)
7101 @cindex crosspost mail
7102 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
7103 Crosspost the current article to some other group
7104 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
7105 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
7106 be properly updated.
7109 @kindex B i (Summary)
7110 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
7111 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
7112 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
7113 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
7116 @kindex B r (Summary)
7117 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
7118 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
7119 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
7120 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
7121 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
7125 @kindex B w (Summary)
7127 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
7128 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
7129 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
7130 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
7131 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
7132 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
7135 @kindex B q (Summary)
7136 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
7137 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
7138 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
7139 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
7142 @kindex B p (Summary)
7143 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
7144 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
7145 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
7146 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
7147 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
7148 article from your news server (or rather, from
7149 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
7150 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
7151 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
7152 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
7153 just not have arrived yet.
7157 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
7158 @cindex moving articles
7159 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
7160 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
7161 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
7162 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
7163 suggestions you find reasonable.
7166 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
7167 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
7168 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
7169 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
7173 @node Various Summary Stuff
7174 @section Various Summary Stuff
7177 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
7178 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
7179 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
7180 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
7184 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
7185 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
7186 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
7188 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
7189 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
7190 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
7191 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
7192 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
7193 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
7196 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7197 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7198 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
7199 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
7200 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
7202 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7203 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7204 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
7205 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
7206 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
7207 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
7208 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
7209 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
7210 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
7211 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
7216 @node Summary Group Information
7217 @subsection Summary Group Information
7222 @kindex H f (Summary)
7223 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
7224 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
7225 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
7226 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
7227 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
7228 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
7229 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
7230 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
7231 be used for fetching the file.
7234 @kindex H d (Summary)
7235 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
7236 Give a brief description of the current group
7237 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
7238 rereading the description from the server.
7241 @kindex H h (Summary)
7242 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
7243 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
7244 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
7247 @kindex H i (Summary)
7248 @findex gnus-info-find-node
7249 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
7253 @node Searching for Articles
7254 @subsection Searching for Articles
7259 @kindex M-s (Summary)
7260 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
7261 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
7262 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
7265 @kindex M-r (Summary)
7266 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
7267 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
7268 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
7272 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
7273 This command will prompt you for a header field, a regular expression to
7274 match on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
7275 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If given a prefix, search
7279 @kindex M-& (Summary)
7280 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
7281 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
7282 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
7285 @node Summary Generation Commands
7286 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
7291 @kindex Y g (Summary)
7292 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
7293 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
7296 @kindex Y c (Summary)
7297 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
7298 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
7299 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
7304 @node Really Various Summary Commands
7305 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
7310 @kindex C-d (Summary)
7311 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
7312 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
7313 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
7314 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
7315 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
7316 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
7317 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
7318 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
7322 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
7323 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
7324 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
7325 several documents into one biiig group
7326 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
7327 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
7328 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
7329 command understands the process/prefix convention
7330 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7333 @kindex C-t (Summary)
7334 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
7335 Toggle truncation of summary lines
7336 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
7337 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
7338 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
7342 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
7343 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
7344 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
7349 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
7350 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
7351 @cindex summary exit
7352 @cindex exiting groups
7354 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
7355 group and return you to the group buffer.
7361 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
7363 @findex gnus-summary-exit
7364 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
7365 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
7366 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
7367 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
7368 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
7369 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
7370 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
7371 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
7372 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
7373 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
7377 @kindex Z E (Summary)
7379 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
7380 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
7381 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
7385 @kindex Z c (Summary)
7387 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
7388 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
7389 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
7390 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
7393 @kindex Z C (Summary)
7394 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
7395 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
7396 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
7399 @kindex Z n (Summary)
7400 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
7401 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
7402 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
7405 @kindex Z R (Summary)
7406 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
7407 Exit this group, and then enter it again
7408 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
7409 all articles, both read and unread.
7413 @kindex Z G (Summary)
7414 @kindex M-g (Summary)
7415 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
7416 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
7417 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
7418 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
7419 articles, both read and unread.
7422 @kindex Z N (Summary)
7423 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
7424 Exit the group and go to the next group
7425 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
7428 @kindex Z P (Summary)
7429 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
7430 Exit the group and go to the previous group
7431 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
7434 @kindex Z s (Summary)
7435 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
7436 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
7437 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
7438 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
7439 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
7442 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
7443 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current
7446 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
7447 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
7448 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
7449 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
7450 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
7451 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
7452 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
7453 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
7454 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
7455 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
7456 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
7457 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
7459 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
7461 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
7462 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
7463 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
7464 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
7465 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
7466 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
7467 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
7468 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
7469 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
7472 @node Crosspost Handling
7473 @section Crosspost Handling
7477 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
7478 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
7479 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
7480 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
7481 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
7482 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
7485 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
7486 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
7487 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
7488 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
7489 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
7491 @cindex cross-posting
7494 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
7495 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
7496 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
7497 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
7498 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
7499 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
7500 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
7501 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
7502 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
7503 the cross reference mechanism.
7505 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
7506 @cindex overview.fmt
7507 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
7508 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
7509 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
7510 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
7511 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
7512 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
7515 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
7516 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
7517 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
7522 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
7525 @node Duplicate Suppression
7526 @section Duplicate Suppression
7528 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
7529 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
7530 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
7531 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
7536 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
7537 is evil and not very common.
7540 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
7541 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
7544 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
7545 different @sc{nntp} servers.
7548 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
7551 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
7552 well, but these four are the most common situations.
7554 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
7555 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
7556 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
7557 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
7558 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
7559 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
7560 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
7563 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
7564 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
7565 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
7566 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
7567 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
7571 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
7572 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
7573 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
7575 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
7576 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
7577 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
7578 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
7579 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
7580 session are suppressed.
7582 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
7583 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
7584 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
7585 suppression list. The default is 10000.
7587 @item gnus-duplicate-file
7588 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
7589 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
7590 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
7593 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
7594 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
7595 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
7596 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
7597 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
7598 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
7599 to you to figure out, I think.
7602 @node The Article Buffer
7603 @chapter The Article Buffer
7604 @cindex article buffer
7606 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
7607 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
7608 tell Gnus otherwise.
7611 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
7612 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
7613 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
7614 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
7615 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
7619 @node Hiding Headers
7620 @section Hiding Headers
7621 @cindex hiding headers
7622 @cindex deleting headers
7624 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
7625 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
7627 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
7628 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
7629 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
7630 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
7631 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
7632 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
7633 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
7634 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
7635 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
7637 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
7641 @item gnus-visible-headers
7642 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
7643 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
7644 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
7645 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
7647 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
7648 the article and the subject, you'd say:
7651 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
7654 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
7657 @item gnus-ignored-headers
7658 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
7659 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
7660 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
7661 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
7662 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
7664 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
7665 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
7668 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
7671 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
7674 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
7675 variable will have no effect.
7679 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
7680 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
7681 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
7682 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
7683 the headers are to be displayed.
7685 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
7686 and then the subject, you might say something like:
7689 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
7692 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
7693 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
7695 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7696 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7697 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
7698 You can hide further boring headers by entering
7699 @code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers} into
7700 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}. What this function does depends on
7701 the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a list, but this
7702 list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is lists various
7703 @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove from sight.
7705 These conditions are:
7708 Remove all empty headers.
7710 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
7713 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
7714 @code{Newsgroups} header.
7716 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
7719 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
7722 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
7724 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
7727 To include the four first elements, you could say something like;
7730 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
7731 '(empty newsgroups followup-to reply-to))
7734 This is also the default value for this variable.
7738 @section Using @sc{mime}
7741 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
7742 while people stand around yawning.
7744 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
7745 while all newsreaders die of fear.
7747 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
7748 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
7749 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
7751 @vindex gnus-show-mime
7752 @vindex gnus-show-mime-method
7753 @vindex gnus-strict-mime
7754 @findex metamail-buffer
7755 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
7756 @code{gnus-show-mime-method}, which is @code{metamail-buffer} by
7757 default. Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
7758 @sc{mime} all the time. However, if @code{gnus-strict-mime} is
7759 non-@code{nil}, the @sc{mime} method will only be used if there are
7760 @sc{mime} headers in the article. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime}
7761 set, then you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article
7762 buffer. These can't be avoided.
7764 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the summary
7765 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
7766 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
7767 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
7768 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume
7769 button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you,
7770 and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the
7771 program to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly
7772 decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
7774 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
7777 @node Customizing Articles
7778 @section Customizing Articles
7779 @cindex article customization
7781 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7782 The @code{gnus-article-display-hook} is called after the article has
7783 been inserted into the article buffer. It is meant to handle all
7784 treatment of the article before it is displayed.
7786 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7787 By default this hook just contains @code{gnus-article-hide-headers},
7788 @code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}, and
7789 @code{gnus-article-maybe-highlight}, but there are thousands, nay
7790 millions, of functions you can put in this hook. For an overview of
7791 functions @pxref{Article Highlighting}, @pxref{Article Hiding},
7792 @pxref{Article Washing}, @pxref{Article Buttons} and @pxref{Article
7793 Date}. Note that the order of functions in this hook might affect
7794 things, so you may have to fiddle a bit to get the desired results.
7796 You can, of course, write your own functions. The functions are called
7797 from the article buffer, and you can do anything you like, pretty much.
7798 There is no information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can
7799 change everything. However, you shouldn't delete any headers. Instead
7800 make them invisible if you want to make them go away.
7803 @node Article Keymap
7804 @section Article Keymap
7806 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
7807 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
7808 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
7809 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
7812 A few additional keystrokes are available:
7817 @kindex SPACE (Article)
7818 @findex gnus-article-next-page
7819 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
7822 @kindex DEL (Article)
7823 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
7824 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
7827 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
7828 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
7829 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
7830 @kbd{r}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
7831 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
7834 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
7835 @findex gnus-article-mail
7836 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
7837 given a prefix, include the mail.
7841 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
7842 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
7843 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
7847 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
7848 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
7849 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
7852 @kindex TAB (Article)
7853 @findex gnus-article-next-button
7854 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
7855 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
7858 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
7859 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
7860 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
7866 @section Misc Article
7870 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
7871 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
7872 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
7873 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
7876 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
7877 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
7878 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
7879 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
7880 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
7881 the contents of the article buffer.
7883 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7884 @item gnus-article-display-hook
7885 This hook is called as the last thing when displaying an article, and is
7886 intended for modifying the contents of the buffer, doing highlights,
7887 hiding headers, and the like.
7889 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
7890 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
7891 Hook called in article mode buffers.
7893 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
7894 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
7895 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
7896 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
7898 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
7899 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
7900 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
7901 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. It accepts the same
7902 format specifications as that variable, with one extension:
7906 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
7907 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
7911 @vindex gnus-break-pages
7913 @item gnus-break-pages
7914 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
7915 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
7916 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
7917 paging will not be done.
7919 @item gnus-page-delimiter
7920 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
7921 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
7926 @node Composing Messages
7927 @chapter Composing Messages
7928 @cindex composing messages
7931 @cindex sending mail
7936 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
7937 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
7938 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the article
7939 by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The Message
7940 Manual}. If you are in a foreign news group, and you wish to post the
7941 article using the foreign server, you can give a prefix to @kbd{C-c C-c}
7942 to make Gnus try to post using the foreign server.
7945 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
7946 * Post:: Posting and following up.
7947 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
7948 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
7949 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
7950 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
7951 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
7954 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
7955 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
7961 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
7964 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
7965 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
7966 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
7967 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
7969 @item gnus-add-to-list
7970 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
7971 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
7972 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
7980 Variables for composing news articles:
7983 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-file
7984 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-file
7985 Gnus will keep a @code{Message-ID} history file of all the mails it has
7986 sent. If it discovers that it has already sent a mail, it will ask the
7987 user whether to re-send the mail. (This is primarily useful when
7988 dealing with @sc{soup} packets and the like where one is apt to send the
7989 same packet multiple times.) This variable says what the name of this
7990 history file is. It is @file{~/News/Sent-Message-IDs} by default. Set
7991 this variable to @code{nil} if you don't want Gnus to keep a history
7994 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-length
7995 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-length
7996 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the history
7997 file. It is 1000 by default.
8002 @node Posting Server
8003 @section Posting Server
8005 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
8006 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
8008 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
8010 @vindex gnus-post-method
8012 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will use the same native
8013 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
8014 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
8015 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
8016 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
8019 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
8022 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
8023 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
8024 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
8025 the ``current'' server for posting.
8027 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
8028 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
8030 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
8031 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
8036 @section Mail and Post
8038 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
8042 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
8043 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
8044 @cindex mailing lists
8046 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
8047 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
8048 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
8049 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
8050 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
8051 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
8052 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
8053 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
8054 still a pain, though.
8058 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
8059 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
8060 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
8063 @findex ispell-message
8065 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
8069 @node Archived Messages
8070 @section Archived Messages
8071 @cindex archived messages
8072 @cindex sent messages
8074 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
8075 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
8076 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
8077 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
8080 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
8081 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
8082 use to store sent messages. The default is:
8086 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
8087 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
8088 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
8089 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
8092 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
8093 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likeable select method
8094 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
8095 directory chosen, you could say something like:
8098 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
8099 '(nnfolder "archive"
8100 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
8101 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
8102 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
8105 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
8107 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
8108 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
8109 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
8111 This variable can be used to do the following:
8115 Messages will be saved in that group.
8116 @item a list of strings
8117 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
8118 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
8119 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
8121 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
8126 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
8128 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
8131 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
8133 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
8136 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
8138 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8139 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
8140 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
8141 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
8146 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8147 '((if (message-news-p)
8152 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
8153 messages in one file per month:
8156 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8157 '((if (message-news-p)
8159 (concat "mail." (format-time-string
8160 "%Y-%m" (current-time))))))
8163 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
8164 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
8166 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
8167 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
8168 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
8169 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
8170 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
8171 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
8172 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
8173 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
8174 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
8175 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
8177 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
8178 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
8179 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
8180 this will disable archiving.
8183 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
8184 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
8185 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
8186 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
8187 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
8190 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
8191 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
8192 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
8195 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
8196 but the latter is the preferred method.
8200 @c @node Posting Styles
8201 @c @section Posting Styles
8202 @c @cindex posting styles
8205 @c All them variables, they make my head swim.
8207 @c So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
8208 @c on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
8209 @c and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
8212 @c @vindex gnus-posting-styles
8213 @c One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
8214 @c variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
8215 @c came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
8216 @c a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
8221 @c (signature . "Peace and happiness")
8222 @c (organization . "What me?"))
8224 @c (signature . "Death to everybody"))
8225 @c ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
8226 @c (organization . "Emacs is it")))
8229 @c As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
8230 @c @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
8231 @c ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
8232 @c over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
8233 @c applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
8234 @c the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
8235 @c @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
8236 @c signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
8238 @c The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
8239 @c string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
8240 @c If it's a function symbol, that function will be called with no
8241 @c arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
8242 @c referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
8243 @c any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
8246 @c Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
8247 @c attribute consists of a @var{(name . value)} pair. The attribute name
8248 @c can be one of @code{signature}, @code{organization} or @code{from}. The
8249 @c attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
8250 @c a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
8253 @c The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function (the
8254 @c return value will be used), a variable (its value will be used) or a
8255 @c list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value will be used).
8257 @c So here's a new example:
8260 @c (setq gnus-posting-styles
8262 @c (signature . "~/.signature")
8263 @c (from . "user@@foo (user)")
8264 @c ("X-Home-Page" . (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
8265 @c (organization . "People's Front Against MWM"))
8267 @c (signature . my-funny-signature-randomizer))
8268 @c ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
8269 @c (signature . my-quote-randomizer))
8270 @c (posting-from-work-p
8271 @c (signature . "~/.work-signature")
8272 @c (from . "user@@bar.foo (user)")
8273 @c (organization . "Important Work, Inc"))
8275 @c (signature . "~/.mail-signature"))))
8282 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
8283 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
8284 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
8285 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
8286 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
8288 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
8289 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
8290 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
8291 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
8292 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
8296 @vindex nndraft-directory
8297 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
8298 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
8299 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
8300 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
8301 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
8302 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
8304 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
8305 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
8308 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
8309 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
8310 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
8311 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
8312 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
8313 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
8314 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
8315 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
8316 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
8317 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
8318 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
8319 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
8320 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
8321 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
8323 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
8324 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
8325 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
8327 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
8329 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
8330 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
8331 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
8333 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
8336 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
8337 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
8338 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
8339 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
8340 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
8341 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
8342 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
8345 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
8346 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
8347 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
8350 @node Rejected Articles
8351 @section Rejected Articles
8352 @cindex rejected articles
8354 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
8355 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
8356 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
8357 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
8359 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
8360 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
8361 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
8362 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
8363 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
8365 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
8366 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
8367 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
8370 @node Select Methods
8371 @chapter Select Methods
8372 @cindex foreign groups
8373 @cindex select methods
8375 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
8376 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
8377 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
8378 personal mail group.
8380 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
8381 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
8382 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
8383 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
8384 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
8385 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
8387 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
8388 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
8390 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
8393 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
8394 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
8395 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
8396 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
8397 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
8399 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
8402 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
8403 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
8404 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
8405 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
8406 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
8407 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
8411 @node The Server Buffer
8412 @section The Server Buffer
8414 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
8415 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
8416 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
8417 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
8418 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
8419 backend represents a virtual server.
8421 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
8422 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
8423 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
8424 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
8426 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
8427 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
8428 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
8429 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
8430 Anyways, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
8431 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
8432 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
8434 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
8435 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
8438 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
8439 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
8440 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
8441 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
8442 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
8443 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
8444 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
8447 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
8448 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
8451 @node Server Buffer Format
8452 @subsection Server Buffer Format
8453 @cindex server buffer format
8455 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
8456 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
8457 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
8458 variable, with some simple extensions:
8463 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
8466 The name of this server.
8469 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
8472 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
8475 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
8476 The mode line can also be customized by using the
8477 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable. The following specs are
8488 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
8491 @node Server Commands
8492 @subsection Server Commands
8493 @cindex server commands
8499 @findex gnus-server-add-server
8500 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
8504 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
8505 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
8508 @kindex SPACE (Server)
8509 @findex gnus-server-read-server
8510 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
8514 @findex gnus-server-exit
8515 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
8519 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
8520 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
8524 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
8525 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
8529 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
8530 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
8534 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
8535 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
8539 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
8540 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
8541 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
8546 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
8547 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
8548 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
8549 a mail backend that has gotten out of synch.
8554 @node Example Methods
8555 @subsection Example Methods
8557 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
8560 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
8563 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
8569 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
8570 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
8573 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
8574 @var{(variable form)} pairs.
8576 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
8577 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
8581 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
8584 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
8585 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
8587 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
8588 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
8589 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
8593 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
8596 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
8599 Here's the method for a public spool:
8603 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
8604 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
8607 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
8608 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
8609 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
8610 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
8611 should probably look something like this:
8615 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
8616 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
8617 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
8618 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
8619 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
8624 @node Creating a Virtual Server
8625 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
8627 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
8628 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
8630 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
8631 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
8632 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
8634 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
8636 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
8637 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
8638 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
8639 will contain the following:
8649 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
8650 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
8651 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
8654 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
8655 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
8656 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
8659 @node Server Variables
8660 @subsection Server Variables
8662 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
8663 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
8664 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
8665 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
8666 won't change the "derived" variables.
8668 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
8669 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
8670 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
8671 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
8672 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
8673 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
8674 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
8675 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
8676 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
8680 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
8681 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
8682 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
8686 @node Servers and Methods
8687 @subsection Servers and Methods
8689 Wherever you would normally use a select method
8690 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
8691 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
8692 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
8696 @node Unavailable Servers
8697 @subsection Unavailable Servers
8699 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
8700 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
8701 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
8702 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
8703 actually the case or not.
8705 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
8706 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
8707 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
8708 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
8709 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
8710 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
8711 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
8712 it will regard that server as ``down''.
8714 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
8715 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
8717 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
8718 with the following commands:
8724 @findex gnus-server-open-server
8725 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
8726 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
8730 @findex gnus-server-close-server
8731 Close the connection (if any) to the server
8732 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
8736 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
8737 Mark the current server as unreachable
8738 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
8741 @kindex M-o (Server)
8742 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
8743 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
8744 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
8747 @kindex M-c (Server)
8748 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
8749 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
8750 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
8754 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
8755 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
8756 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
8762 @section Getting News
8763 @cindex reading news
8764 @cindex news backends
8766 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
8767 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
8768 or it can read from a local spool.
8771 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
8772 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
8777 @subsection @sc{nntp}
8780 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
8781 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
8782 server as the, uhm, address.
8784 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
8785 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
8786 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
8787 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
8789 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
8790 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
8791 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
8793 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
8798 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
8799 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
8800 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
8802 @cindex authentification
8803 @cindex nntp authentification
8804 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
8805 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
8806 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
8807 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
8808 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
8809 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
8810 present in this hook.
8812 @item nntp-authinfo-function
8813 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
8814 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
8815 server. Available functions include:
8818 @item nntp-send-authinfo
8819 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
8820 This function will use your current login name as the user name and will
8821 prompt you for the password. This is the default.
8823 @item nntp-send-nosy-authinfo
8824 @findex nntp-send-nosy-authinfo
8825 This function will prompt you for both user name and password.
8827 @item nntp-send-authinfo-from-file
8828 @findex nntp-send-authinfo-from-file
8829 This function will use your current login name as the user name and will
8830 read the @sc{nntp} password from @file{~/.nntp-authinfo}.
8833 @item nntp-server-action-alist
8834 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
8835 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
8836 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
8837 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
8840 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
8844 You probably don't want to do that, though.
8846 The default value is
8849 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
8850 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
8853 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
8854 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
8856 @item nntp-maximum-request
8857 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
8858 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
8859 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
8860 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
8861 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
8862 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
8863 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
8865 @item nntp-connection-timeout
8866 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
8867 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
8868 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
8869 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
8870 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
8871 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
8872 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
8873 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
8874 no timeouts are done.
8876 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
8877 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
8878 @c @cindex PPP connections
8879 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
8880 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
8881 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
8882 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
8883 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
8884 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
8885 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
8886 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
8887 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
8888 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
8890 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
8891 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
8892 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
8893 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
8896 @item nntp-server-hook
8897 @vindex nntp-server-hook
8898 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
8901 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
8902 @findex nntp-open-telnet
8903 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
8904 @item nntp-open-connection-function
8905 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
8906 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Three pre-made
8907 functions are @code{nntp-open-network-stream}, which is the default, and
8908 simply connects to some port or other on the remote system. The other
8909 two are @code{nntp-open-rlogin}, which does an @samp{rlogin} on the
8910 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
8911 available there, and @code{nntp-open-telnet}, which does a @samp{telnet}
8912 to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet} to get to the
8915 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
8919 @item nntp-rlogin-program
8920 @vindex nntp-rlogin-program
8921 Program used to log in on remote machines. The default is @samp{rsh},
8922 but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
8924 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
8925 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
8926 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
8928 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
8929 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
8930 User name on the remote system.
8934 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
8937 @item nntp-telnet-command
8938 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
8939 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
8941 @item nntp-telnet-switches
8942 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
8943 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
8945 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
8946 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
8947 User name for log in on the remote system.
8949 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
8950 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
8951 Password to use when logging in.
8953 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
8954 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
8955 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
8960 @item nntp-end-of-line
8961 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
8962 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
8963 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
8964 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
8966 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
8967 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
8968 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
8972 @vindex nntp-address
8973 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
8975 @item nntp-port-number
8976 @vindex nntp-port-number
8977 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
8980 @item nntp-buggy-select
8981 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
8982 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
8984 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
8985 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
8986 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
8987 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
8990 @item nntp-xover-commands
8991 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
8994 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
8995 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
8999 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
9000 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
9001 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
9002 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
9003 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
9004 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
9005 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
9006 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
9007 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
9008 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
9009 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
9011 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
9012 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
9013 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
9015 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
9016 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
9017 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
9018 server closes connection.
9024 @subsection News Spool
9028 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
9029 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
9030 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
9033 Anyways, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
9034 anything else) as the address.
9036 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
9037 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
9038 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
9039 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
9043 @item nnspool-inews-program
9044 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
9045 Program used to post an article.
9047 @item nnspool-inews-switches
9048 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
9049 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
9051 @item nnspool-spool-directory
9052 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
9053 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
9054 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
9056 @item nnspool-nov-directory
9057 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
9058 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
9059 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
9061 @item nnspool-lib-dir
9062 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
9063 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
9065 @item nnspool-active-file
9066 @vindex nnspool-active-file
9067 The path to the active file.
9069 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
9070 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
9071 The path to the group descriptions file.
9073 @item nnspool-history-file
9074 @vindex nnspool-history-file
9075 The path to the news history file.
9077 @item nnspool-active-times-file
9078 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
9079 The path to the active date file.
9081 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
9082 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
9083 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
9086 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
9087 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
9089 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
9090 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
9091 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
9097 @section Getting Mail
9098 @cindex reading mail
9101 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
9105 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
9106 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
9107 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
9108 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
9109 * Mail and Procmail:: Reading mail groups that procmail create.
9110 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
9111 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
9112 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
9113 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
9114 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
9115 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
9119 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
9120 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
9122 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
9123 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
9124 and things will happen automatically.
9126 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
9127 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
9130 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
9131 '((nnml "private")))
9134 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
9135 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
9136 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
9137 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
9138 like any other group.
9140 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
9143 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9144 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9145 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9149 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
9150 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
9151 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
9154 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
9155 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
9156 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
9159 @node Splitting Mail
9160 @subsection Splitting Mail
9161 @cindex splitting mail
9162 @cindex mail splitting
9164 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
9165 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
9166 to be split into groups.
9169 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9170 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9171 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9175 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
9176 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
9177 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
9178 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
9179 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
9180 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
9181 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
9184 ("list.\\1" "From:.*\\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
9187 If the first element is the special symbol @code{junk}, then messages
9188 that match the regexp will disappear into the aether. Use with
9191 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
9192 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
9193 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
9194 mail belongs in that group.
9196 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
9197 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
9198 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
9199 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
9200 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
9201 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
9203 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
9204 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
9205 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
9206 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
9207 thinks should carry this mail message.
9209 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
9210 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
9211 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
9212 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
9214 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
9215 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
9216 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
9217 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
9218 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
9220 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
9223 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
9224 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
9225 links. If that's the case for you, set
9226 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
9227 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
9229 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
9230 @kindex nnmail-split-history
9231 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
9232 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command.
9234 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
9235 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
9236 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
9237 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
9238 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
9239 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
9240 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
9241 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
9245 @node Mail Backend Variables
9246 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
9248 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
9252 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
9253 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
9254 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
9255 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
9257 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
9258 @item nnmail-spool-file
9262 @vindex nnmail-pop-password
9263 @vindex nnmail-pop-password-required
9264 The backends will look for new mail in this file. If this variable is
9265 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
9266 themselves. If you are using a POP mail server and your name is
9267 @samp{larsi}, you should set this variable to @samp{po:larsi}. If
9268 your name is not @samp{larsi}, you should probably modify that
9269 slightly, but you may have guessed that already, you smart & handsome
9270 devil! You can also set this variable to @code{pop}, and Gnus will try
9271 to figure out the POP mail string by itself. In any case, Gnus will
9272 call @code{movemail} which will contact the POP server named in the
9273 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable. If the POP server needs a
9274 password, you can either set @code{nnmail-pop-password-required} to
9275 @code{t} and be prompted for the password, or set
9276 @code{nnmail-pop-password} to the password itself.
9278 @code{nnmail-spool-file} can also be a list of mailboxes.
9280 Your Emacs has to have been configured with @samp{--with-pop} before
9281 compilation. This is the default, but some installations have it
9284 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
9285 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
9286 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
9287 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
9288 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
9289 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
9291 @vindex nnmail-use-procmail
9292 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
9293 @item nnmail-use-procmail
9294 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will look in
9295 @code{nnmail-procmail-directory} for incoming mail. All the files in
9296 that directory that have names ending in @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix}
9297 will be considered incoming mailboxes, and will be searched for new
9300 @vindex nnmail-crash-box
9301 @item nnmail-crash-box
9302 When a mail backend reads a spool file, mail is first moved to this
9303 file, which is @file{~/.gnus-crash-box} by default. If this file
9304 already exists, it will always be read (and incorporated) before any
9307 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9308 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9309 This is run in a buffer that holds all the new incoming mail, and can be
9310 used for, well, anything, really.
9312 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
9313 @item nnmail-split-hook
9314 @findex article-decode-rfc1522
9315 @findex RFC1522 decoding
9316 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
9317 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
9318 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
9319 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
9320 in the buffer will show up in any files. @code{gnus-article-decode-rfc1522}
9321 is one likely function to add to this hook.
9323 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9324 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
9325 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9326 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
9327 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
9328 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
9329 starting to handle the new mail) and
9330 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
9331 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
9332 default file modes the new mail files get:
9335 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9336 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
9338 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
9339 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
9342 @item nnmail-tmp-directory
9343 @vindex nnmail-tmp-directory
9344 This variable says where to move incoming mail to -- while processing
9345 it. This is usually done in the same directory that the mail backend
9346 inhabits (e.g., @file{~/Mail/}), but if this variable is non-@code{nil},
9347 it will be used instead.
9349 @item nnmail-movemail-program
9350 @vindex nnmail-movemail-program
9351 This program is executed to move mail from the user's inbox to her home
9352 directory. The default is @samp{movemail}.
9354 This can also be a function. In that case, the function will be called
9355 with two parameters -- the name of the inbox, and the file to be moved
9358 @item nnmail-delete-incoming
9359 @vindex nnmail-delete-incoming
9360 @cindex incoming mail files
9361 @cindex deleting incoming files
9362 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will delete the temporary incoming
9363 file after splitting mail into the proper groups. This is @code{t} by
9366 @c This is @code{nil} by
9367 @c default for reasons of security.
9369 @c Since Red Gnus is an alpha release, it is to be expected to lose mail.
9370 (No Gnus release since (ding) Gnus 0.10 (or something like that) have
9371 lost mail, I think, but that's not the point. (Except certain versions
9372 of Red Gnus.)) By not deleting the Incoming* files, one can be sure not
9373 to lose mail -- if Gnus totally whacks out, one can always recover what
9376 You may delete the @file{Incoming*} files at will.
9378 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
9379 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
9380 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
9381 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
9382 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
9383 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
9384 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
9386 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
9387 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
9389 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
9391 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
9392 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
9393 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
9394 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
9395 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
9400 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
9401 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
9402 @cindex mail splitting
9403 @cindex fancy mail splitting
9405 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
9406 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
9407 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
9408 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
9409 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
9410 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
9412 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
9415 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
9416 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
9417 ;; from real errors.
9418 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
9420 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
9421 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
9422 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
9423 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
9424 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
9425 ;; Other mailing lists...
9426 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
9427 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
9429 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
9430 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
9434 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
9435 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
9436 the five possible split syntaxes:
9441 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group name.
9444 @var{(FIELD VALUE SPLIT)}: If the split is a list, the first element of
9445 which is a string, then store the message as specified by SPLIT, if
9446 header FIELD (a regexp) contains VALUE (also a regexp).
9449 @var{(| SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
9450 @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each SPLIT until one of them
9451 matches. A SPLIT is said to match if it will cause the mail message to
9452 be stored in one or more groups.
9455 @var{(& SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
9456 @code{&}, then process all SPLITs in the list.
9459 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
9463 @var{(: function arg1 arg2 ...)}: If the split is a list, and the first
9464 element is @code{:}, then the second element will be called as a
9465 function with @var{args} given as arguments. The function should return
9470 In these splits, @var{FIELD} must match a complete field name.
9471 @var{VALUE} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
9472 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
9473 field names or words. In other words, all @var{VALUE}'s are wrapped in
9474 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
9476 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
9477 @var{FIELD} and @var{VALUE} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
9478 are expanded as specified by the variable
9479 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
9480 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
9483 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
9484 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
9485 when all this splitting is performed.
9487 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
9488 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
9489 substitions in the group names), you can say things like:
9492 (any "debian-\\(\\w*\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
9495 @node Mail and Procmail
9496 @subsection Mail and Procmail
9501 Many people use @code{procmail} (or some other mail filter program or
9502 external delivery agent---@code{slocal}, @code{elm}, etc) to split
9503 incoming mail into groups. If you do that, you should set
9504 @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{procmail} to ensure that the mail
9505 backends never ever try to fetch mail by themselves.
9507 This also means that you probably don't want to set
9508 @code{nnmail-split-methods} either, which has some, perhaps, unexpected
9511 When a mail backend is queried for what groups it carries, it replies
9512 with the contents of that variable, along with any groups it has figured
9513 out that it carries by other means. None of the backends, except
9514 @code{nnmh}, actually go out to the disk and check what groups actually
9515 exist. (It's not trivial to distinguish between what the user thinks is
9516 a basis for a newsgroup and what is just a plain old file or directory.)
9518 This means that you have to tell Gnus (and the backends) by hand what
9521 Let's take the @code{nnmh} backend as an example:
9523 The folders are located in @code{nnmh-directory}, say, @file{~/Mail/}.
9524 There are three folders, @file{foo}, @file{bar} and @file{mail.baz}.
9526 Go to the group buffer and type @kbd{G m}. When prompted, answer
9527 @samp{foo} for the name and @samp{nnmh} for the method. Repeat
9528 twice for the two other groups, @samp{bar} and @samp{mail.baz}. Be sure
9529 to include all your mail groups.
9531 That's it. You are now set to read your mail. An active file for this
9532 method will be created automatically.
9534 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
9535 @vindex nnmail-procmail-directory
9536 If you use @code{nnfolder} or any other backend that store more than a
9537 single article in each file, you should never have procmail add mails to
9538 the file that Gnus sees. Instead, procmail should put all incoming mail
9539 in @code{nnmail-procmail-directory}. To arrive at the file name to put
9540 the incoming mail in, append @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix} to the group
9541 name. The mail backends will read the mail from these files.
9543 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
9544 When Gnus reads a file called @file{mail.misc.spool}, this mail will be
9545 put in the @code{mail.misc}, as one would expect. However, if you want
9546 Gnus to split the mail the normal way, you could set
9547 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to @code{t}.
9549 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
9550 If you use @code{procmail} to split things directly into an @code{nnmh}
9551 directory (which you shouldn't do), you should set
9552 @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} to non-@code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
9553 ever expiring the final article (i.e., the article with the highest
9554 article number) in a mail newsgroup. This is quite, quite important.
9556 Here's an example setup: The incoming spools are located in
9557 @file{~/incoming/} and have @samp{""} as suffixes (i.e., the incoming
9558 spool files have the same names as the equivalent groups). The
9559 @code{nnfolder} backend is to be used as the mail interface, and the
9560 @code{nnfolder} directory is @file{~/fMail/}.
9563 (setq nnfolder-directory "~/fMail/")
9564 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
9565 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/incoming/")
9566 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnfolder "")))
9567 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "")
9571 @node Incorporating Old Mail
9572 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
9574 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
9575 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
9576 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
9579 Doing so can be quite easy.
9581 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
9582 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
9583 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
9584 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
9585 your @code{nnml} groups.
9591 Go to the group buffer.
9594 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
9595 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
9598 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
9601 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
9602 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
9605 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
9606 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
9609 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
9610 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
9611 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
9612 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
9613 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
9615 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
9616 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
9617 using the new mail backend.
9621 @subsection Expiring Mail
9622 @cindex article expiry
9624 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
9625 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
9626 different approach to mail reading.
9628 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
9629 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
9630 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
9631 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
9632 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
9633 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
9636 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
9637 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
9638 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
9639 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
9640 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
9641 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
9642 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
9643 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
9645 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
9646 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
9647 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
9648 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
9649 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
9650 column in the summary buffer.
9652 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
9653 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
9654 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
9655 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
9658 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
9660 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
9661 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
9662 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
9665 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
9666 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
9667 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
9668 groups expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
9669 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
9671 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
9672 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
9675 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
9676 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
9679 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
9680 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
9682 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
9683 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
9684 don't really mix very well.
9686 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
9687 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
9688 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
9689 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
9692 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
9693 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
9694 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
9695 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
9698 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
9700 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
9702 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
9704 ((string= group "mail.junk")
9706 ((string= group "important")
9712 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
9713 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
9715 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
9716 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
9717 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
9720 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
9721 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9723 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
9724 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
9725 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
9726 easier for procmail users.
9728 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
9729 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
9730 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
9731 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
9732 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
9733 caution. Even more dangerous is the
9734 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
9735 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
9736 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
9737 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
9738 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
9739 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
9740 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
9743 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
9747 @subsection Washing Mail
9748 @cindex mail washing
9749 @cindex list server brain damage
9750 @cindex incoming mail treatment
9752 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
9753 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC822 doesn't explicitly
9754 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
9755 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
9756 Yes, but RFC822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
9757 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
9759 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
9760 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
9761 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
9764 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
9765 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
9766 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
9767 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
9770 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9771 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9772 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
9773 grand, sweeping gestures. Functions to be used include:
9776 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
9777 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
9778 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
9779 Emacs running on MS machines.
9783 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
9784 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
9785 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
9786 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
9789 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
9790 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
9791 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
9792 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
9794 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
9795 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
9796 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
9797 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
9798 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
9799 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
9800 also be a list of regexp.
9802 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
9803 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
9806 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
9807 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
9810 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
9811 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
9812 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
9816 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
9817 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
9818 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
9822 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
9823 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
9824 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
9831 @subsection Duplicates
9833 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
9834 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
9835 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
9836 @cindex duplicate mails
9837 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
9838 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
9839 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
9840 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
9841 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
9842 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
9843 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
9844 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
9845 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
9846 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
9847 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
9848 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
9849 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
9851 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
9852 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
9853 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
9854 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
9856 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
9859 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
9860 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
9864 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
9865 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
9866 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
9867 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
9868 (any mail "mail.misc")
9875 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9876 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
9881 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
9882 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
9883 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
9884 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
9885 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
9888 @node Not Reading Mail
9889 @subsection Not Reading Mail
9891 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
9892 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
9893 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
9895 If you set @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{nil}, none of the backends
9896 will ever attempt to read incoming mail, which should help.
9898 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
9899 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
9900 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
9901 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
9902 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
9903 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
9904 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
9905 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
9906 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
9907 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
9908 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
9910 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
9911 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
9915 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
9916 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
9918 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
9919 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
9920 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
9923 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
9924 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
9925 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
9926 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
9927 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
9932 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
9934 @cindex unix mail box
9936 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
9937 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
9938 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
9939 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
9940 which group it belongs in.
9942 Virtual server settings:
9945 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
9946 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
9947 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
9949 @item nnmbox-active-file
9950 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
9951 The name of the active file for the mail box.
9953 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
9954 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
9955 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
9961 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
9965 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
9966 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
9967 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
9968 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each mail
9969 article to say which group it belongs in.
9971 Virtual server settings:
9974 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
9975 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
9976 The name of the rmail mbox file.
9978 @item nnbabyl-active-file
9979 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
9980 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
9982 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
9983 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
9984 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
9989 @subsubsection Mail Spool
9991 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
9993 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
9994 format. It should be used with some caution.
9996 @vindex nnml-directory
9997 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
9998 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
9999 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
10000 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
10002 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
10005 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
10006 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
10007 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
10008 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
10009 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
10010 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
10011 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
10012 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
10014 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
10015 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
10016 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
10017 backend when it comes to reading mail.
10019 Virtual server settings:
10022 @item nnml-directory
10023 @vindex nnml-directory
10024 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
10026 @item nnml-active-file
10027 @vindex nnml-active-file
10028 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
10030 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
10031 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
10032 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
10035 @item nnml-get-new-mail
10036 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
10037 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
10039 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
10040 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
10041 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
10043 @item nnml-nov-file-name
10044 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
10045 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
10047 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
10048 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
10049 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
10053 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
10054 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
10055 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
10056 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
10057 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
10058 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
10059 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
10064 @subsubsection MH Spool
10066 @cindex mh-e mail spool
10068 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
10069 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
10070 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
10071 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
10073 Virtual server settings:
10076 @item nnmh-directory
10077 @vindex nnmh-directory
10078 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
10080 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
10081 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
10082 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
10085 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
10086 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
10087 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
10088 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
10089 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
10090 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
10091 to set this variable to @code{t}.
10096 @subsubsection Mail Folders
10098 @cindex mbox folders
10099 @cindex mail folders
10101 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
10102 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
10103 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
10106 Virtual server settings:
10109 @item nnfolder-directory
10110 @vindex nnfolder-directory
10111 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
10113 @item nnfolder-active-file
10114 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
10115 The name of the active file.
10117 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
10118 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
10119 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
10121 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
10122 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
10123 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
10126 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
10127 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
10128 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
10129 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
10130 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
10131 @code{nnfolder-directory}.
10134 @node Other Sources
10135 @section Other Sources
10137 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
10138 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
10142 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
10143 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
10144 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
10145 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{SOUP} packets ``offline''.
10146 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
10147 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
10151 @node Directory Groups
10152 @subsection Directory Groups
10154 @cindex directory groups
10156 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
10157 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
10160 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
10161 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
10162 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
10163 backend to read directories. Big deal.
10165 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
10166 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
10167 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
10168 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
10169 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
10171 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
10173 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
10174 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
10175 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
10176 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
10179 @node Anything Groups
10180 @subsection Anything Groups
10183 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
10184 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
10185 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
10188 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
10189 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
10190 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
10191 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're
10192 forgetting. @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it
10193 snoops each file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e.,
10194 the first few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head.
10195 If this is just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source
10196 file), @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It
10197 will use file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
10200 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
10201 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
10202 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
10203 in the article buffer, just as usual.
10205 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
10206 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
10207 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
10208 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
10210 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
10211 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
10212 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
10213 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
10214 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
10215 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
10216 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
10217 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
10222 @item nneething-map-file-directory
10223 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
10224 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
10225 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
10227 @item nneething-exclude-files
10228 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
10229 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
10230 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
10232 @item nneething-map-file
10233 @vindex nneething-map-file
10234 Name of the map files.
10238 @node Document Groups
10239 @subsection Document Groups
10241 @cindex documentation group
10244 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
10245 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
10252 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
10257 The standard Unix mbox file.
10259 @cindex MMDF mail box
10261 The MMDF mail box format.
10264 Several news articles appended into a file.
10267 @cindex rnews batch files
10268 The rnews batch transport format.
10269 @cindex forwarded messages
10272 Forwarded articles.
10276 @cindex MIME digest
10277 @cindex 1153 digest
10278 @cindex RFC 1153 digest
10279 @cindex RFC 341 digest
10280 MIME (RFC 1341) digest format.
10282 @item standard-digest
10283 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
10286 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
10289 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
10290 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
10291 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
10294 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
10295 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
10296 group. And that's it.
10298 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
10299 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
10300 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
10301 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
10302 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
10303 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
10304 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
10305 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
10306 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
10307 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
10309 Virtual server variables:
10312 @item nndoc-article-type
10313 @vindex nndoc-article-type
10314 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
10315 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
10316 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-digest}, @code{standard-digest},
10317 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs} or @code{guess}.
10319 @item nndoc-post-type
10320 @vindex nndoc-post-type
10321 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
10322 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
10327 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
10331 @node Document Server Internals
10332 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
10334 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
10335 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
10336 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
10337 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
10339 First, here's an example document type definition:
10343 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
10344 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
10347 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
10348 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
10349 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
10350 types can be defined with very few settings:
10353 @item first-article
10354 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
10355 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
10358 @item article-begin
10359 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
10360 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
10362 @item head-begin-function
10363 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
10366 @item nndoc-head-begin
10367 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
10370 @item nndoc-head-end
10371 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
10372 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
10374 @item body-begin-function
10375 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
10379 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
10382 @item body-end-function
10383 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
10387 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
10390 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
10391 regexp will be totally ignored.
10395 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
10396 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
10397 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
10398 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
10399 something that's palatable for Gnus:
10402 @item prepare-body-function
10403 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
10404 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
10405 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
10407 @item article-transform-function
10408 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
10409 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
10410 body of the article.
10412 @item generate-head-function
10413 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
10414 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
10415 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
10416 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
10420 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
10425 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
10426 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
10427 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
10428 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
10429 (head-end . "^ ?$")
10430 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
10431 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
10432 (subtype digest guess))
10435 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
10436 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
10437 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
10438 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
10439 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
10441 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
10442 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
10443 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
10444 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
10445 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
10446 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
10447 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
10448 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
10449 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
10450 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
10458 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
10459 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
10460 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
10462 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
10463 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
10464 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
10467 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something a that's a bit
10468 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
10469 that interested in doing things properly.
10471 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
10472 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
10475 First some terminology:
10480 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
10481 get news and/or mail from.
10484 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
10485 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
10488 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
10492 @item message packets
10493 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
10494 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
10495 default, where @var{X} is a number.
10497 @item response packets
10498 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
10499 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
10500 default, where @var{X} is a number.
10510 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
10511 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
10512 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
10513 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
10516 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
10519 You put the packet in your home directory.
10522 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
10523 the native or secondary server.
10526 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
10527 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
10530 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
10534 You transfer this packet to the server.
10537 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
10540 You then repeat until you die.
10544 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
10545 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
10548 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
10549 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
10550 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
10554 @node SOUP Commands
10555 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
10557 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
10561 @kindex G s b (Group)
10562 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
10563 Pack all unread articles in the current group
10564 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
10565 process/prefix convention.
10568 @kindex G s w (Group)
10569 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
10570 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
10573 @kindex G s s (Group)
10574 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
10575 Send all replies from the replies packet
10576 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
10579 @kindex G s p (Group)
10580 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
10581 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
10584 @kindex G s r (Group)
10585 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
10586 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
10589 @kindex O s (Summary)
10590 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
10591 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
10592 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
10593 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10598 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
10603 @item gnus-soup-directory
10604 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
10605 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
10606 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
10608 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
10609 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
10610 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
10611 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
10613 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
10614 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
10615 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
10616 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
10618 @item gnus-soup-packer
10619 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
10620 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
10621 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
10623 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
10624 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
10625 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
10626 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
10628 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
10629 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
10630 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
10632 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
10633 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
10634 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
10635 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
10641 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
10644 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
10645 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
10646 you can read them at leisure.
10648 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
10652 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
10653 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
10654 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
10655 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
10657 @item nnsoup-directory
10658 @vindex nnsoup-directory
10659 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
10660 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
10662 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
10663 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
10664 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
10665 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
10667 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
10668 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
10669 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
10670 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
10671 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
10673 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
10674 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
10675 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
10676 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
10678 @item nnsoup-active-file
10679 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
10680 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
10681 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
10682 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
10683 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
10685 @item nnsoup-packer
10686 @vindex nnsoup-packer
10687 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
10688 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
10690 @item nnsoup-unpacker
10691 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
10692 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
10693 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
10695 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
10696 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
10697 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
10700 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
10701 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
10702 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
10705 @item nnsoup-always-save
10706 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
10707 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
10713 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
10715 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
10716 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
10717 more for that to happen.
10719 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
10720 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
10721 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
10724 In specific, this is what it does:
10727 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
10728 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
10731 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
10732 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
10733 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
10737 @subsection Web Searches
10741 @cindex InReference
10742 @cindex Usenet searches
10743 @cindex searching the Usenet
10745 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
10746 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
10747 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
10748 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
10749 searches without having to use a browser.
10751 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
10752 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
10753 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
10754 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
10755 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
10757 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
10758 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
10759 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
10760 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
10761 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
10762 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
10763 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
10764 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
10765 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
10766 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
10769 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
10770 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
10771 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
10772 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
10773 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
10774 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
10776 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
10777 to use @code{nnweb}.
10779 Virtual server variables:
10784 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
10785 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
10789 @vindex nnweb-search
10790 The search string to feed to the search engine.
10792 @item nnweb-max-hits
10793 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
10794 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
10797 @item nnweb-type-definition
10798 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
10799 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
10800 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
10805 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
10809 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
10812 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
10815 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
10819 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
10826 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
10827 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
10828 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
10831 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
10832 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
10833 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
10835 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
10841 @item nngateway-address
10842 @vindex nngateway-address
10843 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
10845 @item nngateway-header-transformation
10846 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
10847 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
10848 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
10849 transformation should be called, and defaults to
10850 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
10851 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
10854 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
10855 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
10856 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
10859 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
10862 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
10865 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
10870 So, to use this, simply say something like:
10873 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
10877 @node Combined Groups
10878 @section Combined Groups
10880 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
10884 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
10885 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
10889 @node Virtual Groups
10890 @subsection Virtual Groups
10892 @cindex virtual groups
10894 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
10897 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
10898 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
10899 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
10901 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
10902 regexp to match component groups.
10904 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
10905 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
10906 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
10907 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
10908 the virtual group.)
10910 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
10911 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
10914 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
10917 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
10918 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
10920 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
10921 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
10922 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
10923 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
10926 "^nntp+some.server.jp:soc.motss$\\|^nntp+some.server.no:soc.motss$"
10929 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
10930 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
10931 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
10932 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
10933 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
10935 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
10936 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
10937 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
10939 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
10940 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
10941 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
10942 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
10943 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
10944 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
10945 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
10946 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
10947 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
10948 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
10949 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
10952 @node Kibozed Groups
10953 @subsection Kibozed Groups
10957 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
10958 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
10959 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
10960 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
10962 @kindex G k (Group)
10963 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
10966 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
10967 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
10968 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
10969 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
10971 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
10972 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
10973 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
10975 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
10976 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
10977 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
10978 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
10979 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
10980 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
10981 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
10982 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
10984 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
10985 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
10986 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
10987 Stranger things have happened.
10989 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
10990 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
10992 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
10993 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
10994 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
10995 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
10996 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
10997 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
10999 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
11000 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
11003 @node Gnus Unplugged
11004 @section Gnus Unplugged
11009 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
11011 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
11012 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
11013 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
11014 read news. Believe it or not.
11016 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
11017 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
11018 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
11019 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
11020 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
11022 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
11023 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
11024 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
11025 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
11026 reading news on a machine.
11028 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
11032 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
11033 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
11037 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
11038 @file{.gnus.el} file:
11045 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
11047 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
11050 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
11051 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
11052 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
11053 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
11054 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
11055 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
11060 @subsection Agent Basics
11062 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
11064 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
11065 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
11066 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
11067 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
11069 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
11070 connected to the net continously.
11072 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
11073 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
11075 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
11080 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
11081 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
11082 already fetched while in this mode.
11085 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
11086 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
11087 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged}.
11090 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
11091 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{J
11092 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
11093 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
11096 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
11097 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
11098 then you read the news offline.
11101 And then you go to step 2.
11104 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
11110 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
11111 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
11112 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
11113 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
11114 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
11115 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
11118 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}
11125 @node Agent Categories
11126 @subsection Agent Categories
11128 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
11129 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
11130 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
11131 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
11132 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
11133 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
11134 you're interested in the articles anyway.
11136 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
11137 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
11138 Gnus has its own buffer for creating and managing categories.
11141 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
11142 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
11143 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
11147 @node Category Syntax
11148 @subsubsection Category Syntax
11150 A category consists of two things.
11154 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
11155 are eligible for downloading; and
11158 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
11159 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
11160 score} is wholly unrelated to normal scores.)
11163 A predicate consists of predicates with logical operators sprinkled in
11166 Perhaps some examples are in order.
11168 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
11169 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
11175 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
11176 short (for some value of ``short'').
11178 Here's a more complex predicate:
11187 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
11188 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
11191 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
11192 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
11193 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
11195 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
11196 you want to do, you can write your own.
11200 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
11201 lines; default 100.
11204 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
11205 lines; default 200.
11208 True iff the article has a download score less than
11209 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
11212 True iff the article has a download score greater than
11213 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
11216 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
11217 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
11218 checksum and sees whether articles match.
11227 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
11228 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
11229 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
11232 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
11233 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
11234 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
11235 following headers can be scored on: @code{From}, @code{Subject},
11236 @code{Date}, @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars}, @code{Message-ID},
11237 and @code{References}.
11240 @node The Category Buffer
11241 @subsubsection The Category Buffer
11243 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
11244 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
11245 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
11247 The following commands are available in this buffer:
11251 @kindex q (Category)
11252 @findex gnus-category-exit
11253 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
11256 @kindex k (Category)
11257 @findex gnus-category-kill
11258 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
11261 @kindex c (Category)
11262 @findex gnus-category-copy
11263 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
11266 @kindex a (Category)
11267 @findex gnus-category-add
11268 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
11271 @kindex p (Category)
11272 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
11273 Edit the predicate of the current category
11274 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
11277 @kindex g (Category)
11278 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
11279 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
11280 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
11283 @kindex s (Category)
11284 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
11285 Edit the download score rule of the current category
11286 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
11289 @kindex l (Category)
11290 @findex gnus-category-list
11291 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
11295 @node Category Variables
11296 @subsubsection Category Variables
11299 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
11300 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
11301 Hook run in category buffers.
11303 @item gnus-category-line-format
11304 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
11305 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
11306 Variables}). Legal elements are:
11310 The name of the category.
11313 The number of groups in the category.
11316 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
11317 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
11318 Format of the category mode line.
11320 @item gnus-agent-short-article
11321 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
11322 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
11324 @item gnus-agent-long-article
11325 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
11326 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
11328 @item gnus-agent-low-score
11329 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
11330 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
11333 @item gnus-agent-high-score
11334 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
11335 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
11341 @node Agent Commands
11342 @subsection Agent Commands
11344 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
11345 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
11346 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
11350 * Group Agent Commands::
11351 * Summary Agent Commands::
11352 * Server Agent Commands::
11355 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
11356 following incantation:
11358 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
11360 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
11365 @node Group Agent Commands
11366 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
11370 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
11371 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
11372 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
11373 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
11376 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
11377 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
11378 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
11381 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
11382 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
11383 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
11384 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
11387 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
11388 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
11389 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
11390 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}). @xref{Drafts}
11393 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
11394 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
11395 Add the current group to an Agent category
11396 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}).
11401 @node Summary Agent Commands
11402 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
11406 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
11407 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
11408 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
11411 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
11412 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
11413 Remove the downloading mark from the article
11414 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
11417 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
11418 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
11419 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
11422 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
11423 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
11424 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
11429 @node Server Agent Commands
11430 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
11434 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
11435 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
11436 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
11437 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
11440 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
11441 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
11442 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
11443 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
11448 @node Outgoing Messages
11449 @subsection Outgoing Messages
11451 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
11452 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
11453 after posting, and edit them at will.
11455 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
11456 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
11457 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
11458 messages in the draft group.
11462 @node Agent Variables
11463 @subsection Agent Variables
11466 @item gnus-agent-directory
11467 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
11468 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
11469 @file{~/News/agent/}.
11471 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
11472 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
11473 Hook run when connecting to the network.
11475 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
11476 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
11477 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
11482 @node Example Setup
11483 @subsection Example Setup
11485 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
11486 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
11487 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
11490 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over NNTP
11491 ;;; from your ISP's server.
11492 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "nntp.your-isp.com"))
11494 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
11495 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
11496 (setenv "MAILHOST" "pop.your-isp.com")
11497 (setq nnmail-spool-file "po:username")
11499 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
11500 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
11502 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
11506 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
11507 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
11510 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
11511 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
11512 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
11513 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
11514 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
11517 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
11518 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
11519 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
11520 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
11521 back all the killed groups.)
11523 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
11524 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
11525 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
11532 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
11533 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
11534 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
11537 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
11538 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
11539 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
11540 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
11541 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
11543 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
11544 before generating the summary buffer.
11546 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
11547 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
11548 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
11550 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
11551 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
11552 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
11553 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
11556 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
11557 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
11558 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
11559 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
11560 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
11561 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
11562 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
11563 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
11564 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
11565 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
11566 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
11567 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
11568 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
11569 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
11570 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
11571 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
11575 @node Summary Score Commands
11576 @section Summary Score Commands
11577 @cindex score commands
11579 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
11580 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
11581 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
11582 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
11583 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
11585 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
11586 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
11587 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
11588 score file the current one.
11590 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
11595 @kindex V s (Summary)
11596 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
11597 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
11600 @kindex V S (Summary)
11601 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
11602 Display the score of the current article
11603 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
11606 @kindex V t (Summary)
11607 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
11608 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
11609 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
11612 @kindex V R (Summary)
11613 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
11614 Run the current summary through the scoring process
11615 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
11616 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
11617 effect you're having.
11620 @kindex V a (Summary)
11621 @findex gnus-summary-score-entry
11622 Add a new score entry, and allow specifying all elements
11623 (@code{gnus-summary-score-entry}).
11626 @kindex V c (Summary)
11627 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
11628 Make a different score file the current
11629 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
11632 @kindex V e (Summary)
11633 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
11634 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
11635 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
11639 @kindex V f (Summary)
11640 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
11641 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
11642 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
11645 @kindex V F (Summary)
11646 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
11647 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
11648 after editing score files.
11651 @kindex V C (Summary)
11652 @findex gnus-score-customize
11653 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
11654 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
11658 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
11663 @kindex V m (Summary)
11664 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
11665 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
11666 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
11669 @kindex V x (Summary)
11670 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
11671 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
11672 expunge all articles below this score
11673 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
11676 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
11677 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
11680 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
11681 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
11685 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
11686 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
11688 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
11689 keys are available:
11693 Score on the author name.
11696 Score on the subject line.
11699 Score on the Xref line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
11702 Score on thread---the References line.
11708 Score on the number of lines.
11711 Score on the Message-ID.
11714 Score on followups.
11724 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
11725 what headers you are scoring on.
11737 Substring matching.
11740 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
11769 Greater than number.
11774 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
11775 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
11776 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
11780 Temporary score entry.
11783 Permanent score entry.
11786 Immediately scoring.
11791 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
11792 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
11793 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
11794 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
11796 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
11797 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
11798 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
11799 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
11800 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
11802 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
11803 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
11804 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
11805 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
11806 current score file.
11808 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
11809 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
11810 pretend they are keymaps or not.
11813 @node Group Score Commands
11814 @section Group Score Commands
11815 @cindex group score commands
11817 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
11822 @kindex W f (Group)
11823 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
11824 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
11825 all the time. This command will flush the cache
11826 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
11831 @node Score Variables
11832 @section Score Variables
11833 @cindex score variables
11837 @item gnus-use-scoring
11838 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
11839 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
11840 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
11842 @item gnus-kill-killed
11843 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
11844 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
11845 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
11846 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
11847 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
11848 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
11849 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
11851 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
11852 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
11853 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
11854 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
11855 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
11857 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
11858 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
11859 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
11860 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
11862 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
11863 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
11864 @cindex score cache
11865 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
11866 score files. However, if this might make you Emacs grow big and
11867 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
11868 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
11869 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
11870 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
11873 @item gnus-save-score
11874 @vindex gnus-save-score
11875 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
11876 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
11877 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
11879 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
11880 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
11881 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
11882 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
11883 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
11884 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
11885 manually entered data.
11887 @item gnus-summary-default-score
11888 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
11889 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
11891 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
11892 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
11893 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
11894 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
11895 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
11896 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
11898 @item gnus-score-over-mark
11899 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
11900 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
11901 default. Default is @samp{+}.
11903 @item gnus-score-below-mark
11904 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
11905 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
11906 default. Default is @samp{-}.
11908 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
11909 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
11910 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
11911 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
11913 Predefined functions available are:
11916 @item gnus-score-find-single
11917 @findex gnus-score-find-single
11918 Only apply the group's own score file.
11920 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
11921 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
11922 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
11923 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
11924 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
11925 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
11926 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
11927 then a regexp match is done.
11929 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
11930 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
11932 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
11933 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
11934 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
11935 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
11937 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
11938 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
11939 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
11940 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
11941 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE}.
11944 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
11945 functions will be called, and all the returned lists of score files will
11946 be applied. These functions can also return lists of score alists
11947 directly. In that case, the functions that return these non-file score
11948 alists should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file
11949 functions, to ensure that the last score file returned is the local
11952 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
11953 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
11954 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
11955 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
11956 are expired. It's 7 by default.
11958 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
11959 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
11960 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
11961 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
11962 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
11963 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
11964 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
11967 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
11968 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
11969 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
11974 @node Score File Format
11975 @section Score File Format
11976 @cindex score file format
11978 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
11979 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
11980 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
11982 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
11986 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
11988 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
11990 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
11992 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
11997 (mark-and-expunge -10)
12001 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
12002 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
12003 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
12004 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
12008 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
12009 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
12011 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
12012 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
12013 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
12015 Six keys are supported by this alist:
12020 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
12021 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
12022 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
12023 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
12024 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
12025 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
12026 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
12027 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
12028 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
12029 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
12030 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
12031 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
12032 to articles that matches these score entries.
12034 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
12035 score entry has one to four elements.
12039 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
12040 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
12044 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
12045 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
12046 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
12047 is successful. If this element is not present, the
12048 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
12049 instead. This is 1000 by default.
12052 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
12053 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
12054 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
12055 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
12056 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
12059 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
12060 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
12061 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
12062 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
12065 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
12066 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
12067 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
12068 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
12069 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
12070 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
12071 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
12072 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
12073 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
12074 instead, if you feel like.
12077 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
12078 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}. When matching on @code{Lines}, be
12079 careful because some backends (like @code{nndir}) do not generate
12080 @code{Lines} header, so every article ends up being marked as having 0
12081 lines. This can lead to strange results if you happen to lower score of
12082 the articles with few lines.
12085 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
12086 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
12087 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
12088 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
12089 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
12090 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
12091 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
12095 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
12096 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
12097 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
12098 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
12099 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
12100 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
12101 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
12102 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
12105 @item Head, Body, All
12106 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
12110 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
12111 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
12112 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
12113 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
12114 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
12115 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
12116 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
12120 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
12121 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{X}, then you add a
12122 @samp{thread} match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each
12123 article that has @var{X} in its @code{References} header. (These new
12124 @samp{thread} matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching
12125 articles.) This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an
12126 entire thread, even though some articles in the thread may not have
12127 complete @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
12128 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
12129 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
12133 @cindex Score File Atoms
12135 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
12136 lower than this number will be marked as read.
12139 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
12140 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
12142 @item mark-and-expunge
12143 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
12144 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
12147 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
12148 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
12149 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
12150 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
12151 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
12154 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
12155 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
12158 @item exclude-files
12159 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
12160 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
12164 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
12165 ignored when handling global score files.
12168 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
12169 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}).
12172 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
12173 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
12174 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
12175 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
12177 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
12181 (mark-and-expunge -100)
12184 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
12185 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
12186 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
12187 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
12188 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
12190 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where there
12191 exist a few interesting threads which can't be found automatically by
12192 ordinary scoring rules.
12195 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
12196 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
12197 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
12198 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
12199 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
12200 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
12201 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
12202 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
12203 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
12204 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
12205 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
12209 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
12210 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
12211 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
12212 file for a number of groups.
12215 @cindex local variables
12216 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
12217 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
12218 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
12219 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
12220 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
12224 @node Score File Editing
12225 @section Score File Editing
12227 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
12228 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
12229 with a mode for that.
12231 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
12232 additional commands:
12237 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
12238 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
12239 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
12240 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
12243 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
12244 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
12245 Insert the current date in numerical format
12246 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
12247 you were wondering.
12250 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
12251 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
12252 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
12253 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
12254 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
12259 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
12261 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
12262 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
12264 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
12265 e} to begin editing score files.
12268 @node Adaptive Scoring
12269 @section Adaptive Scoring
12270 @cindex adaptive scoring
12272 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
12273 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
12274 stupidity, to be precise.
12276 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
12277 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
12278 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
12279 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
12280 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
12281 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
12282 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
12283 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
12284 variable to @code{(word line)}.
12286 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
12287 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
12288 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
12289 might look something like this:
12292 (defvar gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
12293 '((gnus-unread-mark)
12294 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
12295 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
12296 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
12297 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
12298 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
12299 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
12300 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
12301 (gnus-ancient-mark)
12302 (gnus-low-score-mark)
12303 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
12306 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
12307 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
12308 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
12309 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
12310 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
12311 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
12314 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
12315 will be applied to each article.
12317 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
12318 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
12319 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
12320 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
12322 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
12323 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
12324 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
12325 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
12327 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
12328 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
12329 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
12330 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
12332 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
12333 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
12334 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
12335 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
12336 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
12337 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
12339 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
12340 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
12341 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
12342 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
12343 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
12344 aspirins afterwards.)
12346 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
12347 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
12348 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
12350 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
12351 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
12352 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
12354 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
12355 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
12356 let you use different rules in different groups.
12358 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
12359 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
12360 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
12363 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
12364 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
12365 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
12366 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
12367 the length of the match is less than
12368 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
12369 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
12372 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
12373 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
12374 headers. If you adapt on words, the
12375 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
12376 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
12379 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
12380 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
12381 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
12382 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
12383 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
12386 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
12387 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
12388 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
12389 score with 30 points.
12391 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
12392 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
12393 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
12394 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
12395 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
12397 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
12398 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
12399 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
12400 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
12402 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
12403 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
12404 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
12406 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
12407 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
12408 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
12409 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
12412 @node Home Score File
12413 @section Home Score File
12415 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
12416 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
12417 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
12418 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
12420 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
12421 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
12422 could perhaps use the same home score file.
12424 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
12425 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
12430 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
12434 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
12435 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
12439 A list. The elements in this list can be:
12443 @var{(regexp file-name)}. If the @var{regexp} matches the group name,
12444 the @var{file-name} will will be used as the home score file.
12447 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
12448 the home score file.
12451 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
12454 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
12459 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
12462 (setq gnus-home-score-file
12463 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
12466 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
12467 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
12470 (setq gnus-home-score-file
12471 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
12474 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
12476 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
12477 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
12478 their own home score files:
12481 (setq gnus-home-score-file
12482 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
12483 '("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
12484 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
12485 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE"))
12488 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
12489 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
12490 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
12491 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
12492 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
12494 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
12495 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
12496 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
12497 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
12498 precedence over this variable.
12501 @node Followups To Yourself
12502 @section Followups To Yourself
12504 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
12505 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
12506 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
12507 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
12508 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
12509 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
12513 @item gnus-score-followup-article
12514 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
12515 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
12518 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
12519 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
12520 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
12524 @vindex message-sent-hook
12525 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
12526 @code{message-sent-hook}.
12528 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
12529 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
12533 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
12534 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
12537 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
12538 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
12543 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore.no>"
12547 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
12548 is system-dependent.
12552 @section Scoring Tips
12553 @cindex scoring tips
12559 @cindex scoring crossposts
12560 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
12561 the @code{Xref} header.
12563 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
12566 @item Multiple crossposts
12567 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
12568 more than, say, 3 groups:
12570 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
12573 @item Matching on the body
12574 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
12575 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
12576 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
12577 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
12578 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
12579 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
12580 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
12583 @item Marking as read
12584 You will probably want to mark articles that has a score below a certain
12585 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
12586 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
12590 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
12592 @item Negated character classes
12593 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
12594 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
12595 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
12599 @node Reverse Scoring
12600 @section Reverse Scoring
12601 @cindex reverse scoring
12603 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
12604 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
12605 like this in your score file:
12609 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
12614 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
12615 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
12618 @node Global Score Files
12619 @section Global Score Files
12620 @cindex global score files
12622 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
12623 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
12624 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
12626 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
12627 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
12628 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
12630 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
12631 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
12632 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
12633 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
12634 files are applicable to which group.
12636 Say you want to use the score file
12637 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
12638 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
12641 (setq gnus-global-score-files
12642 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
12643 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
12646 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
12647 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
12648 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
12649 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
12650 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
12652 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
12653 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
12655 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
12656 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
12657 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
12658 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
12659 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
12660 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
12662 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
12668 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
12670 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
12672 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
12674 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
12675 lowered out of existence.
12677 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
12678 articles completely.
12681 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
12682 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
12683 old articles for a long time.
12686 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
12687 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
12688 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
12689 holding our breath yet?
12693 @section Kill Files
12696 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
12697 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
12698 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
12700 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
12701 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
12702 files into score files.
12704 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
12705 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
12706 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
12707 that isn't a very good idea.
12709 Normal kill files look like this:
12712 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12713 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
12717 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
12718 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
12720 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
12721 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
12724 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
12729 @kindex M-k (Summary)
12730 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
12731 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
12734 @kindex M-K (Summary)
12735 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
12736 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
12739 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
12744 @kindex M-k (Group)
12745 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
12746 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
12749 @kindex M-K (Group)
12750 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
12751 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
12754 Kill file variables:
12757 @item gnus-kill-file-name
12758 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
12759 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
12760 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
12761 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
12762 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
12763 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
12765 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
12766 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
12767 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
12768 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
12771 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
12772 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
12773 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
12774 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
12775 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
12776 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
12777 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
12778 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
12779 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
12781 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
12782 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
12783 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
12788 @node Converting Kill Files
12789 @section Converting Kill Files
12791 @cindex converting kill files
12793 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
12794 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
12795 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
12798 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
12799 You can fetch it from
12800 @file{http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-other/gnus-kill-to-score}.
12802 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
12803 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
12804 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
12812 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
12813 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
12814 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
12816 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
12817 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
12818 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
12819 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
12820 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
12821 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
12822 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
12823 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
12827 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
12828 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
12829 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
12830 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
12834 @node Using GroupLens
12835 @subsection Using GroupLens
12837 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
12839 @samp{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
12840 better bit in town at the moment.
12842 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
12846 @item gnus-use-grouplens
12847 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
12848 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
12849 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
12851 @item grouplens-pseudonym
12852 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
12853 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
12854 with the Better Bit Bureau.
12856 @item grouplens-newsgroups
12857 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
12858 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
12862 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
12863 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
12864 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
12865 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
12866 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
12867 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
12870 @node Rating Articles
12871 @subsection Rating Articles
12873 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
12874 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
12875 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
12876 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
12879 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
12884 @kindex r (GroupLens)
12885 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
12886 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
12889 @kindex k (GroupLens)
12890 @findex grouplens-score-thread
12891 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
12892 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
12893 threads in rec.humor.
12897 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
12898 the score of the article you're reading.
12903 @kindex n (GroupLens)
12904 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
12905 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
12908 @kindex , (GroupLens)
12909 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
12910 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
12914 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
12915 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
12918 @node Displaying Predictions
12919 @subsection Displaying Predictions
12921 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
12922 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
12923 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
12924 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
12925 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
12927 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
12928 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
12929 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
12930 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
12931 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
12932 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
12933 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
12934 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
12935 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
12936 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
12937 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
12938 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
12939 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
12941 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
12942 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
12943 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
12944 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
12946 The following are valid values for that variable.
12949 @item prediction-spot
12950 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
12953 @item confidence-interval
12954 A numeric confidence interval.
12956 @item prediction-bar
12957 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
12959 @item confidence-bar
12960 Numerical confidence.
12962 @item confidence-spot
12963 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
12965 @item prediction-num
12966 Plain-old numeric value.
12968 @item confidence-plus-minus
12969 Prediction +/- confidence.
12974 @node GroupLens Variables
12975 @subsection GroupLens Variables
12979 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
12980 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
12981 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
12982 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
12985 @item grouplens-bbb-host
12986 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
12989 @item grouplens-bbb-port
12990 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
12992 @item grouplens-score-offset
12993 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
12994 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
12997 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
12998 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
12999 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
13004 @node Advanced Scoring
13005 @section Advanced Scoring
13007 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
13008 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
13009 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
13010 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
13011 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
13013 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
13017 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
13018 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
13019 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
13023 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
13024 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
13026 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
13027 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
13028 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
13029 non-@code{nil} value.
13031 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
13032 operator, and various match operators.
13039 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
13040 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
13041 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
13046 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
13047 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
13048 then this operator will return @code{false}.
13053 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
13054 logical negation of the value of its argument.
13058 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
13059 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
13060 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
13061 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
13062 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
13063 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
13064 the ancestry you want to go.
13066 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
13067 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
13068 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
13069 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
13070 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
13073 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
13074 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
13076 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
13077 when he's talking about Gnus:
13081 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13082 ("subject" "Gnus"))
13088 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
13092 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13099 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
13100 really don't want to read what he's written:
13104 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13105 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
13109 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
13110 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
13111 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
13118 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
13119 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
13120 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
13121 ("body" "white.*socks"))
13125 The possibilities are endless.
13128 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
13129 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
13131 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
13132 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
13133 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
13134 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
13135 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
13136 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
13137 @samp{subject}) first.
13139 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
13140 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
13151 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
13152 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
13158 ("subject" "Gnus")))
13165 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
13166 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
13171 @section Score Decays
13172 @cindex score decays
13175 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
13176 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
13177 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
13178 use them in any sensible way.
13180 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
13181 @findex gnus-decay-score
13182 @vindex gnus-score-decay-function
13183 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
13184 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
13185 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
13186 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
13187 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-score-decay-function}
13188 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
13189 definition of that function:
13192 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
13193 "Decay SCORE according to `gnus-score-decay-constant' and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
13196 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
13198 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
13200 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
13203 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
13204 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
13205 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
13206 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
13210 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
13213 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
13216 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
13220 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
13221 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
13222 the new score, which should be an integer.
13224 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
13225 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
13232 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
13233 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
13234 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
13235 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
13236 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
13237 * Faces & Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
13238 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
13239 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
13240 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
13241 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
13242 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
13243 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
13244 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
13245 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
13246 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
13247 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
13248 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolited commercial email.
13249 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
13253 @node Process/Prefix
13254 @section Process/Prefix
13255 @cindex process/prefix convention
13257 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
13258 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
13260 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
13261 command to be performed on.
13265 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
13266 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
13267 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
13268 with the current one.
13270 @vindex transient-mark-mode
13271 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
13272 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
13274 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
13275 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
13278 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
13279 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
13281 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
13284 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
13285 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
13286 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
13287 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
13289 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
13290 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
13291 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
13292 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
13293 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
13294 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
13295 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
13296 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
13300 @section Interactive
13301 @cindex interaction
13305 @item gnus-novice-user
13306 @vindex gnus-novice-user
13307 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
13308 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
13309 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
13310 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
13313 @item gnus-expert-user
13314 @vindex gnus-expert-user
13315 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will never ever be asked any
13316 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
13317 matter how strange.
13319 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
13320 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
13321 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
13322 is @code{t} by default.
13324 @item gnus-interactive-exit
13325 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
13326 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
13331 @node Symbolic Prefixes
13332 @section Symbolic Prefixes
13333 @cindex symbolic prefixes
13335 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
13336 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four charaters forward, and
13337 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
13338 rule of 900 to the current article.
13340 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
13341 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
13342 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
13343 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
13344 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
13345 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
13346 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
13348 @kindex M-i (Summary)
13349 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
13350 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
13351 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
13352 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
13353 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a M-C-u} means ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u}
13354 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b M-C-u} means
13355 ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
13356 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
13358 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
13359 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
13360 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
13362 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
13366 @node Formatting Variables
13367 @section Formatting Variables
13368 @cindex formatting variables
13370 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
13371 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
13372 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
13373 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
13376 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
13377 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
13378 lots of percentages everywhere.
13381 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
13382 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
13383 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
13384 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
13387 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
13388 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
13389 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
13390 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
13391 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
13392 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
13393 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
13394 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
13396 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
13397 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
13399 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
13400 @findex gnus-update-format
13401 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
13402 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
13403 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
13404 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
13408 @node Formatting Basics
13409 @subsection Formatting Basics
13411 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
13412 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
13413 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
13415 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
13416 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
13417 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
13418 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
13419 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
13422 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
13423 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
13424 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
13425 less than 4 characters wide.
13428 @node Advanced Formatting
13429 @subsection Advanced Formatting
13431 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
13432 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
13433 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
13434 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
13436 These are the valid modifiers:
13441 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
13445 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
13450 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
13453 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
13458 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
13461 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
13464 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
13467 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
13471 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
13472 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
13473 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
13474 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
13475 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
13476 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
13477 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
13479 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
13480 last operation, padding.
13482 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
13483 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
13484 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
13485 @xref{Compilation}.
13488 @node User-Defined Specs
13489 @subsection User-Defined Specs
13491 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
13492 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
13493 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
13494 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
13495 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
13496 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
13497 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
13498 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
13499 should protect against that.
13501 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
13502 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
13503 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
13504 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
13508 @node Formatting Fonts
13509 @subsection Formatting Fonts
13511 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
13512 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
13513 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
13514 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
13517 Text inside the @samp{%[} and @samp{%]} specifiers will have their
13518 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
13519 default. If you say @samp{%1[}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
13520 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
13521 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
13522 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
13524 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
13527 ;; Create three face types.
13528 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
13529 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
13531 ;; We want the article count to be in
13532 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
13533 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
13534 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
13536 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
13537 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
13539 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
13540 (setq gnus-group-line-format
13541 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
13544 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
13545 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
13547 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
13548 mode-line variables.
13551 @node Windows Configuration
13552 @section Windows Configuration
13553 @cindex windows configuration
13555 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
13557 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
13558 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
13559 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
13560 @code{t} by default.
13562 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
13563 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
13564 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
13567 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
13568 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
13569 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
13573 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
13574 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
13575 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
13576 possible names is listed below.
13578 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
13579 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
13582 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
13586 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
13587 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
13588 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
13589 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
13590 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
13591 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
13592 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
13593 size spec per split.
13595 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
13598 Here's a more complicated example:
13601 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
13602 (summary 0.25 point)
13603 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
13607 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
13608 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
13609 occupy, not a percentage.
13611 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
13612 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
13613 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
13614 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
13615 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
13618 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
13621 (article (horizontal 1.0
13626 (summary 0.25 point)
13631 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
13632 @code{horizontal} thingie?
13634 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
13635 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
13636 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
13637 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
13638 the screen is to be given to this strip.
13640 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
13641 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
13642 lines from the splits.
13644 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
13648 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
13649 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
13650 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
13651 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
13652 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] ")"
13653 size = number | frame-params
13654 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
13657 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
13658 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
13659 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
13660 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
13662 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
13663 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
13664 @cindex window height
13665 @cindex window width
13666 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
13667 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
13668 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
13669 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
13670 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
13671 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
13673 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
13674 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
13675 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
13676 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
13678 @findex gnus-configure-frame
13679 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
13680 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
13681 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
13682 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
13683 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
13684 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
13685 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
13686 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
13687 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
13688 configuration list.
13691 (gnus-configure-frame
13695 (article 0.3 point))
13703 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
13704 @code{frame} split:
13707 (gnus-configure-frame
13710 (summary 0.25 point)
13712 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
13713 (user-position . t)
13714 (left . -1) (top . 1))
13719 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
13720 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
13721 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
13722 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
13723 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
13724 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
13725 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
13726 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
13729 Here's a list of all possible keys for
13730 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration}:
13732 @code{group}, @code{summary}, @code{article}, @code{server},
13733 @code{browse}, @code{message}, @code{pick}, @code{info},
13734 @code{summary-faq}, @code{edit-group}, @code{edit-server},
13735 @code{edit-score}, @code{post}, @code{reply}, @code{forward},
13736 @code{reply-yank}, @code{mail-bounce}, @code{draft}, @code{pipe},
13737 @code{bug}, @code{compose-bounce}, and @code{score-trace}.
13739 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
13740 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
13741 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
13745 (message (horizontal 1.0
13746 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
13748 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
13753 @findex gnus-add-configuration
13754 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
13755 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
13756 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
13757 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
13760 (gnus-add-configuration
13761 '(article (vertical 1.0
13763 (summary .25 point)
13767 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
13768 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
13769 Gnus has been loaded.
13771 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
13772 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
13773 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
13774 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
13775 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
13778 @node Faces & Fonts
13779 @section Faces & Fonts
13784 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
13785 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
13786 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
13791 @section Compilation
13792 @cindex compilation
13793 @cindex byte-compilation
13795 @findex gnus-compile
13797 Remember all those line format specification variables?
13798 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
13799 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
13800 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
13801 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
13802 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
13805 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
13806 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
13807 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
13808 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
13809 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
13810 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
13811 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
13815 @section Mode Lines
13818 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
13819 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
13820 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
13821 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
13822 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
13823 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
13824 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
13827 @cindex display-time
13829 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
13830 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
13831 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
13832 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
13833 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
13834 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
13835 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
13836 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
13839 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
13841 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
13842 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
13844 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
13845 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
13846 (length display-time-string)))))
13849 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
13850 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
13851 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
13852 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
13853 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
13856 @node Highlighting and Menus
13857 @section Highlighting and Menus
13859 @cindex highlighting
13862 @vindex gnus-visual
13863 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
13864 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
13865 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
13868 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
13869 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
13872 @item group-highlight
13873 Do highlights in the group buffer.
13874 @item summary-highlight
13875 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
13876 @item article-highlight
13877 Do highlights in the article buffer.
13879 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
13881 Create menus in the group buffer.
13883 Create menus in the summary buffers.
13885 Create menus in the article buffer.
13887 Create menus in the browse buffer.
13889 Create menus in the server buffer.
13891 Create menus in the score buffers.
13893 Create menus in all buffers.
13896 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
13897 buffers, you could say something like:
13900 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
13903 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
13906 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
13909 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
13910 in all Gnus buffers.
13912 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
13915 @item gnus-mouse-face
13916 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
13917 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
13918 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
13922 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
13926 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
13927 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
13928 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
13930 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
13931 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
13932 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
13934 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
13935 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
13936 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
13938 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
13939 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
13940 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
13942 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
13943 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
13944 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
13946 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
13947 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
13948 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
13959 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
13960 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
13961 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
13962 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
13963 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
13967 @vindex gnus-carpal
13968 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
13969 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
13970 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
13975 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
13976 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
13977 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
13979 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
13980 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
13981 Face used on buttons.
13983 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
13984 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
13985 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
13987 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
13988 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
13989 Buttons in the group buffer.
13991 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
13992 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
13993 Buttons in the summary buffer.
13995 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
13996 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
13997 Buttons in the server buffer.
13999 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
14000 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
14001 Buttons in the browse buffer.
14004 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
14005 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
14006 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
14014 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
14015 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
14016 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
14017 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
14018 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
14020 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
14021 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
14022 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
14024 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
14025 been idle for thirty minutes:
14028 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
14031 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
14035 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
14038 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
14039 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
14040 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
14042 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
14043 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
14044 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
14045 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
14047 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
14048 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
14049 @var{idle} minutes.
14051 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
14052 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
14055 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
14056 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
14057 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
14059 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
14060 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
14061 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
14062 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
14064 @vindex gnus-use-demon
14065 To set the whole thing in motion, though, you have to set
14066 @code{gnus-use-demon} to @code{t}.
14068 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
14069 your @file{.gnus} file:
14071 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
14073 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
14076 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
14077 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
14078 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
14079 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
14080 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
14081 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
14082 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
14083 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
14084 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
14085 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
14086 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
14088 @findex gnus-demon-init
14089 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
14090 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
14091 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
14092 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
14093 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
14095 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you overdo it. Adding
14096 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
14097 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
14106 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
14107 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
14109 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
14110 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
14111 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
14112 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
14115 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
14116 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
14117 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
14118 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
14120 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
14121 this will make spam disappear.
14123 There are some variables to customize, of course:
14126 @item gnus-use-nocem
14127 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
14128 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
14131 @item gnus-nocem-groups
14132 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
14133 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
14134 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
14135 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
14137 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
14138 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
14139 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
14140 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
14141 "rbraver@@ohww.norman.ok.us" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
14142 "jem@@xpat.com" "snowhare@@xmission.com" "red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us
14143 (Richard E. Depew)")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
14145 Known despammers that you can put in this list include:
14148 @item clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;
14149 @cindex Chris Lewis
14150 Chris Lewis---Major Canadian despammer who has probably canceled more
14151 usenet abuse than anybody else.
14154 @cindex CancelMoose[tm]
14155 The CancelMoose[tm] on autopilot. The CancelMoose[tm] is reputed to be
14156 Norwegian, and was the person(s) who invented NoCeM.
14158 @item jem@@xpat.com;
14160 John Milburn---despammer located in Korea who is getting very busy these
14163 @item red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)
14164 Richard E. Depew---lone American despammer. He mostly cancels binary
14165 postings to non-binary groups and removes spews (regurgitated articles).
14168 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
14169 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
14170 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
14171 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
14172 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
14173 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
14174 @var{(issuer conditions ...)} elements in the list. Each condition is
14175 either a string (which is a regexp that matches types you want to use)
14176 or a list on the form @code{(not STRING)}, where @var{string} is a
14177 regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
14179 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
14180 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
14183 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
14186 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
14187 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
14190 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
14193 The specs are applied left-to-right.
14196 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
14197 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
14199 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
14200 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
14201 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
14202 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
14204 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
14205 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
14208 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
14210 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
14218 This might be dangerous, though.
14220 @item gnus-nocem-directory
14221 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
14222 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
14223 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
14225 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
14226 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
14227 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
14228 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
14229 might then see old spam.
14233 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
14234 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
14235 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
14236 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
14243 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
14244 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
14245 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
14247 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
14248 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
14249 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
14250 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
14251 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
14252 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
14253 @code{undo} function.
14255 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
14256 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
14257 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
14258 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
14259 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
14260 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
14261 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
14262 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
14263 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
14264 never be totally undoable.
14266 @findex gnus-undo-mode
14267 @vindex gnus-use-undo
14269 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
14270 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
14271 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo} command
14272 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
14277 @section Moderation
14280 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
14281 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
14282 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
14285 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
14289 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
14292 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
14294 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
14299 You split your incoming mail by matching on
14300 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
14301 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
14304 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
14305 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
14308 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
14309 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
14313 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
14316 (setq gnus-moderated-list
14317 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
14321 @node XEmacs Enhancements
14322 @section XEmacs Enhancements
14325 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
14329 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
14330 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
14331 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
14332 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
14345 So... You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
14346 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
14347 over your shoulder as you read news.
14350 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
14351 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
14352 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
14353 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
14354 * Picon Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
14359 @subsubsection Picon Basics
14361 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
14370 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
14371 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
14372 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
14373 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
14374 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
14375 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
14376 @code{GIF} formats.
14379 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases, point
14380 your Web browser at
14381 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
14383 @vindex gnus-picons-database
14384 Gnus expects picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
14385 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
14388 @node Picon Requirements
14389 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
14391 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
14392 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
14395 Additionally, you must have @code{xpm} support compiled into XEmacs.
14397 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
14398 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you must have
14399 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
14400 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
14404 @subsubsection Easy Picons
14406 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
14407 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
14410 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
14411 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
14412 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-prepare-hook 'gnus-group-display-picons t)
14413 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-picons-article-display-x-face)
14418 @subsubsection Hard Picons
14426 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
14427 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
14428 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
14429 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
14430 feature, you need to first decide where to display them.
14434 @item gnus-picons-display-where
14435 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
14436 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
14437 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
14438 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
14439 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
14440 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
14441 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
14443 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
14444 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
14445 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
14450 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
14451 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
14453 Now that you've made that decision, you need to add the following
14454 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get
14455 displayed at the right time.
14457 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
14458 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
14460 @item gnus-article-display-picons
14461 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
14462 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
14463 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer. Should be added to the
14464 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
14466 @item gnus-group-display-picons
14467 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
14468 Displays picons representing the current group. This function should
14469 be added to the @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook} or to the
14470 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} if @code{gnus-picons-display-where}
14471 is set to @code{article}.
14473 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
14474 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
14475 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present. This function
14476 should be added to @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
14480 Note: You must append them to the hook, so make sure to specify 't'
14481 for the append flag of @code{add-hook}:
14484 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
14488 @node Picon Configuration
14489 @subsubsection Picon Configuration
14497 The following variables offer further control over how things are
14498 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
14499 don't need to worry about.
14502 @item gnus-picons-database
14503 @vindex gnus-picons-database
14504 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
14505 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
14506 subdirectories. Defaults to @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
14508 @item gnus-picons-news-directory
14509 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directory
14510 Sub-directory of the faces database containing the icons for
14513 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
14514 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
14515 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
14516 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
14518 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
14519 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
14520 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
14521 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
14522 want to add @samp{unknown} to this list.
14524 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
14525 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
14526 The command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
14527 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
14528 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
14529 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
14531 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
14532 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
14533 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
14534 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
14542 @item gnus-picons-buffer
14543 @vindex gnus-picons-buffer
14544 The name of the buffer that @code{picons} points to. Defaults to
14545 @samp{*Icon Buffer*}.
14550 @subsection Smileys
14555 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/BigFace.ps,height=20cm}}
14560 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
14561 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
14563 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
14564 @file{.gnus.el} file:
14567 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-smiley-display t)
14570 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
14571 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
14572 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
14573 text and maps that to file names.
14575 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
14576 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
14577 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
14578 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
14579 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
14580 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
14582 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
14583 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
14585 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
14586 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
14587 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
14589 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
14590 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
14594 @item smiley-data-directory
14595 @vindex smiley-data-directory
14596 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
14598 @item smiley-flesh-color
14599 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
14600 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
14602 @item smiley-features-color
14603 @vindex smiley-features-color
14604 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
14606 @item smiley-tongue-color
14607 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
14608 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
14610 @item smiley-circle-color
14611 @vindex smiley-circle-color
14612 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
14614 @item smiley-mouse-face
14615 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
14616 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
14622 @subsection Toolbar
14632 @item gnus-use-toolbar
14633 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
14634 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
14635 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
14636 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
14638 @item gnus-group-toolbar
14639 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
14640 The toolbar in the group buffer.
14642 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
14643 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
14644 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
14646 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
14647 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
14648 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
14654 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
14657 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
14658 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
14659 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
14660 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
14661 unusual directory structure.
14663 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
14664 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
14665 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
14666 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
14668 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
14669 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
14670 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
14671 Legal values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
14672 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
14673 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
14675 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
14676 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
14677 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
14691 @node Fuzzy Matching
14692 @section Fuzzy Matching
14693 @cindex fuzzy matching
14695 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
14696 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
14698 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
14699 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
14700 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
14702 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
14703 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
14704 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
14705 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
14706 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
14709 @node Thwarting Email Spam
14710 @section Thwarting Email Spam
14714 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
14716 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
14717 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
14718 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
14719 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
14720 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
14721 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
14722 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
14723 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
14726 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
14727 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
14728 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
14729 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
14730 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrouos hair on your toes!'')
14731 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
14735 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
14736 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
14738 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
14739 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
14740 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
14741 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
14742 sysadm whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
14743 part of the mail address.)
14746 (setq message-default-news-headers
14747 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
14750 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
14751 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
14756 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
14757 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
14758 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
14764 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
14765 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
14766 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
14767 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
14769 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
14770 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
14771 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
14772 twarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
14773 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
14774 your fancy split rule in this way:
14779 (to "larsi" "misc")
14783 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
14784 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
14785 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
14786 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
14787 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
14789 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
14790 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, availiable FOR FREE
14791 at @file{<URL:http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html>}.
14792 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
14793 cosmic balance somewhat.
14795 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
14796 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
14797 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
14798 to non-existant domains is yucky, in my opinion.
14801 @node Various Various
14802 @section Various Various
14808 @item gnus-home-directory
14809 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
14810 defaults to @file{~/}.
14812 @item gnus-directory
14813 @vindex gnus-directory
14814 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
14815 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
14816 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
14818 @item gnus-default-directory
14819 @vindex gnus-default-directory
14820 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
14821 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
14822 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
14823 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
14824 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
14825 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
14828 @vindex gnus-verbose
14829 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
14830 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
14831 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
14832 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
14833 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
14835 @item gnus-verbose-backends
14836 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
14837 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
14838 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
14840 @item nnheader-max-head-length
14841 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
14842 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
14843 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
14844 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
14845 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
14846 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
14847 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
14848 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
14849 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
14851 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
14852 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
14853 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
14854 read when doing the operation described above.
14856 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
14857 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
14859 @cindex invalid characters in file names
14860 @cindex characters in file names
14861 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
14862 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
14863 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
14866 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
14870 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
14871 Windows (phooey) systems.
14873 @item gnus-hidden-properties
14874 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
14875 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
14876 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
14877 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
14879 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
14880 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
14881 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
14882 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
14883 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
14885 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
14886 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
14887 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
14896 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
14897 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
14899 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
14901 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
14907 Not because of victories @*
14910 but for the common sunshine,@*
14912 the largess of the spring.
14916 but for the day's work done@*
14917 as well as I was able;@*
14918 not for a seat upon the dais@*
14919 but at the common table.@*
14924 @chapter Appendices
14927 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
14928 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
14929 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
14930 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
14931 * A Programmers Guide to Gnus:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
14932 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
14933 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
14941 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
14942 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
14944 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage, you
14945 can point your (feh!) web browser to
14946 @file{http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/}. This is also the primary
14947 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is known
14948 as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
14950 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
14951 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
14952 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
14953 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
14954 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
14955 appropriate name, don't you think?)
14957 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
14958 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
14959 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
14960 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
14962 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
14963 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
14964 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
14966 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
14967 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
14969 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
14970 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4''.
14972 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
14973 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'' --
14974 don't panic. Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away.
14975 Slowly. Whatever you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're
14976 out of its reach. Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up
14980 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
14981 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
14982 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
14983 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
14984 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
14985 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
14986 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
14993 What's the point of Gnus?
14995 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
14996 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
14997 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
14998 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
14999 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
15000 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
15001 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
15002 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
15003 keep track of millions of people who post?
15005 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
15006 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
15007 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
15008 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
15009 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
15010 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
15011 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
15012 every one of you to explore and invent.
15014 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
15015 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
15018 @node Compatibility
15019 @subsection Compatibility
15021 @cindex compatibility
15022 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
15023 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
15024 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
15029 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
15033 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
15036 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
15039 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
15040 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
15041 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
15042 important variables have their values copied into their global
15043 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
15044 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
15046 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
15047 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
15048 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
15049 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
15050 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
15054 @cindex highlighting
15055 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
15056 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
15057 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
15058 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
15059 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
15060 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
15063 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
15064 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
15065 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
15066 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
15068 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
15069 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
15070 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
15071 to stop doing it the old way.
15073 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
15075 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
15077 @cindex reporting bugs
15079 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
15080 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
15081 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
15085 @subsection Conformity
15087 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
15088 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
15095 There are no known breaches of this standard.
15099 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
15101 @item Good Net-Keeping Seal of Approval
15102 @cindex Good Net-Keeping Seal of Approval
15103 Gnus has been through the Seal process and failed. I think it'll pass
15104 the next inspection.
15106 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
15107 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
15108 We do have some breaches to this one.
15113 Gnus does no MIME handling, and this standard-to-be seems to think that
15114 MIME is the bees' knees, so we have major breakage here.
15117 This is considered to be a ``vanity header'', while I consider it to be
15118 consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted articles
15119 coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use either of
15120 those for posting articles. I would not have known that if it wasn't
15121 for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
15126 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
15127 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
15132 @subsection Emacsen
15138 Gnus should work on :
15143 Emacs 19.32 and up.
15146 XEmacs 19.14 and up.
15149 Mule versions based on Emacs 19.32 and up.
15153 Gnus will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than that. Not
15154 reliably, at least.
15156 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
15157 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
15158 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
15163 @subsection Contributors
15164 @cindex contributors
15166 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
15167 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
15168 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
15169 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
15170 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
15171 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
15172 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
15173 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
15174 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
15175 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
15177 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
15183 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
15186 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
15187 well as numerous other things).
15190 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
15193 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
15196 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
15197 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
15200 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
15203 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
15204 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
15207 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
15210 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
15213 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
15216 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
15219 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinsky---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
15220 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
15223 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
15226 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
15229 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
15232 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
15236 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
15239 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
15242 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
15245 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports.
15249 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
15250 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
15252 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
15261 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
15265 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
15283 Massimo Campostrini,
15288 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
15293 Michael Welsh Duggan,
15295 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
15299 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
15304 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
15306 Michelangelo Grigni,
15309 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
15311 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
15315 François Felix Ingrand,
15316 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
15324 Peter Skov Knudsen,
15325 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
15326 Thor Kristoffersen,
15328 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
15342 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
15343 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
15349 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
15354 John McClary Prevost,
15356 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
15364 Philippe Schnoebelen,
15365 Randal L. Schwartz,
15391 Katsumi Yamaoka. @c Yamaoka
15393 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
15394 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
15395 (550kB and counting).
15397 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
15400 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
15401 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
15405 @subsection New Features
15406 @cindex new features
15409 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
15410 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.3/5.3.
15411 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
15414 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
15415 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
15416 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
15420 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
15422 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
15427 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
15428 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
15431 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
15432 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
15435 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
15438 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
15439 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
15440 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
15443 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
15444 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
15445 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
15446 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
15449 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
15450 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
15453 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
15454 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
15455 (@pxref{The Active File}).
15458 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
15459 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
15462 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
15463 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
15464 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
15467 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
15468 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
15469 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
15472 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
15473 the @file{.emacs} file.
15476 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
15477 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15480 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
15481 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
15484 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
15485 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
15488 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
15489 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
15492 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
15493 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
15496 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
15499 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
15500 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
15503 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
15504 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
15507 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
15508 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
15511 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
15514 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
15515 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
15518 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
15522 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
15526 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
15527 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
15530 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
15536 @node September Gnus
15537 @subsubsection September Gnus
15541 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/september.ps,height=20cm}}
15545 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
15550 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
15551 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
15555 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
15556 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
15560 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
15564 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
15565 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
15568 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
15572 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
15575 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
15578 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
15581 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
15585 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
15586 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
15589 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
15593 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
15597 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
15601 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
15605 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
15608 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
15609 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
15612 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
15616 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
15617 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
15620 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
15623 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
15624 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
15625 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
15628 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
15632 The Gnus cache is much faster.
15635 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
15639 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
15640 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
15643 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
15644 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
15647 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
15648 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
15651 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
15652 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
15653 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
15656 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
15657 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
15660 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
15663 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
15666 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
15667 'gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head)
15671 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
15674 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
15677 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
15678 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
15681 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
15685 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
15688 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}}
15693 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
15696 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
15700 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
15703 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
15707 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
15710 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
15713 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
15714 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
15717 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
15718 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
15722 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
15723 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
15726 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
15730 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
15731 buffer to allow easier treatment.
15734 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
15737 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
15741 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
15745 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
15746 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
15749 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
15753 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
15754 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
15757 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
15758 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
15761 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
15765 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
15768 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
15769 'gnus-article-hide-boring-headers t)
15773 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
15776 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
15782 @subsubsection Red Gnus
15784 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
15788 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/red.ps,height=20cm}}
15795 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
15798 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
15799 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
15802 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
15803 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
15807 Article washing status can be displayed in the
15808 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
15811 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
15814 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
15815 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
15818 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
15822 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
15823 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
15827 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
15828 Server Internals}).
15831 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
15835 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
15838 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
15839 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
15842 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
15843 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
15844 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
15847 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
15848 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
15851 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
15852 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
15855 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
15859 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
15860 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
15863 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
15864 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
15867 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
15871 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
15874 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
15878 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
15879 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
15882 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
15883 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
15886 A new command for reading collections of documents
15887 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
15888 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
15891 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
15895 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the NNTP
15896 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
15899 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
15900 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
15901 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
15904 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
15905 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
15909 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
15913 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
15917 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}}
15922 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
15926 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
15930 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
15931 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
15934 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
15937 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-emphasize)
15943 @node Newest Features
15944 @subsection Newest Features
15947 Also known as the @dfn{todo list}. Sure to be implemented before the
15950 Be afraid. Be very afraid.
15954 Native @sc{mime} support is something that should be done.
15956 Really do unbinhexing.
15959 And much, much, much more. There is more to come than has already been
15960 implemented. (But that's always true, isn't it?)
15962 @file{<URL:http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/rgnus/todo>} is where the actual
15963 up-to-the-second todo list is located, so if you're really curious, you
15964 could point your Web browser over that-a-way.
15970 @section The Manual
15974 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
15975 either @code{texi2dvi}
15977 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
15978 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
15980 to get what you hold in your hands now.
15982 The following conventions have been used:
15987 This is a @samp{string}
15990 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
15993 This is a @file{file}
15996 This is a @code{symbol}
16000 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
16004 (setq flargnoze "yes")
16007 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
16010 (setq flumphel 'yes)
16013 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
16014 ever get them confused.
16018 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
16019 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
16020 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
16021 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
16022 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
16023 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
16024 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
16032 @section Terminology
16034 @cindex terminology
16039 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
16040 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
16041 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
16042 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
16043 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
16047 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
16048 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
16049 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
16050 not posting, and replying is not following up.
16054 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
16058 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
16063 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
16064 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
16065 is all done by the backends.
16069 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
16070 default, way of getting news.
16074 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
16075 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
16080 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
16081 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
16085 A message that has been posted as news.
16088 @cindex mail message
16089 A message that has been mailed.
16093 A mail message or news article
16097 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
16102 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
16107 A line from the head of an article.
16111 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
16112 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
16116 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
16117 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
16118 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
16119 normal @sc{head} format.
16123 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
16124 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
16125 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
16126 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
16127 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
16128 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
16130 @item killed groups
16131 @cindex killed groups
16132 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
16133 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
16135 @item zombie groups
16136 @cindex zombie groups
16137 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
16140 @cindex active file
16141 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
16142 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
16143 is rather large, as you might surmise.
16146 @cindex bogus groups
16147 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
16148 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
16149 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
16153 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
16155 @item select method
16156 @cindex select method
16157 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
16160 @item virtual server
16161 @cindex virtual server
16162 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
16163 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
16164 whole is a virtual server.
16168 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
16169 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
16172 @item ephemeral groups
16173 @cindex ephemeral groups
16174 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
16175 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
16176 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
16179 @cindex solid groups
16180 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
16181 group buffer are solid groups.
16183 @item sparse articles
16184 @cindex sparse articles
16185 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
16186 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
16190 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
16191 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
16195 @cindex thread root
16196 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
16197 articles in the thread.
16201 An article that has responses.
16205 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
16209 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
16210 specified by RFC1153.
16216 @node Customization
16217 @section Customization
16218 @cindex general customization
16220 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
16221 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
16222 for some quite common situations.
16225 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
16226 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
16227 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
16228 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
16232 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
16233 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
16235 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
16236 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
16237 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
16241 @item gnus-read-active-file
16242 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
16243 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
16244 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
16245 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
16246 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
16248 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
16249 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
16250 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
16251 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
16255 @node Slow Terminal Connection
16256 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
16258 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
16259 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
16260 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
16264 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
16265 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
16266 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
16267 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
16268 horizontal and vertical recentering.
16270 @item gnus-visible-headers
16271 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
16272 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
16273 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
16274 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
16276 @item gnus-article-display-hook
16277 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
16279 (setq gnus-article-display-hook
16280 '(gnus-article-hide-headers gnus-article-hide-signature
16281 gnus-article-hide-citation))
16284 @item gnus-use-full-window
16285 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
16286 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
16287 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
16288 want to read them anyway.
16290 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
16291 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
16294 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
16295 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
16296 lines, which might save some time.
16300 @node Little Disk Space
16301 @subsection Little Disk Space
16304 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
16305 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
16309 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
16310 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
16311 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
16312 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
16315 @item gnus-save-killed-list
16316 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
16317 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
16318 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
16319 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
16325 @subsection Slow Machine
16326 @cindex slow machine
16328 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
16329 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
16331 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
16332 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
16334 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
16335 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
16336 summary buffer faster.
16338 Set @code{gnus-article-display-hook} to @code{nil} to make article
16339 processing a bit faster.
16343 @node Troubleshooting
16344 @section Troubleshooting
16345 @cindex troubleshooting
16347 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
16355 Make sure your computer is switched on.
16358 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
16359 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
16363 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
16364 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
16365 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
16366 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
16369 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
16373 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
16374 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
16375 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
16376 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
16377 something like that.
16380 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
16383 @cindex reporting bugs
16385 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
16387 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
16388 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
16389 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
16390 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
16392 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
16393 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
16394 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
16395 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
16398 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
16399 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
16400 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
16401 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
16402 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
16403 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
16405 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
16406 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
16407 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
16410 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
16411 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
16413 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
16414 @cindex ding mailing list
16415 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
16416 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
16420 @node A Programmers Guide to Gnus
16421 @section A Programmer@'s Guide to Gnus
16423 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
16424 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
16425 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
16426 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
16429 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
16430 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
16431 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
16432 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
16433 and general methods of operation.
16436 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
16437 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
16438 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
16439 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
16440 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
16441 * Group Info:: The group info format.
16442 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
16443 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
16444 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
16448 @node Gnus Utility Functions
16449 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
16450 @cindex Gnus utility functions
16451 @cindex utility functions
16453 @cindex internal variables
16455 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
16456 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
16457 Below is a list of the most common ones.
16461 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
16462 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
16463 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
16465 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
16466 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
16467 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
16469 @item gnus-group-real-name
16470 @findex gnus-group-real-name
16471 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
16474 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
16475 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
16476 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
16477 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
16479 @item gnus-get-info
16480 @findex gnus-get-info
16481 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
16483 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
16484 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
16485 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
16488 @item gnus-continuum-version
16489 @findex gnus-continuum-version
16490 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
16491 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
16494 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
16495 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
16496 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
16498 @item gnus-news-group-p
16499 @findex gnus-news-group-p
16500 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
16502 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
16503 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
16504 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
16506 @item gnus-server-to-method
16507 @findex gnus-server-to-method
16508 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
16510 @item gnus-server-equal
16511 @findex gnus-server-equal
16512 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
16514 @item gnus-group-native-p
16515 @findex gnus-group-native-p
16516 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
16518 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
16519 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
16520 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
16522 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
16523 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
16524 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
16526 @item group-group-find-parameter
16527 @findex group-group-find-parameter
16528 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
16529 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
16531 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
16532 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
16533 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
16535 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
16536 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
16537 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
16539 @item gnus-check-backend-function
16540 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
16541 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
16542 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
16545 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
16549 @item gnus-read-method
16550 @findex gnus-read-method
16551 Prompts the user for a select method.
16556 @node Backend Interface
16557 @subsection Backend Interface
16559 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
16560 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
16561 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
16562 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
16563 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
16564 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
16566 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
16567 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
16568 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
16569 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
16570 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
16571 been opened, the function should fail.
16573 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
16574 name. Take this example:
16578 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
16579 (nntp-port-number 4324))
16582 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
16583 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
16585 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
16586 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
16587 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
16589 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
16590 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
16591 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
16593 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
16594 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
16595 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
16596 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
16597 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
16598 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
16601 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
16602 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
16603 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
16604 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
16607 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
16610 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
16613 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
16614 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
16615 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
16616 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
16617 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
16618 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
16622 @node Required Backend Functions
16623 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
16627 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
16629 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
16630 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
16631 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
16632 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
16634 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
16635 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
16636 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
16637 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
16639 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
16640 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
16641 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
16642 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
16643 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
16644 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
16645 number, do maximum fetches.
16647 Here's an example HEAD:
16650 221 1056 Article retrieved.
16651 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
16652 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
16653 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
16654 Subject: Re: Something very droll
16655 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
16656 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
16658 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
16659 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
16660 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
16664 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
16665 these in the data buffer.
16667 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
16671 head = error / valid-head
16672 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
16673 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
16674 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
16675 header = <text> eol
16678 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
16679 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
16683 nov-buffer = *nov-line
16684 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
16685 field = <text except TAB>
16688 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
16692 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
16694 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
16695 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
16697 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
16698 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
16699 server. In fact, it should do so.
16701 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
16702 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
16705 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
16707 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
16708 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
16711 There should be no data returned.
16714 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
16716 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
16717 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
16718 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
16719 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
16721 There should be no data returned.
16724 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
16726 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
16727 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
16728 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
16729 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
16731 There should be no data returned.
16734 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
16736 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
16738 There should be no data returned.
16741 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
16743 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
16744 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
16745 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
16746 it would be nice if that were possible.
16748 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
16749 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
16750 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
16751 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
16752 into its article buffer.
16754 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
16755 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
16756 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
16757 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
16758 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
16759 on successful article retrieval.
16762 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
16764 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
16765 making @var{group} the current group.
16767 If @var{FAST}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
16770 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
16773 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
16776 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
16777 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
16778 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
16779 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
16780 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
16781 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
16782 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
16783 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
16786 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
16787 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
16788 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
16792 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
16794 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
16795 a no-op on most backends.
16797 There should be no data returned.
16800 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
16802 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
16805 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
16808 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
16809 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
16812 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
16813 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
16816 active-file = *active-line
16817 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
16819 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
16822 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
16823 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
16824 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
16827 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
16829 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
16830 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
16831 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
16832 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
16833 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
16834 clear if the posting could not be completed.
16836 There should be no result data from this function.
16841 @node Optional Backend Functions
16842 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
16846 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
16848 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
16849 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
16850 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
16852 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
16853 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
16854 former is in the same format as the data from
16855 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
16856 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
16859 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
16863 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
16865 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
16866 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
16867 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
16868 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
16869 should return the (altered) group info.
16871 There should be no result data from this function.
16874 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
16876 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
16877 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
16878 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
16879 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
16880 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
16881 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
16882 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
16883 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
16885 There should be no result data from this function.
16888 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
16890 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
16891 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
16892 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
16893 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
16894 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
16896 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
16897 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
16898 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
16901 There should be no result data from this function.
16904 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
16906 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
16907 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
16908 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
16909 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
16910 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
16911 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
16912 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
16914 There should be no result data from this function.
16917 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
16919 The result data from this function should be a description of
16923 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
16925 description = <text>
16928 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
16930 The result data from this function should be the description of all
16931 groups available on the server.
16934 description-buffer = *description-line
16938 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
16940 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
16941 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
16942 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
16945 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
16947 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
16949 There should be no return data.
16952 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
16954 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
16955 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
16956 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
16957 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
16958 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
16961 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
16964 There should be no result data returned.
16967 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
16970 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
16971 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
16973 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
16974 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
16975 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
16976 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
16977 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
16978 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
16980 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
16981 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
16984 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
16985 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
16987 There should be no data returned.
16990 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
16992 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
16993 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
16994 this function in short order.
16996 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
16997 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
16999 There should be no data returned.
17002 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
17004 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
17005 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
17007 There should be no data returned.
17010 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
17012 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
17013 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
17014 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
17016 There should be no data returned.
17019 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
17021 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
17022 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
17024 There should be no data returned.
17029 @node Error Messaging
17030 @subsubsection Error Messaging
17032 @findex nnheader-report
17033 @findex nnheader-get-report
17034 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
17035 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
17036 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
17037 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
17038 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
17039 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
17042 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
17044 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
17047 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
17048 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
17049 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
17050 takes one argument---the server symbol.
17052 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
17053 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
17054 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
17057 @node Writing New Backends
17058 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
17060 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
17061 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
17062 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
17063 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
17064 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
17067 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
17068 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
17069 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
17071 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
17072 package called @code{nnoo}.
17074 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
17075 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
17081 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
17082 parameters. For instance:
17085 (nnoo-declare nndir
17089 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
17090 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
17093 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
17094 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
17095 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
17097 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
17098 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
17099 a function in those backends.
17102 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
17103 "Where nndir will look for groups."
17104 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
17107 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
17108 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
17109 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
17111 @item nnoo-define-basics
17112 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
17116 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
17120 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
17121 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
17122 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
17124 @item nnoo-map-functions
17125 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
17126 functions from the parent backends.
17129 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
17130 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
17131 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
17134 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
17135 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
17136 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
17137 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
17140 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
17141 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
17142 haven't already been defined.
17148 nnmh-request-newgroups)
17152 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
17153 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
17154 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
17159 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
17162 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
17163 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
17167 (require 'nnheader)
17171 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
17173 (nnoo-declare nndir
17176 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
17177 "Where nndir will look for groups."
17178 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
17180 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
17181 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
17184 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
17185 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
17186 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
17188 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
17189 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
17191 ;;; Interface functions.
17193 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
17195 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
17196 (setq nndir-directory
17197 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
17199 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
17200 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
17201 (push `(nndir-current-group
17202 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
17204 (push `(nndir-top-directory
17205 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
17207 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
17209 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
17210 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
17211 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
17212 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
17213 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
17217 nnmh-status-message
17219 nnmh-request-newgroups))
17225 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
17226 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
17228 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
17229 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
17230 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
17231 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
17233 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
17234 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
17239 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
17242 The abilities can be:
17246 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
17248 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
17250 This backend supports both mail and news.
17252 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
17255 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
17256 articles and groups.
17258 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
17259 true for almost all backends.
17260 @item prompt-address
17261 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
17262 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
17263 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
17267 @node Mail-like Backends
17268 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
17270 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
17271 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
17272 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
17273 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
17276 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
17277 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
17278 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
17281 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
17282 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
17285 This function takes four parameters.
17289 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
17292 @item exit-function
17293 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
17295 @item temp-directory
17296 Where the temporary files should be stored.
17299 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
17300 performed for one group only.
17303 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
17304 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
17305 find the article number assigned to this article.
17307 The function also uses the following variables:
17308 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
17309 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
17310 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
17311 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
17315 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
17316 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
17320 @node Score File Syntax
17321 @subsection Score File Syntax
17323 Score files are meant to be easily parsable, but yet extremely
17324 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
17325 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
17327 Here's a typical score file:
17331 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
17338 BNF definition of a score file:
17341 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
17342 element = rule / atom
17343 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
17344 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
17345 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
17346 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
17348 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
17349 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
17350 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
17351 date-header = "date"
17352 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
17353 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
17354 score = "nil" / <integer>
17355 date = "nil" / <natural number>
17356 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
17357 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
17358 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
17359 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
17360 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
17361 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
17362 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
17363 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
17364 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
17365 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
17366 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
17367 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
17368 exclude-files / read-only / touched
17369 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
17370 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
17371 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
17372 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
17373 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
17374 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
17375 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
17376 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
17377 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
17378 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
17379 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
17380 eval = "eval" space <form>
17381 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
17384 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
17387 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
17388 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
17389 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
17390 one looong line, then that's ok.
17392 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
17393 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
17397 @subsection Headers
17399 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
17400 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
17401 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
17402 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
17404 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
17405 RFC1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
17406 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
17407 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
17408 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
17409 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
17410 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
17412 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
17413 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
17414 @code{xref}. There are macros for accessing and setting these
17415 slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
17416 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
17418 The @code{xref} slot is really a @code{misc} slot. Any extra info will
17425 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
17426 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
17428 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
17429 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
17430 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
17431 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
17433 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
17437 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
17440 is transformed into
17443 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
17446 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
17447 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
17450 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
17453 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
17454 is slightly tricky:
17457 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
17463 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
17466 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
17472 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
17479 and is equal to the previous range.
17481 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
17482 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
17483 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
17487 range = simple-range / normal-range
17488 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
17489 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
17490 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
17491 number *[ " " contents ]
17494 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
17495 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
17496 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
17497 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
17498 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
17503 @subsection Group Info
17505 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
17506 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
17507 describes the group.
17509 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
17510 second is a more complex one:
17513 ("no.group" 5 (1 . 54324))
17515 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
17516 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
17518 (auto-expire (to-address "ding@@gnus.org")))
17521 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
17522 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
17523 normally is a small integer. The third element is a list of ranges of
17524 read articles. The fourth element is a list of lists of article marks
17525 of various kinds. The fifth element is the select method (or virtual
17526 server, if you like). The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group
17527 parameters}, which is what this section is about.
17529 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
17530 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
17531 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
17533 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
17536 info = "(" group space level space read
17537 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
17538 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
17539 group = quote <string> quote
17540 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
17542 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
17543 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
17544 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
17545 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
17548 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
17549 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
17552 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
17553 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
17556 @item gnus-info-group
17557 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
17558 @findex gnus-info-group
17559 @findex gnus-info-set-group
17560 Get/set the group name.
17562 @item gnus-info-rank
17563 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
17564 @findex gnus-info-rank
17565 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
17566 Get/set the group rank.
17568 @item gnus-info-level
17569 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
17570 @findex gnus-info-level
17571 @findex gnus-info-set-level
17572 Get/set the group level.
17574 @item gnus-info-score
17575 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
17576 @findex gnus-info-score
17577 @findex gnus-info-set-score
17578 Get/set the group score.
17580 @item gnus-info-read
17581 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
17582 @findex gnus-info-read
17583 @findex gnus-info-set-read
17584 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
17586 @item gnus-info-marks
17587 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
17588 @findex gnus-info-marks
17589 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
17590 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
17592 @item gnus-info-method
17593 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
17594 @findex gnus-info-method
17595 @findex gnus-info-set-method
17596 Get/set the group select method.
17598 @item gnus-info-params
17599 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
17600 @findex gnus-info-params
17601 @findex gnus-info-set-params
17602 Get/set the group parameters.
17605 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
17606 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
17608 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
17609 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
17610 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
17611 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
17614 @node Extended Interactive
17615 @subsection Extended Interactive
17616 @cindex interactive
17617 @findex gnus-interactive
17619 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
17620 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
17621 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
17624 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
17625 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
17630 The best thing to do would have been to implement
17631 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
17632 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
17633 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
17634 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
17635 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
17636 @code{interactive}.
17638 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
17643 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
17644 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
17648 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
17649 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
17650 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
17653 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
17657 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
17661 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
17667 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
17668 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
17672 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
17673 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
17674 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
17676 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
17677 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
17678 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
17679 Gnus, that's very useful.
17681 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
17682 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
17683 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
17684 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
17685 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
17686 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
17687 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
17688 following function:
17691 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
17695 (,function ,@@args))
17699 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
17700 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
17701 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
17704 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
17705 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
17706 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
17708 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
17709 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
17710 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
17713 @node Various File Formats
17714 @subsection Various File Formats
17717 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
17718 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
17722 @node Active File Format
17723 @subsubsection Active File Format
17725 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
17726 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
17729 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
17732 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
17733 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
17734 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
17735 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
17736 no.general 1000 900 y
17739 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
17742 active = *group-line
17743 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
17744 group = <non-white-space string>
17746 high-number = <non-negative integer>
17747 low-number = <positive integer>
17748 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
17751 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
17752 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
17755 @node Newsgroups File Format
17756 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
17758 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
17759 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
17760 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
17763 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
17764 Here's the definition:
17768 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
17769 group = <non-white-space string>
17771 description = <string>
17776 @node Emacs for Heathens
17777 @section Emacs for Heathens
17779 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
17780 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
17781 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
17782 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
17783 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
17784 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
17785 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
17789 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
17790 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
17795 @subsection Keystrokes
17799 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
17802 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
17805 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
17806 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
17807 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
17808 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
17809 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
17810 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
17812 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
17813 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
17814 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
17815 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
17816 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
17817 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
17818 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
17820 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
17821 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
17822 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
17823 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
17824 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
17825 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
17826 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
17828 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
17829 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
17830 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
17831 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
17832 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
17838 @subsection Emacs Lisp
17840 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
17841 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
17842 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
17843 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
17845 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
17846 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
17847 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
17848 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
17849 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
17850 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
17851 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
17854 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
17855 write the following:
17858 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
17861 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
17862 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
17863 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
17866 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
17867 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
17868 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
17869 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
17870 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
17872 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
17873 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
17874 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
17878 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
17882 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
17885 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
17886 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
17889 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
17892 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
17893 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
17896 @include gnus-faq.texi