4 @settitle T-gnus 6.15 Manual
10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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284 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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293 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
295 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
298 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
299 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
300 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
301 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
302 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
303 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
304 License'' in the Emacs manual.
306 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
307 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
308 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
310 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
311 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
312 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
313 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
321 This file documents gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
323 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
324 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
326 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
327 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
328 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
329 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
330 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
331 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
332 License'' in the Emacs manual.
334 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
335 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
336 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
338 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
339 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
340 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
341 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
347 @title T-gnus 6.15 Manual
349 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
352 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
353 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
355 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
357 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
358 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
359 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
360 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
361 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
362 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
363 License'' in the Emacs manual.
365 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
366 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
367 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
369 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
370 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
371 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
372 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
381 @top The gnus Newsreader
385 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using gnus. The news
386 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
387 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
390 T-gnus provides @sc{mime} features based on @sc{semi} API. So T-gnus
391 supports your right to read strange messages including big images or
392 other various kinds of formats. T-gnus also supports
393 internationalization/localization and multiscript features based on MULE
394 API. So T-gnus does not discriminate various language communities.
395 Oh, if you are a Klingon, please wait Unicode Next Generation.
397 This manual corresponds to T-gnus 6.15.
408 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
409 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
411 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
412 being accused of plagiarism:
414 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
415 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
416 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
417 can even read news with it!
419 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
420 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
421 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend gnus to make it behave
422 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
423 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
429 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
430 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
431 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
432 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
433 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
434 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
435 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
436 * Various:: General purpose settings.
437 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
438 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
439 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
440 * Key Index:: Key Index.
442 Other related manuals
444 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
445 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; MIME-specific parts.
446 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
447 * PGG:(pgg). PGP/MIME with Gnus.
450 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
454 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
455 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
456 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
457 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
458 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
459 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
460 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
461 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
462 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
463 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
464 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
468 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
469 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
470 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
474 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
475 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
476 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
477 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
478 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
479 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
480 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
481 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
482 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
483 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
484 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
485 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
486 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
487 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
488 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
489 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
490 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
494 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
495 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
496 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
500 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
501 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
502 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
503 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
504 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
508 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
509 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
510 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
511 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
512 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
516 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
517 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
518 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
519 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
520 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
521 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
522 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
523 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
524 * Threading:: How threads are made.
525 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
526 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
527 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
528 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
529 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
530 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
531 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
532 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
533 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
534 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
535 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
536 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
537 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
538 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
539 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
540 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
541 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
542 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
543 or reselecting the current group.
544 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
545 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
546 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
547 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
549 Summary Buffer Format
551 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
552 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
553 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
554 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
558 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
559 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
561 Reply, Followup and Post
563 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
564 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
565 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
566 * Canceling and Superseding::
570 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
571 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
572 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
574 * Generic Marking Commands::
575 * Setting Process Marks::
579 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
580 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
581 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
585 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
586 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
588 Customizing Threading
590 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
591 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
592 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
593 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
597 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
598 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
599 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
600 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
601 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
602 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
606 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
607 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
608 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
612 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
613 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
614 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
615 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
616 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
617 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
618 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
619 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
620 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
621 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
622 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
624 Alternative Approaches
626 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
627 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
629 Various Summary Stuff
631 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
632 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
633 * Summary Generation Commands::
634 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
638 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
639 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
640 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
641 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
642 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
646 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
647 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
648 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
649 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
650 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
651 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
652 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
653 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
657 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
658 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
659 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
660 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
661 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
662 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
663 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
664 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
668 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
669 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
670 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
671 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
672 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
673 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
674 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
678 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
679 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
683 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
684 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
685 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
689 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
690 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
691 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
692 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
693 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
694 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
695 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
696 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
697 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
698 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
699 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
700 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
701 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
705 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
706 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
707 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
709 Choosing a Mail Back End
711 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
712 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
713 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
714 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
715 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
716 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
717 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
722 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
723 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
724 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
725 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
726 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
727 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
731 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
732 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
733 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
734 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
735 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
739 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
740 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
741 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
742 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
743 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
747 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
751 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
752 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
753 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
757 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
758 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
762 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
763 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
764 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
765 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
766 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
767 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
768 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
769 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
770 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
771 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
772 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
773 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
777 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
778 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
779 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
783 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
784 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
785 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
789 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
790 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
791 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
792 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
793 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
794 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
795 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
796 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
797 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
798 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
799 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
800 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
801 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
802 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
803 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
804 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
805 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
809 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
810 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
811 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
812 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
816 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
817 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
818 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
822 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
823 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
824 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
825 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
826 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
827 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
828 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
829 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
830 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
831 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
832 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
833 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
834 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
835 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
836 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
837 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
838 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
839 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
840 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
844 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
845 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
846 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
847 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
848 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
849 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
850 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
851 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
855 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
856 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
857 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
858 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
862 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
863 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
864 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
865 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
866 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
867 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
871 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
872 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
873 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
874 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
875 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
876 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
877 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
878 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
879 * Frequently Asked Questions::
883 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
884 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
885 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
886 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
887 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
888 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
889 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
890 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
891 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
895 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
896 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
897 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
898 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
899 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
903 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
904 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
905 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
906 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
910 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
911 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
912 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
913 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
914 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
915 * Group Info:: The group info format.
916 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
917 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
918 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
922 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
923 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
924 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
925 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
926 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
927 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
931 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
932 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
936 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
937 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
943 @chapter Starting gnus
948 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting gnus
949 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
952 @findex gnus-other-frame
953 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
954 If you want to start gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
955 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
957 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
958 variables in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file. This file is similar to
959 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
961 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
962 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
965 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
966 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
967 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
968 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
969 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
970 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
971 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
972 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
973 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
974 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
975 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
979 @node Finding the News
980 @section Finding the News
983 @vindex gnus-select-method
985 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where gnus should look for
986 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
987 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
988 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
991 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
992 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
995 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
998 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
1001 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
1004 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1005 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1006 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1008 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1010 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
1011 If this variable is not set, gnus will take a look at the
1012 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1013 gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1014 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
1015 that fails as well, gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
1017 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1018 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1019 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1020 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1022 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1023 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1024 You can also make gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1025 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1026 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), gnus will let you choose between the servers
1027 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1028 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1029 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1030 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1033 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1035 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
1036 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1037 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1038 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1039 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1040 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1042 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1044 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1045 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1046 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1047 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1048 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1049 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1052 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1053 you would typically set this variable to
1056 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1060 @node The First Time
1061 @section The First Time
1062 @cindex first time usage
1064 If no startup files exist, gnus will try to determine what groups should
1065 be subscribed by default.
1067 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1068 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, gnus
1069 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1070 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1073 Since she hasn't, gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1074 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1075 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1077 You'll also be subscribed to the gnus documentation group, which should
1078 help you with most common problems.
1080 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, gnus will just
1081 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1085 @node The Server is Down
1086 @section The Server is Down
1087 @cindex server errors
1089 If the default server is down, gnus will understandably have some
1090 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1091 the news groups, you may want to start gnus anyway.
1093 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1094 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1095 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1096 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1097 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1098 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1099 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1101 @findex gnus-no-server
1102 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1104 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1105 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1106 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start gnus. That might come in handy
1107 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1108 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1109 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1110 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1114 @section Slave Gnusae
1117 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one gnus at the
1118 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1119 are using the two different gnusae to read from two different servers),
1120 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1122 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1123 @file{.newsrc} file.
1125 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the gnus
1126 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1127 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1128 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1129 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1130 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1131 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1134 Anyway, you start one gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1135 however you do it). Each subsequent slave gnusae should be started with
1136 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1137 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1138 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master gnus
1139 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1140 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1141 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1143 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1144 information in the normal (i.e., master) @file{.newsrc} file.
1146 If the @file{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1147 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1148 file. If you answer ``yes'', the unsaved changes to the master will be
1149 incorporated into the slave. If you answer ``no'', the slave may see some
1150 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1152 @node Fetching a Group
1153 @section Fetching a Group
1154 @cindex fetching a group
1156 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1157 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1158 group and I don't care whether gnus has been started or not''. This is
1159 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1160 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1161 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1167 @cindex subscription
1169 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1170 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1171 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1172 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1173 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1174 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1175 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1176 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1177 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1180 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1181 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1182 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1186 @node Checking New Groups
1187 @subsection Checking New Groups
1189 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1190 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1191 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1192 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, gnus will ask the
1193 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1194 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1195 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1196 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1197 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1198 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1200 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1201 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1202 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1203 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1204 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1205 work. I could write a function to make gnus guess whether the server
1206 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1207 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1208 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1209 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1210 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1212 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, gnus will
1213 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1214 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1215 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1216 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1217 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1220 @node Subscription Methods
1221 @subsection Subscription Methods
1223 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1224 What gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1225 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1227 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1228 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1230 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1234 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1235 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1236 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1237 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1238 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1240 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1241 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1242 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1243 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1245 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1246 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1247 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1249 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1250 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1251 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1252 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1253 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1254 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1255 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1256 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1257 up. Or something like that.
1259 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1260 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1261 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that gnus will ask
1262 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1263 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1265 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1266 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1267 Kill all new groups.
1269 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1270 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1271 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1272 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1273 topic parameter that looks like
1279 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1282 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1287 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1288 A closely related variable is
1289 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1290 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will ask you in a
1291 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1292 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1295 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1296 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1297 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1298 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1301 @node Filtering New Groups
1302 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1304 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1305 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1306 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1309 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1312 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1313 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1314 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1315 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1316 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1317 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1318 subscribing these groups.
1319 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1320 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1322 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1323 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1324 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1325 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1326 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1327 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1328 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1329 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1331 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1332 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1333 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1334 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1335 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1336 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1337 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1338 that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1339 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1340 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1343 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1344 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1347 @node Changing Servers
1348 @section Changing Servers
1349 @cindex changing servers
1351 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1352 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1353 very flaky and you want to use another.
1355 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1356 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1360 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1361 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1362 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1363 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1366 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1367 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1368 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1369 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1371 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1372 @findex gnus-change-server
1373 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1374 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1375 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1376 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1377 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1379 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1380 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1381 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1382 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1383 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1385 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1386 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1387 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1388 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1389 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1390 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1392 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1393 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1394 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1395 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1397 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1398 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1399 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1400 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1401 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1402 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1403 cache for all groups).
1407 @section Startup Files
1408 @cindex startup files
1413 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1414 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1416 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1417 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1418 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1419 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1420 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1421 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1422 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1424 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1425 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1426 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1427 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1428 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1429 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1431 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1432 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1433 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1434 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1435 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from gnus faster.
1436 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1437 gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1438 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes gnus ignore the
1439 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1440 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1442 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1443 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1444 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1445 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1446 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1447 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1448 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1449 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1450 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1451 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1452 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1453 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1455 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1456 @vindex gnus-backup-startup-file
1457 @vindex version-control
1458 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1459 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1460 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1461 If you want version control for this file, set
1462 @code{gnus-backup-startup-file}. It respects the same values as the
1463 @code{version-control} variable.
1465 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1466 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1467 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1468 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1469 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1470 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1471 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1472 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1473 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1474 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1477 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1478 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1480 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1481 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1484 @vindex gnus-init-file
1485 @vindex gnus-site-init-file
1486 When gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1487 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1488 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1489 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1490 @file{site-init} files with gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1491 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1492 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1493 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1494 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1500 @cindex dribble file
1503 Whenever you do something that changes the gnus data (reading articles,
1504 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1505 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1506 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1507 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1510 If gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1511 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1514 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1515 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, gnus won't create and
1516 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1518 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1519 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1520 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, gnus will dribble
1521 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1522 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1523 file permissions as the @file{.newsrc} file.
1525 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1526 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1527 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1530 @node The Active File
1531 @section The Active File
1533 @cindex ignored groups
1535 When gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1536 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1537 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1539 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1540 Before examining the active file, gnus deletes all lines that match the
1541 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1542 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make gnus
1543 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1544 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1545 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1548 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1549 @c if you set it to anything else.
1551 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1553 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1554 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent gnus from
1555 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1557 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1558 you actually subscribe to.
1560 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1561 variable to @code{nil} will probably make gnus slower, not faster. At
1562 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow gnus down
1563 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1565 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1566 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1567 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1568 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1569 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1570 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1572 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1573 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1574 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1577 If this variable is @code{nil}, gnus will ask for group info in total
1578 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1579 @sc{nntp} server, gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1580 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1581 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1582 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1584 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1585 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1587 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1588 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1590 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1591 secondary select methods.
1594 @node Startup Variables
1595 @section Startup Variables
1599 @item gnus-load-hook
1600 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1601 A hook run while gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1602 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1603 times you start gnus.
1605 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1606 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1607 A hook run after starting up gnus successfully.
1609 @item gnus-startup-hook
1610 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1611 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1613 @item gnus-started-hook
1614 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1615 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1618 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1619 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1620 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1621 generating the group buffer.
1623 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1624 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1625 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1626 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1627 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1628 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1629 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1630 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1632 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1633 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1634 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1635 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1636 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1637 @file{~/.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @file{.emacs} instead.
1639 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1640 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1641 Message displayed by gnus when no groups are available.
1643 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1644 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1645 If non-@code{nil}, play the gnus jingle at startup.
1647 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1648 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1649 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1650 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1656 @chapter Group Buffer
1657 @cindex group buffer
1659 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1661 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1662 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1663 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1664 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1665 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1666 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1667 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1668 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1669 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1670 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1671 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1672 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1673 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1674 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1675 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1676 @c human rights at 9...
1679 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1680 is the first buffer shown when gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1681 long as gnus is active.
1685 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1686 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1687 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1688 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1689 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1690 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1691 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1692 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1698 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1699 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1700 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1701 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1702 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1703 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1704 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1705 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1706 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1707 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1708 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1709 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1710 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1711 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1712 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1713 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1714 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1718 @node Group Buffer Format
1719 @section Group Buffer Format
1722 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1723 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1724 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1728 @node Group Line Specification
1729 @subsection Group Line Specification
1730 @cindex group buffer format
1732 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1733 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1735 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1738 25: news.announce.newusers
1739 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1744 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1745 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1746 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1747 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1749 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1750 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1751 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1752 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1753 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1754 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1756 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1758 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1759 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1760 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1761 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1762 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1764 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1765 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1766 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1768 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1773 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1776 Whether the group is subscribed.
1779 Level of subscribedness.
1782 Number of unread articles.
1785 Number of dormant articles.
1788 Number of ticked articles.
1791 Number of read articles.
1794 Number of unseen articles.
1797 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1798 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1800 Gnus uses this estimation because the @sc{nntp} protocol provides
1801 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1802 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1803 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1804 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1805 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1806 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1807 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1810 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1813 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1822 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1823 comment element in the group parameters.
1826 Newsgroup description.
1829 @samp{m} if moderated.
1832 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1838 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1844 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1848 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1851 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1852 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1853 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1854 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1855 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1858 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1860 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1864 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1867 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1871 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1872 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1873 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1874 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1875 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1876 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1881 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1882 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1883 group, or a bogus native group.
1886 @node Group Modeline Specification
1887 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1888 @cindex group modeline
1890 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1891 The mode line can be changed by setting
1892 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1893 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1897 The native news server.
1899 The native select method.
1903 @node Group Highlighting
1904 @subsection Group Highlighting
1905 @cindex highlighting
1906 @cindex group highlighting
1908 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1909 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1910 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1911 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1912 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1914 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1918 (cond (window-system
1919 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1920 (defface my-group-face-1
1921 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1922 (defface my-group-face-2
1923 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1924 (defface my-group-face-3
1925 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1926 (defface my-group-face-4
1927 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1928 (defface my-group-face-5
1929 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1931 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1932 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1933 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1934 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1935 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1936 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1939 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1941 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1948 The number of unread articles in the group.
1952 Whether the group is a mail group.
1954 The level of the group.
1956 The score of the group.
1958 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1960 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather,
1961 @var{max-number} minus @var{min-number} plus one.
1963 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1964 topic being inserted.
1967 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1968 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal gnus
1969 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1971 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1972 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1973 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1974 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1975 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1978 @node Group Maneuvering
1979 @section Group Maneuvering
1980 @cindex group movement
1982 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1983 expected, hopefully.
1989 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1990 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1991 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1997 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1998 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1999 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
2003 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2004 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2008 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2009 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2013 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2014 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2015 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2019 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2020 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2021 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2024 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2030 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2031 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2032 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2037 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2038 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2039 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2043 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2044 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2045 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2048 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2049 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2050 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2051 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2055 @node Selecting a Group
2056 @section Selecting a Group
2057 @cindex group selection
2062 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2063 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2064 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2065 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2066 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2067 this command, gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2068 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{n}, @var{n}
2069 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{n} is
2070 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{n} newest articles, if @var{n} is
2071 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{n})} oldest articles.
2073 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2074 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2075 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2077 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2078 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2083 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2084 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2085 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2086 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2087 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2091 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2092 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2093 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2094 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2095 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2096 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2097 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2098 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2099 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2100 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2103 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2104 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2105 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2106 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2107 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2110 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2111 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2112 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2113 doing any processing of its contents
2114 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2115 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2116 manner will have no permanent effects.
2120 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2121 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what gnus should consider
2122 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
2123 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, gnus will query the user
2124 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2125 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2126 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2127 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2130 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2131 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2132 @vindex gnus-auto-select-subject
2133 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2134 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2135 Which article this is is controlled by the
2136 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2142 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2145 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2148 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2150 @item unseen-or-unread
2151 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2152 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2156 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2160 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2161 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2163 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2164 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2165 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2166 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2170 @node Subscription Commands
2171 @section Subscription Commands
2172 @cindex subscription
2180 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2181 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2182 Toggle subscription to the current group
2183 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2189 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2190 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2191 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2192 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2198 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2199 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2200 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2206 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2207 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2210 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2211 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2212 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2213 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2214 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2220 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2221 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2225 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2226 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2229 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2230 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2231 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2232 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2233 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2234 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2235 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2236 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2237 @file{.newsrc} file.
2241 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2251 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2252 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2253 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2254 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2255 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2256 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2261 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2262 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2263 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2267 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2268 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2269 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2271 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2272 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2273 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2274 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2275 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2276 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2283 @section Group Levels
2287 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2288 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2289 can ask gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2290 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2291 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2293 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2299 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2300 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2301 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2302 prompted for a level.
2305 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2306 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2307 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2308 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2309 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2310 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2311 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2312 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2313 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2314 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2315 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2316 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2317 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2318 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2319 reasons of efficiency.
2321 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2322 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2324 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2325 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2326 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2327 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2328 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2329 groups are hidden, in a way.
2331 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2332 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2333 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2334 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2335 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2336 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2338 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2339 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2340 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2341 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2342 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2343 list of killed groups.)
2345 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2346 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2347 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2349 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2350 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2351 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2352 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2353 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2354 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2355 relevant valid ranges.
2357 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2358 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2359 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2360 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2361 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2362 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2365 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2366 one with the best level.
2368 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2369 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2370 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2373 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2374 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2375 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2376 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2379 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2380 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2381 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2382 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2384 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2385 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2386 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2387 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2388 to 5. The default is 6.
2392 @section Group Score
2397 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2398 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2399 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2402 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2403 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2404 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2405 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2406 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2407 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2408 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2409 least significant part.))
2411 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2412 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2413 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2414 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2415 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2416 action after each summary exit, you can add
2417 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2418 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2419 slow things down somewhat.
2422 @node Marking Groups
2423 @section Marking Groups
2424 @cindex marking groups
2426 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2427 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2428 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2429 bidding on those groups.
2431 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2432 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2433 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2441 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2442 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2448 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2449 Remove the mark from the current group
2450 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2454 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2455 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2459 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2460 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2464 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2465 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2469 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2470 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2471 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2474 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2476 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2477 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2478 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2479 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2480 the command to be executed.
2483 @node Foreign Groups
2484 @section Foreign Groups
2485 @cindex foreign groups
2487 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2488 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2489 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2490 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2497 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2498 @cindex making groups
2499 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2500 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2501 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2505 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2506 @cindex renaming groups
2507 Rename the current group to something else
2508 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2509 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2515 @findex gnus-group-customize
2516 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2520 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2521 @cindex renaming groups
2522 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2523 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2527 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2528 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2529 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2533 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2534 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2535 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2539 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2541 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2542 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2547 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2548 Make the gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2552 @cindex (ding) archive
2553 @cindex archive group
2554 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2555 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2556 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2557 Make a gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2558 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2559 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2560 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2564 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2566 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2567 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2568 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2569 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2573 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2575 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2576 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2577 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2581 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2582 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2584 Make a group based on some file or other
2585 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2586 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2587 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2588 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2589 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2590 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2591 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2592 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2593 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2597 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2598 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2599 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2600 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2604 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2608 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2609 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2610 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2611 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2612 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2613 @xref{Web Searches}.
2615 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2616 to a particular group by using a match string like
2617 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2620 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2621 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2622 This function will delete the current group
2623 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2624 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2625 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2626 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2627 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2631 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2632 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2633 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2637 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2638 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2639 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2642 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2645 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2646 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2647 gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2648 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2649 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2650 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2654 @node Group Parameters
2655 @section Group Parameters
2656 @cindex group parameters
2658 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2659 Here's an example group parameter list:
2662 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2666 We see that each element consists of a ``dotted pair''---the thing before
2667 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2668 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2669 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2671 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2672 is an alist of regexps and values.
2674 The following group parameters can be used:
2679 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2682 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2685 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2686 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2687 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2688 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2689 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2691 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2692 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2693 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2694 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2695 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2696 list address instead.
2698 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2702 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2705 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2708 It is totally ignored
2709 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2710 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2712 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2713 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2714 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2715 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2716 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2718 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2719 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2720 sending the message.
2722 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2723 @cindex Mail List Groups
2724 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2725 entering summary buffer.
2727 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2732 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2733 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2734 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2735 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2736 headers for your posts to these lists. Look here @pxref{Mailing
2737 Lists, , Mailing Lists, message, The Message Manual} for a complete
2738 treatment of available MFT support.
2740 See also @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses}, the function that
2741 directly uses this group parameter.
2745 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2746 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2747 of whether it has any unread articles.
2749 @item broken-reply-to
2750 @cindex broken-reply-to
2751 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2752 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2753 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2754 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2755 broken behavior. So there!
2759 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2760 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2764 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, gnus
2765 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2766 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2771 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2772 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2773 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2774 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2775 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2776 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2777 (@pxref{Archived Messages}). CAVEAT:: It yields an error putting
2778 @code{(gcc-self . t)} in groups of a @code{nntp} server or so, because
2779 a @code{nntp} server doesn't accept articles.
2783 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2784 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2785 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2787 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2790 @cindex total-expire
2791 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2792 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2793 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2794 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2797 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2801 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2802 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2803 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2804 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2805 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2806 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2807 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2810 @cindex score file group parameter
2811 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2812 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2813 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2816 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2817 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2818 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2819 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2822 @cindex admin-address
2823 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2824 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2825 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2826 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2830 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2831 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2835 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2838 Display the last @var{integer} articles in the group. This is the same as
2839 entering the group with C-u @var{integer}.
2842 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2846 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2848 Here are some examples:
2852 Display only unread articles.
2855 Display everything except expirable articles.
2857 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2858 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2862 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2863 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2864 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2865 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2866 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2870 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2871 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2872 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2876 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2877 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2878 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2882 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2883 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2884 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2886 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2888 @item ignored-charsets
2889 @cindex ignored-charset
2890 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2891 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2892 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2894 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2897 @cindex posting-style
2898 You can store additional posting style information for this group
2899 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2900 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2901 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2902 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2904 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2905 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2906 like this in the group parameters:
2911 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
2912 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2917 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2918 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2922 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2923 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2924 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2925 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2926 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2930 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2931 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2932 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2933 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
2935 For example, if the INBOX.list.sieve group has the @code{(sieve
2936 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
2937 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
2938 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
2941 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
2942 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
2946 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, , Top, sieve,
2949 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2950 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2951 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2952 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2953 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2954 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2955 @code{eval}ed there.
2957 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
2958 A use for this feature, is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
2959 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
2960 @samp{nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps} has the tag
2961 @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this tag can be
2962 removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for the group by
2963 putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")} into the group
2964 parameters for the group.
2967 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2968 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2969 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2970 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2971 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2975 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2976 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2977 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2978 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2979 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2981 @vindex gnus-parameters
2982 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
2983 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
2987 (setq gnus-parameters
2989 (gnus-show-threads nil)
2990 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
2991 (gnus-summary-line-format
2992 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
2996 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
3000 (gnus-use-scoring t))
3004 (broken-reply-to . t))))
3007 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
3008 the @code{to-group} example shows.
3011 @node Listing Groups
3012 @section Listing Groups
3013 @cindex group listing
3015 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3023 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3024 List all groups that have unread articles
3025 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3026 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3027 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
3028 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3035 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3036 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3037 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3038 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3039 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3040 unsubscribed groups).
3044 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3045 List all unread groups on a specific level
3046 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3047 with no unread articles.
3051 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3052 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3053 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3054 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3059 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3060 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3064 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3065 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3066 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3070 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3071 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3075 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3076 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3077 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3078 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3079 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3080 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3081 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3082 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3086 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3087 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3088 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3092 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3093 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3094 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3098 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3099 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3103 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3104 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3108 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3109 List groups limited within the current selection
3110 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3114 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3115 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3119 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3120 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3124 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3125 @cindex visible group parameter
3126 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3127 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3128 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3129 get the same effect.
3131 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3132 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3133 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3134 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3135 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3138 @node Sorting Groups
3139 @section Sorting Groups
3140 @cindex sorting groups
3142 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3143 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3144 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3145 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3146 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3147 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3152 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3153 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3154 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3156 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3157 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3158 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3160 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3161 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3162 Sort by group level.
3164 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3165 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3166 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3168 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3169 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3170 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3171 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3173 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3174 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3175 Sort by number of unread articles.
3177 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3178 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3179 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3181 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3182 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3183 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3188 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3189 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3193 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3194 some sorting criteria:
3198 @kindex G S a (Group)
3199 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3200 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3201 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3204 @kindex G S u (Group)
3205 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3206 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3207 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3210 @kindex G S l (Group)
3211 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3212 Sort the group buffer by group level
3213 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3216 @kindex G S v (Group)
3217 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3218 Sort the group buffer by group score
3219 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3222 @kindex G S r (Group)
3223 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3224 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3225 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3228 @kindex G S m (Group)
3229 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3230 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name
3231 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3234 @kindex G S n (Group)
3235 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3236 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3237 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3241 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3242 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3244 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3245 commands will sort in reverse order.
3247 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3251 @kindex G P a (Group)
3252 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3253 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3254 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3257 @kindex G P u (Group)
3258 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3259 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3260 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3263 @kindex G P l (Group)
3264 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3265 Sort the groups by group level
3266 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3269 @kindex G P v (Group)
3270 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3271 Sort the groups by group score
3272 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3275 @kindex G P r (Group)
3276 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3277 Sort the groups by group rank
3278 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3281 @kindex G P m (Group)
3282 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3283 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name
3284 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3287 @kindex G P n (Group)
3288 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3289 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3290 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3293 @kindex G P s (Group)
3294 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3295 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3299 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3303 @node Group Maintenance
3304 @section Group Maintenance
3305 @cindex bogus groups
3310 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3311 Find bogus groups and delete them
3312 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3316 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3317 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3318 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3319 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3320 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3324 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3325 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3326 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3327 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3328 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3329 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3332 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3333 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3334 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3335 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3340 @node Browse Foreign Server
3341 @section Browse Foreign Server
3342 @cindex foreign servers
3343 @cindex browsing servers
3348 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3349 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3350 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3351 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3354 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3355 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3356 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3357 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3359 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3364 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3365 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3369 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3370 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3373 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3374 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3375 Enter the current group and display the first article
3376 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3379 @kindex RET (Browse)
3380 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3381 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3385 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3386 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3387 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3393 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3394 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3398 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3399 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3403 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3404 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3405 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3410 @section Exiting gnus
3411 @cindex exiting gnus
3413 Yes, gnus is ex(c)iting.
3418 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3419 Suspend gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit gnus,
3420 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3421 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3425 @findex gnus-group-exit
3426 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3427 Quit gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3431 @findex gnus-group-quit
3432 Quit gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3433 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3436 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3437 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3438 @vindex gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook
3439 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend gnus and
3440 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit gnus, while
3441 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3447 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3448 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3449 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3455 @section Group Topics
3458 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3459 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3460 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3461 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3462 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3463 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3467 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3468 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3479 2: alt.religion.emacs
3482 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3484 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3485 13: comp.sources.unix
3488 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3490 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3491 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3492 is a toggling command.)
3494 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3495 dum@dots{} Nice tune, that@dots{} la la la@dots{} What, you're back?
3496 Yes, and now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed
3497 under @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
3500 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3501 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3502 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
3505 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3509 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3510 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3511 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3512 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3513 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3517 @node Topic Commands
3518 @subsection Topic Commands
3519 @cindex topic commands
3521 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3522 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3523 definitions slightly.
3525 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3526 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3527 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3528 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3529 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3530 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3532 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3539 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3540 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3541 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3545 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3547 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3548 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3549 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3550 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3553 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3554 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3555 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3556 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3560 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3561 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3562 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3563 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3569 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3570 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3571 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3575 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3576 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3577 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3580 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3581 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the `cut' part of cut and paste. Then,
3582 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the `Gnus'
3583 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the `paste' part of cut and
3584 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3586 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3587 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3591 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3592 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3599 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3601 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3602 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3603 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3604 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3605 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3606 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3610 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3616 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3617 Move the current group to some other topic
3618 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3619 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3623 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3624 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3628 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3629 Copy the current group to some other topic
3630 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3631 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3635 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3636 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3637 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3641 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3642 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3643 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3647 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3648 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3649 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3650 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3651 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3652 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3653 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3656 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3657 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3661 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3662 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3663 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3667 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3668 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3669 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3673 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3674 Toggle hiding empty topics
3675 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3679 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3680 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3681 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3682 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3685 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3686 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3687 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3688 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3689 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3692 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3693 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3694 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3695 expiry process (if any)
3696 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3700 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3701 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3704 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3705 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3706 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3710 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3711 List all groups that gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3712 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3715 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3716 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3717 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3720 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3721 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3722 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3726 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3727 @cindex group parameters
3728 @cindex topic parameters
3730 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3731 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3736 @node Topic Variables
3737 @subsection Topic Variables
3738 @cindex topic variables
3740 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3741 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3743 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3744 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3745 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3758 Number of groups in the topic.
3760 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3762 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3765 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3766 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3767 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3770 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3771 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3773 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3774 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3775 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3779 @subsection Topic Sorting
3780 @cindex topic sorting
3782 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3788 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3789 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3790 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3791 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3794 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3795 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3796 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3797 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3800 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3801 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3802 Sort the current topic by group level
3803 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3806 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3807 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3808 Sort the current topic by group score
3809 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3812 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3813 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3814 Sort the current topic by group rank
3815 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3818 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3819 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3820 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3821 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3824 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3825 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3826 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3827 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3831 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
3832 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
3833 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
3834 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
3838 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
3839 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
3843 @node Topic Topology
3844 @subsection Topic Topology
3845 @cindex topic topology
3848 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3854 2: alt.religion.emacs
3857 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3859 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3860 13: comp.sources.unix
3863 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3864 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3865 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3870 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3871 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3875 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3876 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3877 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3878 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3879 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3880 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3882 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3883 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3884 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3887 @node Topic Parameters
3888 @subsection Topic Parameters
3889 @cindex topic parameters
3891 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3892 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3893 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3895 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3900 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3901 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3902 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3905 @item subscribe-level
3906 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
3907 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
3908 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
3912 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3913 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3914 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3915 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3921 2: alt.religion.emacs
3925 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3927 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3928 13: comp.sources.unix
3932 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3933 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3934 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3935 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3936 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3937 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3939 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3940 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3941 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3942 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3943 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3945 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3946 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3947 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3948 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3949 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3950 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3951 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3952 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3955 @node Misc Group Stuff
3956 @section Misc Group Stuff
3959 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3960 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3961 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3962 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3963 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
3970 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3971 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3972 @xref{Server Buffer}.
3976 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3977 Start composing a message (a news by default)
3978 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
3979 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
3980 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
3981 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
3982 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3986 @findex gnus-group-mail
3987 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
3988 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
3989 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
3990 @xref{Composing Messages}.
3994 @findex gnus-group-news
3995 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
3996 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
3997 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3999 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
4000 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
4001 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
4002 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
4003 for this to work though.
4007 Variables for the group buffer:
4011 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
4012 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
4013 is called after the group buffer has been
4016 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4017 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4018 is called after the group buffer is
4019 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4022 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4023 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4024 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4025 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4027 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4028 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4029 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4030 whether they are empty or not.
4032 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4033 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4034 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
4035 non-ASCII group names.
4039 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4040 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4043 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4044 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4045 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4046 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
4047 is used to show non-ASCII group names. @code{((".*" utf-8))} is the
4048 default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the default is
4053 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4054 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
4059 @node Scanning New Messages
4060 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4061 @cindex new messages
4062 @cindex scanning new news
4068 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4069 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4070 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4071 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4072 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4073 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4078 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4079 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4080 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4081 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4082 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4083 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4084 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4086 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4087 @cindex activating groups
4089 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4090 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4095 @findex gnus-group-restart
4096 Restart gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4097 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4098 gnus variables, and then starts gnus all over again.
4102 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4103 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4105 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4106 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4110 @node Group Information
4111 @subsection Group Information
4112 @cindex group information
4113 @cindex information on groups
4120 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4121 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4124 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
4125 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
4126 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
4127 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
4128 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4129 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
4130 for fetching the file.
4132 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, gnus will attempt to go
4133 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4137 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4138 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4140 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4141 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4144 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4145 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4146 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4150 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4151 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4152 @cindex control message
4153 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4154 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4155 group if given a prefix argument.
4157 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-@code{nil},
4158 Gnus will open the control messages in a browser using
4159 @code{browse-url}. Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp}
4160 and displayed in an ephemeral group.
4162 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4163 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode} (@pxref{Compressed
4164 Files, ,Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Manual}).
4168 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4170 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4171 @cindex describing groups
4172 @cindex group description
4173 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4174 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4175 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4179 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4180 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4181 prefix, force gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4188 @findex gnus-version
4189 Display current gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4193 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4194 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4197 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4200 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4201 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4205 @node Group Timestamp
4206 @subsection Group Timestamp
4208 @cindex group timestamps
4210 It can be convenient to let gnus keep track of when you last read a
4211 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4212 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4215 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4218 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4220 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4221 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4224 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4225 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4228 This will result in lines looking like:
4231 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4232 0: custom 19961002T012713
4235 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4236 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4240 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4241 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4244 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4245 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4249 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4250 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4251 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4252 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4254 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4260 @subsection File Commands
4261 @cindex file commands
4267 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4268 @vindex gnus-init-file
4269 @cindex reading init file
4270 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4271 @file{~/.gnus.el}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4275 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4276 @cindex saving .newsrc
4277 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4278 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4279 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4282 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4283 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4284 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4289 @node Sieve Commands
4290 @subsection Sieve Commands
4291 @cindex group sieve commands
4293 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4294 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4295 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4296 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4297 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4299 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4300 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4301 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4302 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4303 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4304 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4305 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4306 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4307 regenerate the Sieve script.
4309 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4310 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4311 is generated. If it is non-@code{nil} (the default) articles is
4312 placed in all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article
4313 is only placed in the group with the first matching rule. For
4314 example, the group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4315 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4316 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is @code{nil}. (When
4317 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-@code{nil}, it looks the same
4318 except that the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4321 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4322 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4327 @xref{Top, ,Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4333 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4334 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4335 @cindex generating sieve script
4336 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4337 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4341 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4342 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4343 @cindex updating sieve script
4344 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4345 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4346 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4351 @node Summary Buffer
4352 @chapter Summary Buffer
4353 @cindex summary buffer
4355 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4356 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4358 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4359 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4361 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4364 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4365 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4366 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4367 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4368 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4369 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4370 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4371 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4372 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4373 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4374 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4375 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4376 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4377 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4378 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4379 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4380 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4381 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4382 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4383 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4384 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4385 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4386 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4387 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4388 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4389 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4390 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4391 or reselecting the current group.
4392 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4393 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4394 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4395 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4399 @node Summary Buffer Format
4400 @section Summary Buffer Format
4401 @cindex summary buffer format
4405 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4406 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4407 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4413 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4414 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4415 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4416 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4419 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4420 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4421 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4422 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4423 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4424 @code{From} header. Three pre-defined functions exist:
4425 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4426 fast, and too simplistic solution;
4427 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works nicely, but is
4428 slower; and @code{std11-extract-address-components}, which works very
4429 nicely, but is slower. The default function will return the wrong
4430 answer in 5% of the cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the
4431 other function instead:
4434 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4435 'mail-extract-address-components)
4438 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4439 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4440 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4441 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4444 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4445 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4447 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4448 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4449 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4450 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4451 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4453 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4454 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4455 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4456 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4457 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4458 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4460 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4462 The following format specification characters and extended format
4463 specification(s) are understood:
4469 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4470 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4472 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4473 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4474 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4476 Full @code{From} header.
4478 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4480 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4483 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4484 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4485 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4486 may be more thorough.
4488 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4491 Number of lines in the article.
4493 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4494 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4496 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4497 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4499 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4501 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4502 lines. A thread could be drawn like this:
4515 You can customize the appearance with the following options. Note
4516 that it is possible to make the thread display look really neat by
4517 replacing the default ASCII characters with graphic line-drawing
4520 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4521 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4522 Used for the root of a thread. If @code{nil}, use subject
4523 instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4525 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4526 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4527 Used for a thread with just one message. If @code{nil}, use subject
4528 instead. The default is @samp{}.
4530 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4531 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4532 Used for drawing a vertical line. The default is @samp{| }.
4534 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4535 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4536 Used for indenting. The default is @samp{ }.
4538 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4539 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4540 Used for a leaf with brothers. The default is @samp{+-> }.
4542 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4543 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4544 Used for a leaf without brothers. The default is @samp{\-> }
4549 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4550 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4552 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4553 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4555 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4556 for adopted articles.
4558 One space for each thread level.
4560 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4562 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4565 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4566 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4567 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4570 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4572 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4573 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4574 default level. If the difference between
4575 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4576 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4584 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4586 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4592 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4593 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4595 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4596 article has any children.
4602 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4603 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4605 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4606 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4607 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4608 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4609 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4610 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4613 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4614 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4615 There can only be one such area.
4617 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4618 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, gnus will
4619 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4620 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4621 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4622 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4624 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4625 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4627 This restriction may disappear in later versions of gnus.
4630 @node To From Newsgroups
4631 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4635 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4636 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4637 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4638 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4639 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4643 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4644 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4645 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4649 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4650 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4653 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4654 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4657 @findex gnus-extra-header
4658 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4659 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4660 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4663 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4667 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4668 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4669 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4670 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4671 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4672 headers are used instead.
4676 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4677 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4678 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files.
4679 If you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after
4680 changing this variable, by entering the server buffer using @kbd{^},
4681 and then @kbd{g} on the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause
4684 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4685 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4686 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4687 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4689 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4693 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4695 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4696 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4697 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4698 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4702 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4705 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
4706 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
4709 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4710 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4711 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
4717 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4718 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4721 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4722 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4724 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4725 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4726 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4727 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4729 Here are the elements you can play with:
4735 Unprefixed group name.
4737 Current article number.
4739 Current article score.
4743 Number of unread articles in this group.
4745 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4748 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4749 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4750 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4751 and no unselected ones.
4753 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4754 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4756 Subject of the current article.
4758 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4760 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4762 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4764 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4766 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4768 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4772 @node Summary Highlighting
4773 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4777 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4778 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4779 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4780 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4781 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4783 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4784 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4785 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4786 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4788 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4789 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4790 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4791 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4793 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4794 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4795 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4796 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4797 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4798 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4801 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4802 ((> score default) . bold))
4804 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4805 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4809 @node Summary Maneuvering
4810 @section Summary Maneuvering
4811 @cindex summary movement
4813 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4814 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4816 None of these commands select articles.
4821 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4822 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4823 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4824 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4825 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4829 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4830 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4831 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4832 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4833 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4836 @kindex G g (Summary)
4837 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4838 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4839 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4842 If gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4843 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4844 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4845 to the group buffer.
4847 Variables related to summary movement:
4851 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4852 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4853 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4854 no more unread articles after the current one, gnus will offer to go to
4855 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4856 empty, gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4857 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, gnus will select the
4858 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
4859 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
4860 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
4861 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
4862 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
4863 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
4864 @pxref{Group Levels}.
4866 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4867 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4868 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4869 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4870 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4871 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4872 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4874 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4876 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4877 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4878 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4879 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4880 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4882 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4883 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4884 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4885 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4886 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4887 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4888 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4889 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4892 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4893 the given number of lines from the top.
4898 @node Choosing Articles
4899 @section Choosing Articles
4900 @cindex selecting articles
4903 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4904 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4908 @node Choosing Commands
4909 @subsection Choosing Commands
4911 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4912 and they all select and display an article.
4914 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4915 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4919 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4920 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4921 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4922 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4924 If you have an article window open already and you press @kbd{SPACE}
4925 again, the article will be scrolled. This lets you conveniently
4926 @kbd{SPACE} through an entire newsgroup. @pxref{Paging the Article}.
4931 @kindex G n (Summary)
4932 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4933 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4934 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4939 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4940 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4941 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4946 @kindex G N (Summary)
4947 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4948 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4953 @kindex G P (Summary)
4954 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4955 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4958 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4959 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4960 Go to the next article with the same subject
4961 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4964 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4965 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4966 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4967 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4971 @kindex G f (Summary)
4973 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4974 Go to the first unread article
4975 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4979 @kindex G b (Summary)
4981 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4982 Go to the unread article with the highest score
4983 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
4984 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
4989 @kindex G l (Summary)
4990 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4991 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4994 @kindex G o (Summary)
4995 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4997 @cindex article history
4998 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4999 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
5000 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
5001 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
5002 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
5003 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
5008 @kindex G j (Summary)
5009 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
5010 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
5011 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
5016 @node Choosing Variables
5017 @subsection Choosing Variables
5019 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
5022 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5023 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5024 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
5025 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
5026 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
5027 the server and display it in the article buffer.
5029 @item gnus-select-article-hook
5030 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
5031 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
5032 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article. If you would
5033 like each article to be saved in the Agent as you read it, putting
5034 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this hook will do so.
5036 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
5037 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
5038 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
5039 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
5040 @findex gnus-unread-mark
5041 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
5042 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
5043 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
5044 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
5045 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
5046 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
5047 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
5048 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
5049 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
5054 @node Paging the Article
5055 @section Scrolling the Article
5056 @cindex article scrolling
5061 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5062 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5063 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5064 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5065 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5067 @vindex gnus-article-boring-faces
5068 @vindex gnus-article-skip-boring
5069 If @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} is non-@code{nil} and the rest of
5070 the article consists only of citations and signature, then it will be
5071 skipped; the next article will be shown instead. You can customize
5072 what is considered uninteresting with
5073 @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}. You can manually view the article's
5074 pages, no matter how boring, using @kbd{C-M-v}.
5077 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5078 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5079 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5082 @kindex RET (Summary)
5083 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5084 Scroll the current article one line forward
5085 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5088 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5089 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5090 Scroll the current article one line backward
5091 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5095 @kindex A g (Summary)
5097 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5098 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5099 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5100 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5101 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5102 the way it came from the server.
5104 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5105 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5106 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5109 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5114 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5119 @kindex A < (Summary)
5120 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5121 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5122 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5127 @kindex A > (Summary)
5128 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5129 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5133 @kindex A s (Summary)
5135 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5136 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5137 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5141 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5142 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5147 @node Reply Followup and Post
5148 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5151 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5152 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5153 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5154 * Canceling and Superseding::
5158 @node Summary Mail Commands
5159 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5161 @cindex composing mail
5163 Commands for composing a mail message:
5169 @kindex S r (Summary)
5171 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5172 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5173 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5174 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5175 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5180 @kindex S R (Summary)
5181 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5182 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5183 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5184 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5185 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5188 @kindex S w (Summary)
5189 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5190 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5191 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5192 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5193 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
5196 @kindex S W (Summary)
5197 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5198 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5199 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5200 the process/prefix convention.
5203 @kindex S v (Summary)
5204 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5205 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5206 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5207 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5208 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5209 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5212 @kindex S V (Summary)
5213 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5214 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5215 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5216 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5219 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5220 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5221 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5222 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5225 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5226 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5227 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5228 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5229 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5233 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5234 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5235 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5236 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5237 Forward the current article to some other person
5238 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5239 headers of the forwarded article.
5244 @kindex S m (Summary)
5245 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5246 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5247 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5248 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5249 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5254 @kindex S i (Summary)
5255 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5256 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5257 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5258 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5260 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5261 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
5262 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5263 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5264 for this to work though.
5267 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5268 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5269 @cindex bouncing mail
5270 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5271 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5272 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5273 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5274 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5275 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, gnus will try to fetch
5276 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5277 very well fail, though.
5280 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5281 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5282 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5283 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5284 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5285 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5286 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5287 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5288 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5289 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5291 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5292 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5293 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5294 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5295 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5297 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5298 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5301 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5302 @findex gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward
5303 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5304 result using mail (@code{gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward}). This
5305 command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5308 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5309 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5310 @cindex crossposting
5311 @cindex excessive crossposting
5312 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5313 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5315 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5316 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5317 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5318 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5319 command understands the process/prefix convention
5320 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5324 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5325 Manual}, for more information.
5328 @node Summary Post Commands
5329 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5331 @cindex composing news
5333 Commands for posting a news article:
5339 @kindex S p (Summary)
5340 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5341 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5342 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5343 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5344 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5349 @kindex S f (Summary)
5350 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5351 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5352 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5356 @kindex S F (Summary)
5358 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5359 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5360 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5361 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5362 process/prefix convention.
5365 @kindex S n (Summary)
5366 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5367 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5368 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5371 @kindex S N (Summary)
5372 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5373 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5374 message through mail and include the original message
5375 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5376 the process/prefix convention.
5379 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5380 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5381 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5382 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5383 headers of the forwarded article.
5386 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5387 @findex gnus-summary-digest-post-forward
5389 @cindex making digests
5390 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5391 (@code{gnus-summary-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
5392 process/prefix convention.
5395 @kindex S u (Summary)
5396 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5397 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5398 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5399 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5402 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5403 Manual}, for more information.
5406 @node Summary Message Commands
5407 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5411 @kindex S y (Summary)
5412 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5413 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5414 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5415 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5416 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5421 @node Canceling and Superseding
5422 @subsection Canceling Articles
5423 @cindex canceling articles
5424 @cindex superseding articles
5426 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5427 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5429 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5431 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5433 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5434 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5435 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5436 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5437 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5438 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5440 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5441 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5444 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5445 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5446 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5448 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5449 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5450 your original article.
5452 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5454 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5455 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5456 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5459 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5460 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5461 have posted almost the same article twice.
5463 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5464 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5465 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5466 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5467 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5468 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5469 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5470 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5471 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5472 canceled/superseded.
5474 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5476 @node Delayed Articles
5477 @section Delayed Articles
5478 @cindex delayed sending
5479 @cindex send delayed
5481 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5482 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5483 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5484 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5487 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5490 @findex gnus-delay-article
5491 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5492 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5493 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5494 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5498 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5499 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5500 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5501 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5504 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5505 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5506 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5509 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5510 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5511 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5512 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5513 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5514 that means a time tomorrow.
5517 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5518 couple of variables:
5521 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5522 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5523 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5524 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5526 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5527 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5528 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5529 formats described above.
5531 @item gnus-delay-group
5532 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5533 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5534 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5535 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5537 @item gnus-delay-header
5538 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5539 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5540 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5541 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5544 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5545 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5546 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5547 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5548 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5550 @findex gnus-delay-send-queue
5551 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5552 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5553 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5554 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5555 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5556 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5559 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5560 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5562 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5563 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
5564 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-@code{nil},
5565 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
5566 argument is ignored.
5568 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
5569 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
5570 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
5574 @node Marking Articles
5575 @section Marking Articles
5576 @cindex article marking
5577 @cindex article ticking
5580 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5582 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5583 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5584 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5586 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5589 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5590 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5591 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5595 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
5599 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5600 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5601 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5605 @node Unread Articles
5606 @subsection Unread Articles
5608 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5613 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5614 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5616 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5617 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5618 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5619 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5620 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5621 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5622 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5625 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5626 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5628 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5629 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5630 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5631 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5635 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5636 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5638 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5643 @subsection Read Articles
5644 @cindex expirable mark
5646 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5651 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5652 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5653 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5656 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5657 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5660 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5661 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5662 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5665 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5666 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5669 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5670 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5673 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5674 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5677 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5678 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5681 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5682 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5685 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5686 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5689 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5690 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5694 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5695 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5696 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5700 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5701 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5703 One more special mark, though:
5707 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5708 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5710 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5711 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5712 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5713 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by gnus at
5719 @subsection Other Marks
5720 @cindex process mark
5723 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5729 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5730 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5731 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5732 in the article, and gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5733 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5736 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5737 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5738 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5739 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5742 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5743 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5744 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5747 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5748 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5749 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5752 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5753 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5754 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5755 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5758 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5759 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
5760 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5761 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
5762 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
5763 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
5766 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5767 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
5768 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5769 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
5772 @vindex gnus-downloaded-mark
5773 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, articles may be
5774 downloaded for unplugged (offline) viewing. If you are using the
5775 @samp{%O} spec, these articles get the @samp{+} mark in that spec.
5776 (The variable @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} controls which character to
5780 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
5781 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, some articles might
5782 not have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you
5783 are unplugged (offline). If you are using the @samp{%O} spec, these
5784 articles get the @samp{-} mark in that spec. (The variable
5785 @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls which character to use.)
5788 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
5789 The Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics} downloads some articles
5790 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
5791 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
5792 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
5793 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
5797 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5798 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5799 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5800 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5801 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5804 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5805 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5806 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5807 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5808 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5809 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5813 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5814 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5815 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5817 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5818 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5819 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5823 @subsection Setting Marks
5824 @cindex setting marks
5826 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5831 @kindex M c (Summary)
5832 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5833 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5834 @cindex mark as unread
5835 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5836 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5842 @kindex M t (Summary)
5843 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5844 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5845 @xref{Article Caching}.
5850 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5851 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5852 Mark the current article as dormant
5853 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5857 @kindex M d (Summary)
5859 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5860 Mark the current article as read
5861 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5865 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5866 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5867 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5872 @kindex M k (Summary)
5873 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5874 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5875 and then select the next unread article
5876 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5880 @kindex M K (Summary)
5881 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5882 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5883 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5884 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5887 @kindex M C (Summary)
5888 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5889 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5890 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5893 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5894 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5895 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5896 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5899 @kindex M H (Summary)
5900 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5901 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
5902 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5905 @kindex M h (Summary)
5906 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
5907 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
5908 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
5911 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5912 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5913 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5914 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5917 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5918 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5919 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5920 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5924 @kindex M e (Summary)
5926 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5927 Mark the current article as expirable
5928 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5931 @kindex M b (Summary)
5932 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5933 Set a bookmark in the current article
5934 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5937 @kindex M B (Summary)
5938 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5939 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5940 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5943 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5944 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5945 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5946 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5949 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5950 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5951 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5952 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5955 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5956 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5957 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5958 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5959 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5962 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5963 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5964 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5965 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5966 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5967 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5968 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5969 The default is @code{t}.
5972 @node Generic Marking Commands
5973 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5975 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5976 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5977 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5978 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5979 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5982 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5983 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5986 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5987 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5988 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5989 to list in this manual.
5991 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5992 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5993 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5994 article, you could say something like:
5997 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5998 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5999 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
6005 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6006 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
6010 @node Setting Process Marks
6011 @subsection Setting Process Marks
6012 @cindex setting process marks
6014 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
6015 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
6016 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
6017 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
6018 commands into the cache. For more information,
6019 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
6026 @kindex M P p (Summary)
6027 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6028 Mark the current article with the process mark
6029 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
6030 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6034 @kindex M P u (Summary)
6035 @kindex M-# (Summary)
6036 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
6037 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6040 @kindex M P U (Summary)
6041 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6042 Remove the process mark from all articles
6043 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6046 @kindex M P i (Summary)
6047 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
6048 Invert the list of process marked articles
6049 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
6052 @kindex M P R (Summary)
6053 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6054 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6055 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6058 @kindex M P G (Summary)
6059 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6060 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6061 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6064 @kindex M P r (Summary)
6065 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6066 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6070 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6071 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6074 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6075 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6076 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6077 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6080 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6081 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6082 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6083 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6086 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6087 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6088 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6089 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6092 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6093 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6094 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6097 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6098 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6099 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6100 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6103 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6104 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6105 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6108 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6109 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6110 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6111 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6114 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6115 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6116 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6117 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6120 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6121 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6122 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6123 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6126 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6127 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6128 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6129 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6133 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
6134 set process marks based on article body contents.
6141 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6142 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6143 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6146 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6147 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6148 additional articles.
6154 @kindex / / (Summary)
6155 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6156 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6157 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6161 @kindex / a (Summary)
6162 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6163 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6164 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6168 @kindex / x (Summary)
6169 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6170 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6171 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6172 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6177 @kindex / u (Summary)
6179 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6180 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6181 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6182 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6183 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6186 @kindex / m (Summary)
6187 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6188 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6189 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6192 @kindex / t (Summary)
6193 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6194 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6195 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6196 articles younger than that number of days.
6199 @kindex / n (Summary)
6200 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6201 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
6202 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
6203 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6206 @kindex / w (Summary)
6207 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6208 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6209 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6213 @kindex / . (Summary)
6214 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6215 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6216 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6219 @kindex / v (Summary)
6220 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6221 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6222 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6225 @kindex / p (Summary)
6226 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6227 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6228 group parameter predicate
6229 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). See @pxref{Group
6230 Parameters} for more on this predicate.
6234 @kindex M S (Summary)
6235 @kindex / E (Summary)
6236 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6237 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6238 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6241 @kindex / D (Summary)
6242 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6243 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6244 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6247 @kindex / * (Summary)
6248 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6249 Include all cached articles in the limit
6250 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6253 @kindex / d (Summary)
6254 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6255 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6256 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6259 @kindex / M (Summary)
6260 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6261 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6264 @kindex / T (Summary)
6265 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6266 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6269 @kindex / c (Summary)
6270 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6271 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
6272 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6275 @kindex / C (Summary)
6276 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6277 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6278 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6279 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6282 @kindex / N (Summary)
6283 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6284 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6285 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6288 @kindex / o (Summary)
6289 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6290 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6291 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6299 @cindex article threading
6301 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6302 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6303 hierarchical fashion.
6305 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6306 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6307 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6308 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6309 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6310 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6311 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
6313 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6317 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6320 A tree-like article structure.
6323 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6326 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6327 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6328 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6329 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6330 called loose threads.
6332 @item thread gathering
6333 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6335 @item sparse threads
6336 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6337 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6343 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6344 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6348 @node Customizing Threading
6349 @subsection Customizing Threading
6350 @cindex customizing threading
6353 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6354 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6355 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6356 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
6361 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6364 @cindex loose threads
6367 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6368 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6369 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6370 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6371 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6372 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6374 When there is no real root of a thread, gnus will have to fudge
6375 something. This variable says what fudging method gnus should use.
6376 There are four possible values:
6380 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6381 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6382 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6383 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6384 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6389 @cindex adopting articles
6394 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6395 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6396 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6397 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6400 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6401 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6402 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6403 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6404 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6405 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6406 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6407 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6408 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6409 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to @code{t}.
6412 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6413 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6414 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6418 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6419 display them after one another.
6422 Don't gather loose threads.
6425 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6426 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6427 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6428 variable is @code{nil}, gnus requires an exact match between the
6429 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6430 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6431 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6432 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6433 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6434 variable to a really low number, you'll find that gnus will gather
6435 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6437 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6438 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, gnus will
6439 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6442 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6443 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6444 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6445 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6446 simplification is used.
6448 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6449 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6450 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6451 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6453 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6455 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6461 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6462 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6463 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6464 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6469 (mapconcat 'identity
6470 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6472 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6475 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6478 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6479 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6480 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6481 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6482 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6483 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6485 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6488 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6489 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6490 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6492 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6493 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6496 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6497 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6498 Remove excessive whitespace.
6500 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6501 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6502 Remove all whitespace.
6505 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6508 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6509 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6510 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6511 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6512 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6513 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6514 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6515 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6517 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6518 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6519 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6520 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6521 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6522 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6523 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6524 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6525 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6529 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6530 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6531 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6532 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6534 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6535 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6536 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6539 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6543 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6544 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6550 @node Filling In Threads
6551 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6554 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6555 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6556 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6557 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
6558 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
6559 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
6560 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
6561 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
6562 fetching old headers only works if the back end you are using carries
6563 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
6564 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
6565 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do
6568 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6569 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6570 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6572 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6573 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6574 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6575 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6576 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6577 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6578 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where gnus guesses that an article
6579 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6580 lines. If you select a gap, gnus will try to fetch the article in
6581 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, gnus will display all these
6582 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6583 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, gnus won't cut
6584 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6585 @code{nil} by default.
6587 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6588 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6589 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6590 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6591 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6592 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6593 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6595 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6596 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6597 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6602 @node More Threading
6603 @subsubsection More Threading
6606 @item gnus-show-threads
6607 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6608 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6609 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6610 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6611 slower and more awkward.
6613 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6614 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6615 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6618 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
6619 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
6620 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}).
6625 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6626 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
6627 gnus-article-unseen-p))
6630 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
6631 unread, but you get my drift.)
6634 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6635 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6636 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6637 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6638 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6639 threads are expunged.
6641 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6642 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6643 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6646 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6647 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6648 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6649 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6650 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6651 result in a new thread.
6653 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6654 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6655 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6658 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6659 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6660 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6661 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6662 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6663 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6664 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6665 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6666 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6667 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6668 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6673 @node Low-Level Threading
6674 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6678 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6679 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6680 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
6681 @code{(gnus-set-summary-default-charset)}, which sets up local value of
6682 @code{default-mime-charset} in summary buffer based on variable
6683 @code{gnus-newsgroup-default-charset-alist}.
6685 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6686 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6687 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6688 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6689 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6690 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6691 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6692 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6693 meaningful. Here's one example:
6696 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6698 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6699 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6701 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6703 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6710 @node Thread Commands
6711 @subsection Thread Commands
6712 @cindex thread commands
6718 @kindex T k (Summary)
6719 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6720 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6721 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6722 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6723 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6728 @kindex T l (Summary)
6729 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6730 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6731 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6732 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6735 @kindex T i (Summary)
6736 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6737 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6738 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6741 @kindex T # (Summary)
6742 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6743 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6744 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6747 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6748 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6749 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6750 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6753 @kindex T T (Summary)
6754 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6755 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6758 @kindex T s (Summary)
6759 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6760 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
6761 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6764 @kindex T h (Summary)
6765 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6766 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6769 @kindex T S (Summary)
6770 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6771 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6774 @kindex T H (Summary)
6775 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6776 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6779 @kindex T t (Summary)
6780 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6781 Re-thread the current article's thread
6782 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6783 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6786 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6787 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6788 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6789 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6793 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6794 understand the numeric prefix.
6799 @kindex T n (Summary)
6801 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
6803 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6804 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6805 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6808 @kindex T p (Summary)
6810 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
6812 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6813 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6814 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6817 @kindex T d (Summary)
6818 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6819 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6822 @kindex T u (Summary)
6823 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6824 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6827 @kindex T o (Summary)
6828 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6829 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6832 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6833 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6834 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6835 a command like @kbd{T k} (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6836 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6837 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6838 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6839 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6840 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6841 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6842 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6843 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6847 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6848 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6850 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6851 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6852 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6853 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6854 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6855 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6856 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
6857 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6858 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-thread
6859 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6860 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6861 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6862 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6864 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6865 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6866 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6867 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
6868 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
6869 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
6870 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
6871 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6873 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6874 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6875 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6877 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6878 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6879 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6880 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6881 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6882 ascending article order.
6884 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6885 by number, you could do something like:
6888 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6889 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6890 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6891 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6894 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6895 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6896 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6897 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6898 which the articles arrived.
6900 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6904 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6906 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6907 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6910 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6911 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6912 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6913 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6916 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6917 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6918 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6919 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6920 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6921 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
6922 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6923 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
6924 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
6925 variable. It is very similar to the
6926 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
6927 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
6928 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6929 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
6930 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
6931 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
6932 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6934 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6938 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6939 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6940 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6945 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6946 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6947 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6948 @cindex article pre-fetch
6951 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6952 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6953 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6954 article appears. Why can't gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6955 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6957 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6958 article fetching, especially the way gnus does it.
6960 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6961 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6962 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6963 article 3, but since gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6964 connection is blocked.
6966 To avoid these situations, gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6967 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6968 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6969 extra connection takes some time, so gnus startup will be slower.
6971 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6972 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6973 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6974 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6977 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing@dots{} unless
6980 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6981 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6982 happen automatically.
6984 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6985 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6986 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6987 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
6988 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
6989 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6990 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6992 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6993 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6994 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6995 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p}
6996 variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This
6997 function should return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is
6998 to be pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which
6999 returns @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an
7000 article data structure as the only parameter.
7002 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter
7003 than 100 lines, you could say something like:
7006 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
7007 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
7008 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
7009 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
7012 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
7015 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
7016 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down gnus too much.
7017 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
7019 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
7020 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
7021 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
7022 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
7026 Remove articles when they are read.
7029 Remove articles when exiting the group.
7032 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
7034 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
7035 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
7036 @c from the next group.
7039 @node Article Caching
7040 @section Article Caching
7041 @cindex article caching
7044 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
7045 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
7046 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
7047 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
7048 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
7050 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
7052 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7053 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
7054 @vindex gnus-use-cache
7055 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
7056 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
7057 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
7058 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
7059 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
7061 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
7062 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
7063 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
7064 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
7065 as dormant, and don't worry.
7067 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
7069 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
7070 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
7071 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
7072 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
7073 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7074 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7075 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7076 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7077 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7078 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7080 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7081 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7082 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7083 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7084 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7085 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
7086 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7087 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7088 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7089 not then be downloaded by this command.
7091 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7092 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7093 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7094 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7095 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7096 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7098 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7099 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7100 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7101 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7102 variables, the group is not cached.
7104 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7105 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7106 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7107 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7108 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7109 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, gnus
7110 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7111 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
7112 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7115 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7116 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7117 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7118 where, isn't that cool?
7120 @node Persistent Articles
7121 @section Persistent Articles
7122 @cindex persistent articles
7124 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7125 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7126 useful in my opinion.
7128 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7129 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7130 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7131 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7132 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7133 the expiry going on at the news server.
7135 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7136 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7137 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7143 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7144 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7147 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7148 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7149 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7150 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7154 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7156 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7157 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7158 interested in persistent articles:
7161 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7165 @node Article Backlog
7166 @section Article Backlog
7168 @cindex article backlog
7170 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7171 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7172 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where gnus will buffer
7173 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7174 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7175 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7176 that, turning the backlog on will slow gnus down a little bit, and
7177 increase memory usage some.
7179 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7180 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, gnus will store
7181 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7182 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, gnus will store
7183 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7184 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7185 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7187 The default value is 20.
7190 @node Saving Articles
7191 @section Saving Articles
7192 @cindex saving articles
7194 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7195 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7196 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7197 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7198 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7200 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7201 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7202 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7204 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7205 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, gnus will not delete
7206 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7208 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7209 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7210 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7211 deleted before saving.
7217 @kindex O o (Summary)
7219 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7220 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7221 Save the current article using the default article saver
7222 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7225 @kindex O m (Summary)
7226 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7227 Save the current article in mail format
7228 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7231 @kindex O r (Summary)
7232 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7233 Save the current article in rmail format
7234 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7237 @kindex O f (Summary)
7238 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7239 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7240 Save the current article in plain file format
7241 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7244 @kindex O F (Summary)
7245 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7246 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7247 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7250 @kindex O b (Summary)
7251 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7252 Save the current article body in plain file format
7253 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7256 @kindex O h (Summary)
7257 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7258 Save the current article in mh folder format
7259 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7262 @kindex O v (Summary)
7263 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7264 Save the current article in a VM folder
7265 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7269 @kindex O p (Summary)
7271 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7272 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7273 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7274 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7275 complete headers in the piped output.
7278 @kindex O P (Summary)
7279 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7280 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7281 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7282 external program Muttprint (see
7283 @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/}). The program name and
7284 options to use is controlled by the variable
7285 @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}. (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7289 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7290 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7291 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7292 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7293 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7294 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7295 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7296 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7297 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7298 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7299 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7300 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7304 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7305 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7306 gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
7307 functions below, or you can create your own.
7311 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7312 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7313 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7314 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7315 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
7316 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7317 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7319 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7320 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7321 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7322 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7323 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7324 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7326 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7327 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7328 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7329 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7330 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7331 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7332 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7334 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7335 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7336 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7337 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7338 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7339 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7341 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7342 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7343 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7344 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7345 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7347 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7348 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7349 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7350 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7351 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7354 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7355 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7356 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7357 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7358 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7360 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7361 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7362 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7363 reader to use this setting.
7366 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7367 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7368 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7369 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7372 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7373 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7374 available functions that generate names:
7378 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7379 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7380 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7382 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7383 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7384 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7386 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7387 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7388 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7390 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7391 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7392 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7394 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7395 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7396 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7399 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7400 You can have gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7401 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7402 save articles related to gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7403 related to VM in @file{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7407 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7408 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7409 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7410 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7413 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7414 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7415 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7416 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7417 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7418 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7419 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7420 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7421 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7423 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7424 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7425 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7426 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7428 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7429 means that gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7430 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7433 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7434 lots of mail groups called things like
7435 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7436 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7437 following will do just that:
7440 (defun my-save-name (group)
7441 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7442 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7444 (setq gnus-split-methods
7445 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7450 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7451 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7452 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7453 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7454 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7455 all the files in the top level directory
7456 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7457 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7458 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7459 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7461 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7462 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7463 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7464 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7465 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7468 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7472 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
7473 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7474 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
7477 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7478 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7479 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7480 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7483 @node Decoding Articles
7484 @section Decoding Articles
7485 @cindex decoding articles
7487 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7488 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7491 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7492 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7493 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7494 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7495 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7496 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7500 @cindex article series
7501 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7502 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7503 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7504 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7505 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7507 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7508 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7509 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7511 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, gnus
7512 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7513 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7515 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7516 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7517 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7520 @node Uuencoded Articles
7521 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7523 @cindex uuencoded articles
7528 @kindex X u (Summary)
7529 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7530 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7531 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7534 @kindex X U (Summary)
7535 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7536 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7537 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7540 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7541 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7542 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7545 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7546 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7547 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7548 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7552 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7553 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7554 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7555 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7556 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7558 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7559 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7560 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7561 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7564 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7565 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7566 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7567 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7568 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7569 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7573 @node Shell Archives
7574 @subsection Shell Archives
7576 @cindex shell archives
7577 @cindex shared articles
7579 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7580 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7581 some commands to deal with these:
7586 @kindex X s (Summary)
7587 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7588 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7591 @kindex X S (Summary)
7592 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7593 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7596 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7597 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7598 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7601 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7602 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7603 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7604 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7608 @node PostScript Files
7609 @subsection PostScript Files
7615 @kindex X p (Summary)
7616 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7617 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7620 @kindex X P (Summary)
7621 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7622 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7623 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7626 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7627 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7628 View the current PostScript series
7629 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7632 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7633 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7634 View and save the current PostScript series
7635 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7640 @subsection Other Files
7644 @kindex X o (Summary)
7645 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7646 Save the current series
7647 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7650 @kindex X b (Summary)
7651 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7652 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7653 doesn't really work yet.
7657 @node Decoding Variables
7658 @subsection Decoding Variables
7660 Adjective, not verb.
7663 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7664 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7665 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7669 @node Rule Variables
7670 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7671 @cindex rule variables
7673 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7674 variables are of the form
7677 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7684 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7685 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7687 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7688 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @file{.au} sound file, you could
7691 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7692 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7695 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7696 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7697 This variable is consulted if gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7698 user and default view rules.
7700 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7701 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7702 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
7707 @node Other Decode Variables
7708 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
7711 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7713 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7714 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
7715 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
7716 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
7717 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
7721 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
7722 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
7725 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
7726 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
7727 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
7730 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7731 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7732 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
7733 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
7734 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
7737 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7738 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7739 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
7741 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7742 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7743 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
7744 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7745 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
7748 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7749 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7750 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7752 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7753 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7754 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7755 looking for files to display.
7757 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7758 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7759 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7762 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7763 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7764 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7767 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7768 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7769 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7772 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7773 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7774 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7777 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7778 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7779 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7780 decoded articles as unread.
7782 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7783 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7784 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7785 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7787 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7788 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7789 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7791 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7792 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7794 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7795 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
7796 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7797 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7799 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7800 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7801 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7802 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7803 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7804 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7805 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7806 simply dropped them.
7811 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7812 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7816 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7817 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7818 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7819 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7820 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7821 for you when you post the article.
7823 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7824 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7825 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7826 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7828 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7829 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7830 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7831 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7832 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7833 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7834 think that counts@dots{}) Default is @code{nil}.
7836 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7837 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7838 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7839 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7840 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7841 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7842 Default is @code{t}.
7848 @subsection Viewing Files
7849 @cindex viewing files
7850 @cindex pseudo-articles
7852 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, gnus will attempt
7853 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7854 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7855 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, gnus will
7856 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7857 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7858 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7860 Finally, gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7861 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7862 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7863 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7865 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7866 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7867 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7869 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7870 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7871 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7872 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7873 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7875 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7876 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7877 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7878 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7879 a list of parameters to that command.
7881 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7882 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7883 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7885 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7886 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7887 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7890 @node Article Treatment
7891 @section Article Treatment
7893 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7894 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7895 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7896 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7897 these articles easier.
7900 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7901 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7902 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7903 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7904 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
7905 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7906 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
7907 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7908 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
7909 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7910 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7914 @node Article Highlighting
7915 @subsection Article Highlighting
7916 @cindex highlighting
7918 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7919 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7924 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7925 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7926 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7927 Do much highlighting of the current article
7928 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7929 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7932 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7933 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7934 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7935 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7936 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7937 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7938 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7939 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7940 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7941 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7942 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7943 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7946 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7947 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7948 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7950 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7953 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7955 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7956 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7957 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7959 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7960 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7961 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7963 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7964 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7965 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7966 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7967 gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7968 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7970 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7971 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7972 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7974 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7975 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7976 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7978 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7979 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7980 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7981 that it's a citation.
7983 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7984 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7985 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7987 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7988 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7989 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7991 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7992 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7993 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7994 cited text belonging to the attribution.
8000 @kindex W H s (Summary)
8001 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8002 @vindex gnus-signature-face
8003 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
8004 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
8005 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
8006 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
8007 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
8012 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
8015 @node Article Fontisizing
8016 @subsection Article Fontisizing
8018 @cindex article emphasis
8020 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
8021 @kindex W e (Summary)
8022 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
8023 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
8024 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
8025 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
8027 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
8028 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
8029 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
8030 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
8031 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
8032 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
8033 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
8034 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
8038 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
8039 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
8040 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
8049 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
8050 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
8051 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
8052 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
8053 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
8054 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
8055 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
8056 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
8057 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
8058 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
8059 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
8060 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
8061 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
8063 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
8064 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
8065 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
8069 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
8072 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
8074 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8075 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8076 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8077 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8079 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8082 @node Article Hiding
8083 @subsection Article Hiding
8084 @cindex article hiding
8086 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8087 too much cruft in most articles.
8092 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8093 @findex gnus-article-hide
8094 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8095 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8096 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
8099 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8100 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8101 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8105 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8106 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8107 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8108 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8111 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8112 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8113 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8117 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8118 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8119 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8120 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8121 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8122 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8123 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8124 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8128 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8129 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8130 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8131 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8136 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8137 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8138 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8139 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8142 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8143 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8144 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8145 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8148 @cindex stripping advertisements
8149 @cindex advertisements
8150 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8151 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8152 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8153 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8154 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8155 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8156 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8157 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8158 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8159 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8162 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8163 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8164 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8168 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8169 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8170 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8171 @code{(@var{address} . @var{banner})}, where @var{address} is a regexp
8172 matching a mail address in the From header, @var{banner} is one of a
8173 symbol @code{signature}, an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist},
8174 a regexp and @code{nil}. If @var{address} matches author's mail
8175 address, it will remove things like advertisements. For example, if a
8176 sender has the mail address @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a
8177 banner something like @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he
8178 sends, you can use the following element to remove them:
8181 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" . "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8187 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8188 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8189 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8190 customizing the hiding:
8194 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8195 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8196 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8197 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8198 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8199 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8200 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8205 Starting point of the hidden text.
8207 Ending point of the hidden text.
8209 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8211 Number of lines of hidden text.
8214 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8215 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8216 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8217 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8218 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8223 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8224 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8226 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8227 following two variables:
8230 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8231 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8232 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8233 50), hide the cited text.
8235 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8236 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8237 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8242 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8243 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8244 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8245 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8246 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8247 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8251 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8252 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8253 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8255 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8256 citation customization.
8258 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8262 @node Article Washing
8263 @subsection Article Washing
8265 @cindex article washing
8267 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8268 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8270 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8271 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8274 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8275 articles by default.
8280 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8281 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8285 Force redisplaying of the current article
8286 (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). This is also not really washing.
8287 If you type this, you see the article without any previously applied
8288 interactive Washing functions but with all default treatments
8289 (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8292 @kindex W l (Summary)
8293 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8294 Remove page breaks from the current article
8295 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8299 @kindex W r (Summary)
8300 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8301 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8302 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8303 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8304 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8305 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8307 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8308 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8309 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8310 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8313 @kindex W m (Summary)
8314 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8315 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8319 @kindex W t (Summary)
8321 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8322 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8323 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8326 @kindex W v (Summary)
8327 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8328 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8329 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8332 @kindex W m (Summary)
8333 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
8334 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
8335 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
8338 @kindex W o (Summary)
8339 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8340 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8343 @kindex W d (Summary)
8344 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8345 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8347 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8349 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8350 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8351 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8352 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8355 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8356 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8357 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8358 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8361 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
8362 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8363 @cindex Outlook Express
8364 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
8365 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
8366 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8369 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
8370 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
8371 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min
8372 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max
8373 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
8374 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
8375 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
8376 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the miminum and
8377 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
8378 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines}).
8381 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
8382 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
8383 Repair a broken attribution line.
8384 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
8387 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
8388 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
8389 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
8390 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
8393 @kindex W w (Summary)
8394 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8395 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8397 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8401 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8402 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8403 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8406 @kindex W C (Summary)
8407 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8408 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8409 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8412 @kindex W c (Summary)
8413 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8414 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8415 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8416 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8417 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8420 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8421 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8422 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
8423 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
8424 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is usually done
8425 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8426 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
8428 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8431 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8432 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8433 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8434 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8435 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8438 @kindex W u (Summary)
8439 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
8440 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
8441 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
8442 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
8443 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
8446 @kindex W h (Summary)
8447 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8448 Treat @sc{html} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
8449 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8450 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @sc{html}.
8452 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8454 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
8455 The default is to use the function specified by
8456 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display
8457 Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) to convert the
8458 @sc{html}, but this is controlled by the
8459 @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions you
8467 Use emacs-w3m (see @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/} for more
8471 Use Links (see @uref{http://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mikulas/links/}).
8474 Use Lynx (see @uref{http://lynx.browser.org/}).
8477 Use html2text -- a simple @sc{html} converter included with Gnus.
8482 @kindex W b (Summary)
8483 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8484 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8485 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8488 @kindex W B (Summary)
8489 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8490 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8491 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8494 @kindex W p (Summary)
8495 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8496 Verify a signed control message (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}).
8497 Control messages such as @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are
8498 usually signed by the hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the PGP
8499 public key of the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8500 message.@footnote{PGP keys for many hierarchies are available at
8501 @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8504 @kindex W s (Summary)
8505 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8506 Verify a signed (PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}) message
8507 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8510 @kindex W a (Summary)
8511 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
8512 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8513 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
8516 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8517 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8518 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8519 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8522 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8523 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8524 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8525 lines with a single empty line.
8526 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8529 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8530 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8531 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8532 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8535 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8536 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8537 Do all the three commands above
8538 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8541 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8542 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8543 Remove all blank lines
8544 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8547 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8548 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8549 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8550 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8553 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8554 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8555 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8556 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8560 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8563 @node Article Header
8564 @subsection Article Header
8566 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8571 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8572 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8573 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8576 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8577 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8578 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8579 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8582 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8583 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
8584 Fold all the message headers
8585 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8589 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
8590 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
8591 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
8596 @node Article Buttons
8597 @subsection Article Buttons
8600 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8601 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8602 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8603 button on these references.
8605 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8606 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8607 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man pages and
8608 Emacs or Gnus related references. This is controlled by two variables,
8609 one that handles article bodies and one that handles article heads:
8613 @item gnus-button-alist
8614 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8615 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8618 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8624 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
8625 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
8626 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
8627 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
8628 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp} and @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp}.
8631 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8632 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8633 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8636 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8637 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8638 avoid false matches. Often variables named
8639 @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} are used here, @xref{Article Button
8640 Levels}, but any other form may be used too.
8642 @c @code{use-p} is @code{eval}ed only if @code{regexp} matches.
8645 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8648 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8649 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8653 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8656 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8659 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8660 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8661 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8662 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8663 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8666 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8669 @var{header} is a regular expression.
8671 @subsubheading Related variables and functions
8673 @item gnus-button-@var{*}-level
8674 @xref{Article Button Levels}.
8676 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-browse-level
8678 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
8679 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
8680 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
8681 default values of the variables above.
8683 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-man-level
8685 @item gnus-button-man-handler
8686 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8687 The function to use for displaying man pages. It must take at least one
8688 argument with a string naming the man page.
8690 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-message-level
8692 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
8693 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
8694 Regular expression that matches a message ID or a mail address.
8696 @item gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
8697 @vindex gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
8698 This variable determines what to do when the button on a string as
8699 @samp{foo123@@bar.invalid} is pushed. Strings like this can be either a
8700 message ID or a mail address. If it is one of the symbols @code{mid} or
8701 @code{mail}, Gnus will always assume that the string is a message ID or
8702 a mail address, respectivly. If this variable is set to the symbol
8703 @code{ask}, always query the user what do do. If it is a function, this
8704 function will be called with the string as it's only argument. The
8705 function must return @code{mid}, @code{mail}, @code{invalid} or
8706 @code{ask}. The default value is the function
8707 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
8709 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
8710 @findex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
8711 Function that guesses whether it's argument is a message ID or a mail
8712 address. Returns @code{mid} it's a message IDs, @code{mail} if it's a
8713 mail address, @code{ask} if unsure and @code{invalid} if the string is
8716 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
8717 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
8718 An alist of @code{(RATE . REGEXP)} pairs used by the function
8719 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
8721 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-tex-level
8723 @item gnus-button-ctan-handler
8724 @findex gnus-button-ctan-handler
8725 The function to use for displaying CTAN links. It must take one
8726 argument, the string naming the URL.
8729 @vindex gnus-ctan-url
8730 Top directory of a CTAN (Comprehensive TeX Archive Network) archive used
8731 by @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler}.
8735 @item gnus-article-button-face
8736 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
8737 Face used on buttons.
8739 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
8740 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
8741 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
8745 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
8748 @node Article Button Levels
8749 @subsection Article button levels
8750 @cindex button levels
8751 The higher the value of the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level},
8752 the more buttons will appear. If the level is zero, no corresponding
8753 buttons are displayed. With the default value (which is 5) you should
8754 already see quite a lot of buttons. With higher levels, you will see
8755 more buttons, but you may also get more false positives. To avoid them,
8756 you can set the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} local to
8757 specific groups (@pxref{Group Parameters}). Here's an example for the
8758 variable @code{gnus-parameters}:
8761 ;; increase `gnus-button-*-level' in some groups:
8762 (setq gnus-parameters
8763 '(("\\<\\(emacs\\|gnus\\)\\>" (gnus-button-emacs-level 10))
8764 ("\\<unix\\>" (gnus-button-man-level 10))
8765 ("\\<tex\\>" (gnus-button-tex-level 10))))
8770 @item gnus-button-browse-level
8771 @vindex gnus-button-browse-level
8772 Controls the display of references to message IDs, mail addresses and
8773 news URLs. Related variables and functions include
8774 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}, @code{browse-url}, and
8775 @code{browse-url-browser-function}.
8777 @item gnus-button-emacs-level
8778 @vindex gnus-button-emacs-level
8779 Controls the display of Emacs or Gnus references. Related functions are
8780 @code{gnus-button-handle-custom},
8781 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-function},
8782 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-variable},
8783 @code{gnus-button-handle-symbol},
8784 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-key},
8785 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos},
8786 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-command},
8787 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-variable},
8788 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-documentation}, and
8789 @code{gnus-button-handle-library}.
8791 @item gnus-button-man-level
8792 @vindex gnus-button-man-level
8793 Controls the display of references to (Unix) man pages.
8794 See @code{gnus-button-man-handler}.
8796 @item gnus-button-message-level
8797 @vindex gnus-button-message-level
8798 Controls the display of message IDs, mail addresses and news URLs.
8799 Related variables and functions include
8800 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp},
8801 @code{gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail},
8802 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}, and
8803 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist}.
8805 @item gnus-button-tex-level
8806 @vindex gnus-button-tex-level
8807 Controls the display of references to TeX or LaTeX stuff, e.g. for CTAN
8808 URLs. See the variables @code{gnus-ctan-url},
8809 @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler},
8810 @code{gnus-button-ctan-directory-regexp}, and
8811 @code{gnus-button-handle-ctan-bogus-regexp}.
8817 @subsection Article Date
8819 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
8820 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
8821 when the article was sent.
8826 @kindex W T u (Summary)
8827 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
8828 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
8829 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
8832 @kindex W T i (Summary)
8833 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
8835 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
8836 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
8839 @kindex W T l (Summary)
8840 @findex gnus-article-date-local
8841 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
8844 @kindex W T p (Summary)
8845 @findex gnus-article-date-english
8846 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
8847 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
8850 @kindex W T s (Summary)
8851 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
8852 @findex gnus-article-date-user
8853 @findex format-time-string
8854 Display the date using a user-defined format
8855 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
8856 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
8857 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
8858 for a list of possible format specs.
8861 @kindex W T e (Summary)
8862 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
8863 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
8864 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
8865 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
8866 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
8869 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
8872 @vindex gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header
8873 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
8874 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
8877 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
8878 into wonderful absurdities.
8880 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
8883 (gnus-start-date-timer)
8886 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
8887 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
8891 @kindex W T o (Summary)
8892 @findex gnus-article-date-original
8893 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
8894 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
8895 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
8896 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
8897 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
8901 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
8902 preferred format automatically.
8905 @node Article Display
8906 @subsection Article Display
8911 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
8912 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
8914 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
8915 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
8917 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
8918 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
8920 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
8921 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
8923 All these functions are toggles--if the elements already exist,
8928 @kindex W D x (Summary)
8929 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
8930 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
8931 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
8934 @kindex W D d (Summary)
8935 @findex gnus-article-display-face
8936 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
8937 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
8940 @kindex W D s (Summary)
8941 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
8942 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
8945 @kindex W D f (Summary)
8946 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
8947 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
8950 @kindex W D m (Summary)
8951 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
8952 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
8953 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
8956 @kindex W D n (Summary)
8957 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
8958 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
8959 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
8962 @kindex W D D (Summary)
8963 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
8964 Remove all images from the article buffer
8965 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
8971 @node Article Signature
8972 @subsection Article Signature
8974 @cindex article signature
8976 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8977 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
8978 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
8979 that says what is to be considered a signature is
8980 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
8981 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
8982 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
8983 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
8984 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
8987 (setq gnus-signature-separator
8988 '("^-- $" ; The standard
8989 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
8990 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
8991 ; line of dashes. Shame!
8992 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
8993 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
8994 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
8997 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
9000 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
9001 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
9002 signature when displaying articles.
9006 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
9009 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
9012 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
9013 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
9015 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
9016 in question is not a signature.
9019 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
9020 listed above. Here's an example:
9023 (setq gnus-signature-limit
9024 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
9027 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
9028 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
9029 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
9030 signature after all.
9033 @node Article Miscellania
9034 @subsection Article Miscellania
9038 @kindex A t (Summary)
9039 @findex gnus-article-babel
9040 Translate the article from one language to another
9041 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
9047 @section MIME Commands
9048 @cindex MIME decoding
9050 @cindex viewing attachments
9052 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
9053 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
9059 @kindex K v (Summary)
9060 View the @sc{mime} part.
9063 @kindex K o (Summary)
9064 Save the @sc{mime} part.
9067 @kindex K c (Summary)
9068 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
9071 @kindex K e (Summary)
9072 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
9075 @kindex K i (Summary)
9076 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
9079 @kindex K | (Summary)
9080 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
9083 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
9088 @kindex K b (Summary)
9089 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
9090 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
9094 @kindex K m (Summary)
9095 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
9096 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
9097 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
9098 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
9099 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
9102 @kindex X m (Summary)
9103 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
9104 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
9105 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
9106 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9109 @kindex M-t (Summary)
9110 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
9111 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
9112 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
9115 @kindex W M w (Summary)
9116 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
9117 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
9118 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
9121 @kindex W M c (Summary)
9122 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
9123 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
9124 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
9126 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
9127 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
9128 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
9129 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
9130 include @sc{mime} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
9131 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9134 @kindex W M v (Summary)
9135 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
9136 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
9137 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
9144 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
9145 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
9146 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9147 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
9150 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
9153 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
9157 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
9158 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
9159 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't required the @samp{MIME-Version} header
9160 before interpreting the message as a @sc{mime} message. This helps
9161 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
9162 default is @code{nil}.
9164 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
9165 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
9166 There are other, non-@sc{mime} encoding methods used. The most common
9167 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
9168 This variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
9169 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
9170 Gnus @sc{mime} machinery. The default is @code{t}.
9172 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9173 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9174 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9175 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9176 displayed or this variable is overridden by
9177 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
9178 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
9179 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is nil.
9181 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9182 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9183 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9184 this list will have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9185 displayed. This variable overrides
9186 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
9187 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
9190 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
9191 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
9192 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9194 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9195 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9196 If this is non-nil, then all @sc{mime} parts get buttons. The default
9197 value is @code{nil}.
9199 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9200 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9201 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
9202 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9203 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9204 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9205 save all jpegs into some directory).
9207 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9210 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9211 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9213 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9214 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9215 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9216 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9217 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9220 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9221 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9222 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9224 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9225 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9226 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @sc{mime} parts.
9227 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9229 Ready-made functions include@*
9230 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9231 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9232 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9233 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9234 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9235 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9236 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9237 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9238 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9239 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9240 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9241 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9243 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9244 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9246 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9247 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9248 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9251 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9252 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9253 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9254 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9258 to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
9267 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
9268 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
9269 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
9270 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
9271 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
9272 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
9273 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
9275 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
9276 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
9277 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
9278 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
9280 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets
9281 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
9282 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
9283 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
9284 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
9285 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
9286 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
9287 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
9288 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
9290 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
9291 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
9292 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
9293 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
9294 quoted-printable header encoding.
9296 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
9297 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
9298 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
9302 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
9305 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
9306 means encode all charsets),
9308 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
9309 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
9310 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
9317 @cindex coding system aliases
9318 @cindex preferred charset
9320 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
9322 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
9323 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
9326 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
9327 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
9330 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
9331 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
9333 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
9336 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
9339 This will almost do the right thing.
9341 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
9345 (codepage-setup 1251)
9346 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
9350 @node Article Commands
9351 @section Article Commands
9358 @kindex A P (Summary)
9359 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
9360 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
9361 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
9362 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
9363 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
9364 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
9369 @node Summary Sorting
9370 @section Summary Sorting
9371 @cindex summary sorting
9373 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
9374 can't really see why you'd want that.
9379 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
9380 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
9381 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
9384 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
9385 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
9386 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
9389 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
9390 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
9391 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
9394 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
9395 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
9396 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
9399 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
9400 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
9401 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
9404 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
9405 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
9406 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
9409 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
9410 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
9411 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
9414 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
9415 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
9416 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
9419 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
9420 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
9421 Sort using the default sorting method
9422 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
9425 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
9426 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
9427 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
9428 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
9429 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
9433 @node Finding the Parent
9434 @section Finding the Parent
9435 @cindex parent articles
9436 @cindex referring articles
9441 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
9442 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
9443 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
9444 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
9445 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
9446 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
9447 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
9448 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
9449 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
9451 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
9452 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
9453 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, gnus will fetch the parent, the
9454 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
9455 @kbd{-3 ^}, gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
9459 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
9460 @kindex A R (Summary)
9461 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
9462 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
9465 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
9466 @kindex A T (Summary)
9467 Display the full thread where the current article appears
9468 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
9469 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
9470 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
9471 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
9472 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
9473 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
9475 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
9476 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
9477 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
9478 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
9479 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
9480 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
9483 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
9484 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
9486 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
9487 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
9488 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
9489 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
9490 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
9491 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
9492 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
9495 The current select method will be used when fetching by
9496 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
9497 by giving this command a prefix.
9499 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
9500 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
9501 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
9502 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
9503 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
9504 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
9507 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
9508 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
9509 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
9512 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
9513 then ask Google if that fails:
9516 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
9518 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
9521 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
9522 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
9523 @code{nnbabyl}, and @code{nnmaildir} are able to locate articles from
9524 any groups, while @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
9525 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current group.
9526 (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not
9527 support this at all.
9530 @node Alternative Approaches
9531 @section Alternative Approaches
9533 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
9534 gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
9537 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
9538 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
9543 @subsection Pick and Read
9544 @cindex pick and read
9546 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
9547 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
9548 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
9549 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
9551 @findex gnus-pick-mode
9552 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
9553 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
9554 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
9555 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
9556 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
9558 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
9563 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
9564 Pick the article or thread on the current line
9565 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9566 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
9567 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
9568 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
9569 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
9570 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
9573 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
9574 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
9575 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
9576 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
9580 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
9581 Unpick the thread or article
9582 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9583 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
9584 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
9585 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9586 the thread or article at that line.
9590 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9591 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9592 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9593 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9594 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9595 will still be visible when you are reading.
9599 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9600 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9601 which is mapped to the same function
9602 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9604 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9607 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9610 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9611 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
9613 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
9614 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
9615 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
9617 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
9618 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
9619 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
9620 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
9621 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
9622 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
9623 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
9627 @subsection Binary Groups
9628 @cindex binary groups
9630 @findex gnus-binary-mode
9631 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
9632 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
9633 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
9634 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
9635 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
9636 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
9639 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
9640 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
9641 command, when you have turned on this mode
9642 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
9644 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
9645 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
9649 @section Tree Display
9652 @vindex gnus-use-trees
9653 If you don't like the normal gnus summary display, you might try setting
9654 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
9655 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
9658 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
9661 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
9662 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
9663 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
9665 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9666 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9667 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
9668 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
9669 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
9671 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
9672 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
9673 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
9674 default is @code{modeline}.
9676 @item gnus-tree-line-format
9677 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
9678 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
9679 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
9680 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
9681 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
9682 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
9688 The name of the poster.
9690 The @code{From} header.
9692 The number of the article.
9694 The opening bracket.
9696 The closing bracket.
9701 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
9703 Variables related to the display are:
9706 @item gnus-tree-brackets
9707 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
9708 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
9709 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
9710 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
9711 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
9713 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9714 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9715 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
9716 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
9720 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
9721 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
9722 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will try to keep the tree
9723 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other gnus
9724 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
9725 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
9726 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
9727 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
9728 other windows displayed next to it.
9730 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
9734 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
9735 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
9738 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
9739 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
9740 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9741 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
9742 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
9743 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
9744 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
9748 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
9751 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
9761 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
9765 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
9766 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
9768 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
9770 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
9775 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
9776 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
9777 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
9780 (setq gnus-use-trees t
9781 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9782 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
9783 (gnus-add-configuration
9787 (summary 0.75 point)
9792 @xref{Window Layout}.
9795 @node Mail Group Commands
9796 @section Mail Group Commands
9797 @cindex mail group commands
9799 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
9800 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
9802 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
9803 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9808 @kindex B e (Summary)
9809 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
9810 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
9811 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
9812 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
9813 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
9816 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
9817 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
9818 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
9819 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
9820 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
9821 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
9824 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
9825 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
9826 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
9827 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
9828 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
9829 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
9832 @kindex B m (Summary)
9834 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
9835 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
9836 Move the article from one mail group to another
9837 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9838 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9841 @kindex B c (Summary)
9843 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
9844 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
9845 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
9846 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9847 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9850 @kindex B B (Summary)
9851 @cindex crosspost mail
9852 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
9853 Crosspost the current article to some other group
9854 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
9855 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
9856 be properly updated.
9859 @kindex B i (Summary)
9860 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
9861 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
9862 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
9863 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9866 @kindex B I (Summary)
9867 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
9868 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
9869 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
9870 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9873 @kindex B r (Summary)
9874 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
9875 @vindex gnus-summary-respool-default-method
9876 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
9877 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
9878 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
9879 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
9880 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
9881 (which is the default).
9885 @kindex B w (Summary)
9887 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
9888 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
9889 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
9890 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
9891 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
9892 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
9893 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, gnus won't re-highlight the article.
9896 @kindex B q (Summary)
9897 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
9898 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
9899 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
9900 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
9903 @kindex B t (Summary)
9904 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
9905 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
9906 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
9909 @kindex B p (Summary)
9910 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
9911 Some people have a tendency to send you ``courtesy'' copies when they
9912 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
9913 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
9914 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
9915 article from your news server (or rather, from
9916 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
9917 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
9918 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
9919 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
9920 just not have arrived yet.
9923 @kindex K E (Summary)
9924 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
9925 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
9926 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
9927 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
9928 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
9932 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
9933 @cindex moving articles
9934 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have gnus
9935 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
9936 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
9937 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
9938 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
9939 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
9940 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
9943 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
9944 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
9945 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
9946 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
9950 @node Various Summary Stuff
9951 @section Various Summary Stuff
9954 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
9955 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
9956 * Summary Generation Commands::
9957 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
9961 @vindex gnus-summary-display-while-building
9962 @item gnus-summary-display-while-building
9963 If non-@code{nil}, show and update the summary buffer as it's being
9964 built. If @code{t}, update the buffer after every line is inserted.
9965 If the value is an integer, @var{n}, update the display every @var{n}
9966 lines. The default is @code{nil}.
9968 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
9969 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
9970 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
9972 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
9973 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
9974 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
9975 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
9976 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
9977 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
9980 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9981 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9982 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
9983 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
9984 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
9986 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9987 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9988 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
9991 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9992 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9993 When gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
9994 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
9995 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
9996 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
9997 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), gnus will rename the
9998 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
9999 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
10000 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
10002 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10003 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10004 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
10005 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
10006 list of articles to be selected.
10008 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
10009 the list in one particular group:
10012 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
10013 (if (string= group "some.group")
10014 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
10018 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
10019 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
10020 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
10021 variables and their default values (when the default values are not
10022 nil), that should be made global while the summary buffer is active.
10023 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
10024 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
10025 buffers. For example:
10028 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
10029 '(message-use-followup-to
10030 (gnus-visible-headers .
10031 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
10037 @node Summary Group Information
10038 @subsection Summary Group Information
10043 @kindex H f (Summary)
10044 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
10045 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
10046 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
10047 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
10048 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
10049 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
10050 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
10051 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
10052 be used for fetching the file.
10055 @kindex H d (Summary)
10056 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
10057 Give a brief description of the current group
10058 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
10059 rereading the description from the server.
10062 @kindex H h (Summary)
10063 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
10064 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
10065 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
10068 @kindex H i (Summary)
10069 @findex gnus-info-find-node
10070 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
10074 @node Searching for Articles
10075 @subsection Searching for Articles
10080 @kindex M-s (Summary)
10081 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
10082 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
10083 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
10086 @kindex M-r (Summary)
10087 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
10088 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
10089 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
10092 @kindex & (Summary)
10093 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
10094 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
10095 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
10096 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
10097 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
10098 search backward instead.
10100 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
10101 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
10104 @kindex M-& (Summary)
10105 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
10106 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
10107 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
10110 @node Summary Generation Commands
10111 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
10116 @kindex Y g (Summary)
10117 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
10118 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
10121 @kindex Y c (Summary)
10122 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
10123 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10124 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
10127 @kindex Y d (Summary)
10128 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
10129 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10130 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
10135 @node Really Various Summary Commands
10136 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
10142 @kindex C-d (Summary)
10143 @kindex A D (Summary)
10144 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
10145 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
10146 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
10147 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
10148 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
10149 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
10150 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
10151 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
10155 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
10156 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
10157 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
10158 several documents into one biiig group
10159 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
10160 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
10161 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
10162 command understands the process/prefix convention
10163 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10166 @kindex C-t (Summary)
10167 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
10168 Toggle truncation of summary lines
10169 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
10170 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
10171 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
10174 @kindex = (Summary)
10175 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
10176 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
10177 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
10180 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
10181 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
10182 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10183 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
10186 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
10187 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
10188 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10189 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
10194 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
10195 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
10196 @cindex summary exit
10197 @cindex exiting groups
10199 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
10200 group and return you to the group buffer.
10206 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
10207 @kindex q (Summary)
10208 @findex gnus-summary-exit
10209 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
10210 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
10211 @vindex gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook
10212 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
10213 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
10214 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
10215 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
10216 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
10217 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
10218 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
10219 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
10223 @kindex Z E (Summary)
10224 @kindex Q (Summary)
10225 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
10226 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
10227 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
10231 @kindex Z c (Summary)
10232 @kindex c (Summary)
10233 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
10234 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
10235 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
10236 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
10239 @kindex Z C (Summary)
10240 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
10241 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
10242 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
10245 @kindex Z n (Summary)
10246 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
10247 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
10248 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
10251 @kindex Z R (Summary)
10252 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
10253 Exit this group, and then enter it again
10254 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
10255 all articles, both read and unread.
10259 @kindex Z G (Summary)
10260 @kindex M-g (Summary)
10261 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
10262 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
10263 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
10264 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
10265 articles, both read and unread.
10268 @kindex Z N (Summary)
10269 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
10270 Exit the group and go to the next group
10271 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
10274 @kindex Z P (Summary)
10275 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
10276 Exit the group and go to the previous group
10277 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
10280 @kindex Z s (Summary)
10281 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
10282 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
10283 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
10284 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
10285 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
10288 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
10289 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
10290 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
10291 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
10293 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
10294 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
10295 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
10296 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
10297 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
10298 If you do that, gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
10299 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
10300 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
10301 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
10302 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
10303 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
10304 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
10306 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
10308 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
10309 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
10310 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
10311 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
10312 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
10313 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
10314 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
10315 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
10316 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
10319 @node Crosspost Handling
10320 @section Crosspost Handling
10324 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
10325 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
10326 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
10327 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
10328 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
10329 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
10332 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
10333 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
10334 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
10335 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
10336 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
10338 @cindex cross-posting
10341 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
10342 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
10343 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
10344 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
10345 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
10346 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
10347 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
10348 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
10349 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
10350 the cross reference mechanism.
10352 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
10353 @cindex overview.fmt
10354 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
10355 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
10356 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
10357 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
10358 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
10359 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
10362 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
10363 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
10364 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
10369 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
10372 @node Duplicate Suppression
10373 @section Duplicate Suppression
10375 By default, gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
10376 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
10377 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
10378 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
10383 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
10384 is evil and not very common.
10387 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
10388 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
10391 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
10392 different @sc{nntp} servers.
10395 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
10398 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
10399 well, but these four are the most common situations.
10401 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
10402 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
10403 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
10404 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
10405 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
10406 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
10407 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
10410 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
10411 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
10412 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
10413 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
10414 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
10415 saw the article in.
10418 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
10419 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
10420 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
10422 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
10423 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
10424 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
10425 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
10426 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single gnus
10427 session are suppressed.
10429 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
10430 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
10431 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
10432 suppression list. The default is 10000.
10434 @item gnus-duplicate-file
10435 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
10436 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
10437 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
10440 If you have a tendency to stop and start gnus often, setting
10441 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
10442 you leave gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
10443 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
10444 so that means that if you stop and start gnus often, you should set
10445 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
10446 to you to figure out, I think.
10451 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
10452 The formats that are supported are PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} and @sc{s/mime},
10453 however you need some external programs to get things to work:
10457 To handle PGP and PGP/MIME messages, you have to install an OpenPGP
10458 implementation such as GnuPG. The lisp interface to GnuPG included
10459 with Gnus is called PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg, PGG Manual}), but
10460 Mailcrypt and gpg.el are also supported.
10463 To handle @sc{s/mime} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
10464 or newer is recommended.
10468 More information on how to set things up can be found in the message
10469 manual (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
10472 @item mm-verify-option
10473 @vindex mm-verify-option
10474 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
10475 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
10476 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10478 @item mm-decrypt-option
10479 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
10480 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
10481 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
10482 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10485 @vindex mml1991-use
10486 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for PGP
10487 messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but @code{mailcrypt} and
10488 @code{gpg} are also supported although deprecated.
10491 @vindex mml2015-use
10492 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10493 PGP/MIME messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but @code{mailcrypt}
10494 and @code{gpg} are also supported although deprecated.
10498 @cindex snarfing keys
10499 @cindex importing PGP keys
10500 @cindex PGP key ring import
10501 Snarfing OpenPGP keys (i.e., importing keys from articles into your
10502 key ring) is not supported explicitly through a menu item or command,
10503 rather Gnus do detect and label keys as @samp{application/pgp-keys},
10504 allowing you to specify whatever action you think is appropriate
10505 through the usual MIME infrastructure. You can use a
10506 @file{~/.mailcap} entry (@pxref{mailcap, , mailcap, emacs-mime, The
10507 Emacs MIME Manual}) such as the following to import keys using GNU
10508 Privacy Guard when you click on the MIME button (@pxref{Using MIME}).
10511 application/pgp-keys; gpg --import --interactive --verbose; needsterminal
10515 @section Mailing List
10517 @kindex A M (summary)
10518 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10519 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10520 add a @code{to-list} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10521 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10524 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10529 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10530 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10531 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10534 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10535 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10536 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10539 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10540 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10541 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10545 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10546 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10547 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
10550 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
10551 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10552 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
10555 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
10556 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10557 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
10562 @node Article Buffer
10563 @chapter Article Buffer
10564 @cindex article buffer
10566 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
10567 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
10568 tell gnus otherwise.
10571 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
10572 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
10573 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
10574 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
10575 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
10579 @node Hiding Headers
10580 @section Hiding Headers
10581 @cindex hiding headers
10582 @cindex deleting headers
10584 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
10585 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
10587 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
10588 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
10589 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
10590 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
10591 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
10592 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
10593 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
10594 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
10595 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
10597 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
10601 @item gnus-visible-headers
10602 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
10603 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
10604 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
10605 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
10607 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
10608 the article and the subject, you'd say:
10611 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
10614 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10617 @item gnus-ignored-headers
10618 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
10619 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
10620 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
10621 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
10622 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
10624 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} field
10625 and the @code{Xref} field, you might say:
10628 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
10631 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10634 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
10635 variable will have no effect.
10639 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
10640 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
10641 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
10642 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
10643 the headers are to be displayed.
10645 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
10646 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10649 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10652 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10653 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10655 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10656 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10657 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10658 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10659 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10660 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
10661 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10664 These conditions are:
10667 Remove all empty headers.
10669 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10670 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10672 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
10673 @code{From} header.
10675 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10678 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10679 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
10681 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10682 the current groups's @code{to-list} parameter.
10684 Remove the @code{CC} header if it only contains the address identical to
10685 the current groups's @code{to-list} parameter.
10687 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10690 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10692 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10695 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
10698 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10699 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10702 This is also the default value for this variable.
10706 @section Using MIME
10709 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10710 while people stand around yawning.
10712 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10713 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10715 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10716 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10717 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10719 @vindex gnus-show-mime
10720 @vindex gnus-article-display-method-for-mime
10721 @findex gnus-article-display-mime-message
10722 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
10723 @code{gnus-article-display-method-for-mime}, which is
10724 @code{gnus-article-display-mime-message} by default. This function
10725 calls the @sc{semi} MIME-View program to actually do the work. For more
10726 information on @sc{semi} MIME-View, see its manual page (however it is
10727 not existed yet, sorry).
10729 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
10730 @sc{mime} all the time. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime} set, then
10731 you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article buffer.
10732 These can't be avoided.
10734 In GNUS or Gnus, it might be best to just use the toggling functions
10735 from the summary buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance,
10736 you enter the group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it,
10737 @sc{mime} has decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible
10738 sing-a-long song comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find
10739 the volume button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to
10740 look at you, and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you
10741 can't find the program to control the volume, and everybody else in the
10742 room suddenly decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel
10745 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
10747 To avoid such kind of situation, gnus stops to use
10748 @code{metamail-buffer}. So now, you can set @code{gnus-show-mime} to
10749 non-@code{nil} every-time, then you can push button in the article
10750 buffer when there are nobody else.
10752 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
10755 @node Customizing Articles
10756 @section Customizing Articles
10757 @cindex article customization
10759 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
10760 exist. You can call these functions interactively
10761 (@pxref{Article Washing}), or you can have them
10762 called automatically when you select the articles.
10764 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
10765 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
10766 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
10767 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
10769 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
10770 for sensible values.
10774 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
10777 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
10780 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
10783 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
10786 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
10790 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
10791 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
10792 regexps in the list.
10795 A list where the first element is not a string:
10797 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
10798 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
10799 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
10803 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
10807 @code{mime}: Do this treatment if the value of @code{gnus-show-mime}' is
10812 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
10813 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
10814 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
10815 considered to contain just a single part.
10817 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
10818 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
10819 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
10820 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
10821 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
10822 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
10823 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
10825 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
10826 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
10827 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
10828 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
10831 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
10832 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
10834 @xref{Article Buttons}.
10836 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
10837 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
10838 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
10839 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
10840 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
10841 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
10842 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
10843 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
10844 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
10845 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
10846 @item gnus-treat-decode-article-as-default-mime-charset (t, integer)
10848 @xref{Article Washing}.
10850 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
10851 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
10852 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
10853 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
10854 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
10855 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
10856 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
10858 @xref{Article Date}.
10860 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
10861 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
10862 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
10866 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
10868 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
10870 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
10871 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
10872 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
10876 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
10880 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
10881 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
10882 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
10883 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
10884 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
10885 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
10886 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
10887 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
10888 @item gnus-treat-strip-banner (t, last)
10889 @item gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers (head)
10891 @xref{Article Hiding}.
10893 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
10894 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
10895 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
10897 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
10899 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
10900 @item gnus-treat-translate
10901 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
10903 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
10904 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
10905 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
10906 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
10908 @xref{Article Header}.
10913 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
10914 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
10915 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
10916 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
10917 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
10921 @node Article Keymap
10922 @section Article Keymap
10924 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
10925 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
10926 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
10927 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
10930 A few additional keystrokes are available:
10935 @kindex SPACE (Article)
10936 @findex gnus-article-next-page
10937 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
10938 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h SPACE h}.
10941 @kindex DEL (Article)
10942 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
10943 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
10944 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h DEL h}.
10947 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
10948 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
10949 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
10950 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
10951 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
10954 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
10955 @findex gnus-article-mail
10956 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
10957 given a prefix, include the mail.
10960 @kindex s (Article)
10961 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
10962 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
10963 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
10966 @kindex ? (Article)
10967 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
10968 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
10969 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
10972 @kindex TAB (Article)
10973 @findex gnus-article-next-button
10974 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
10975 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
10978 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
10979 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
10980 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
10983 @kindex R (Article)
10984 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
10985 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
10986 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
10987 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10991 @kindex F (Article)
10992 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
10993 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
10994 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
10995 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
11003 @section Misc Article
11007 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
11008 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
11009 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
11010 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
11013 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
11014 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
11016 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
11017 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
11019 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
11020 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
11021 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
11022 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
11023 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
11024 the contents of the article buffer.
11026 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
11027 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
11028 Hook called in article mode buffers.
11030 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
11031 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
11032 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
11033 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
11035 @vindex gnus-article-over-scroll
11036 @item gnus-article-over-scroll
11037 If non-@code{nil}, allow scrolling the article buffer even when there
11038 no more new text to scroll in. The default is @code{nil}.
11040 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
11041 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
11042 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
11043 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
11044 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
11050 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
11051 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
11052 performed. The characters and their meaning:
11057 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
11060 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
11063 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
11064 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
11065 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
11068 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
11071 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
11074 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
11079 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
11083 @vindex gnus-break-pages
11085 @item gnus-break-pages
11086 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
11087 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
11088 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
11089 paging will not be done.
11091 @item gnus-page-delimiter
11092 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
11093 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
11097 @cindex internationalized domain names
11098 @vindex gnus-use-idna
11099 @item gnus-use-idna
11100 This variable controls whether Gnus performs IDNA decoding of
11101 internationalized domain names inside @sc{From:}, @sc{To:} and
11102 @sc{Cc:} headers. This requires GNU Libidn
11103 (@url{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/}, and this variable is only
11104 enabled if you have installed it.
11109 @node Composing Messages
11110 @chapter Composing Messages
11111 @cindex composing messages
11114 @cindex sending mail
11119 @cindex using s/mime
11120 @cindex using smime
11122 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
11123 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
11124 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
11125 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
11126 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
11127 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
11130 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
11131 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
11132 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
11133 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
11134 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
11135 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
11136 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
11137 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
11140 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
11141 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
11147 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
11150 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
11151 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
11152 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
11153 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
11154 @code{nil} include all headers.
11156 @item gnus-add-to-list
11157 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
11158 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
11159 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
11161 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11162 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11163 This can also be a function receiving the group name as the only
11164 parameter which should return non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is
11165 needed, or a regular expression matching group names, where
11166 confirmation is should be asked for.
11168 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
11169 press R anyway, this variable might be for you.
11171 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11172 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11173 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
11174 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
11175 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
11180 @node Posting Server
11181 @section Posting Server
11183 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
11184 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
11186 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
11188 It can be quite complicated.
11190 @vindex gnus-post-method
11191 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
11192 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
11193 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
11194 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
11195 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
11196 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
11197 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
11198 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
11199 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
11202 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
11205 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
11206 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
11207 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
11208 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
11210 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
11211 gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
11213 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
11214 If that's the case, gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
11217 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
11218 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
11220 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
11221 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
11222 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
11223 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
11224 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @sc{smtp}
11225 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
11226 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
11227 package correctly. An example:
11230 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
11231 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11232 ;; The following variable needs to be set because of the FLIM version of
11233 ;; smtpmail.el. Which smtpmail.el is used depends on the `load-path'.
11234 (setq smtp-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11237 To the thing similar to this, there is @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}.
11238 It is useful if your ISP requires the POP-before-SMTP authentication.
11239 See the documentation for the function @code{mail-source-touch-pop}.
11241 Other possible choices for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
11242 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
11243 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
11245 @node Mail and Post
11246 @section Mail and Post
11248 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
11252 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
11253 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
11254 @cindex mailing lists
11256 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
11257 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
11258 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
11259 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
11260 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
11261 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
11262 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
11263 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
11264 still a pain, though.
11266 @item gnus-user-agent
11267 @vindex gnus-user-agent
11270 This variable controls which information should be exposed in the
11271 User-Agent header. It can be one of the symbols @code{gnus} (show only
11272 Gnus version), @code{emacs-gnus} (show only Emacs and Gnus versions),
11273 @code{emacs-gnus-config} (same as @code{emacs-gnus} plus system
11274 configuration), @code{emacs-gnus-type} (same as @code{emacs-gnus} plus
11275 system type) or a custom string. If you set it to a string, be sure to
11276 use a valid format, see RFC 2616."
11280 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
11281 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
11282 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
11285 @findex ispell-message
11287 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
11290 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
11291 you're in, you could say something like the following:
11294 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
11298 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
11299 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
11301 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
11304 Modify to suit your needs.
11307 @node Archived Messages
11308 @section Archived Messages
11309 @cindex archived messages
11310 @cindex sent messages
11312 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
11313 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
11314 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
11315 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
11318 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
11319 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
11322 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
11323 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server gnus is to
11324 use to store sent messages. The default is:
11327 (nnfolder "archive"
11328 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
11329 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
11330 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
11331 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
11334 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
11335 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
11336 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
11337 directory chosen, you could say something like:
11340 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
11341 '(nnfolder "archive"
11342 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
11343 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
11344 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
11347 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
11349 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
11350 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
11351 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
11353 This variable can be used to do the following:
11358 Messages will be saved in that group.
11360 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
11361 message will not be stored in the select method given by
11362 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
11363 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
11364 has the default value shown above. Then setting
11365 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
11366 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
11367 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
11371 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
11373 an alist of regexps, functions and forms
11374 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
11377 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
11382 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
11384 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
11387 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
11389 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
11392 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
11394 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11395 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
11396 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
11397 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
11400 More complex stuff:
11402 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11403 '((if (message-news-p)
11408 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
11409 messages in one file per month:
11412 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11413 '((if (message-news-p)
11415 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
11418 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
11419 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
11421 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
11422 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
11423 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
11424 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
11425 gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
11426 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
11427 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
11428 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
11429 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
11430 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
11432 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
11433 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
11434 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
11435 this will disable archiving.
11438 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
11439 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
11440 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
11441 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
11442 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
11445 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
11446 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
11447 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
11450 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
11451 but the latter is the preferred method.
11453 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11454 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11455 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
11457 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11458 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11459 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
11460 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
11461 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
11462 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
11463 changed in the future.
11468 @node Posting Styles
11469 @section Posting Styles
11470 @cindex posting styles
11473 All them variables, they make my head swim.
11475 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
11476 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
11477 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
11480 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
11481 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
11482 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
11483 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
11484 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
11489 (signature "Peace and happiness")
11490 (organization "What me?"))
11492 (signature "Death to everybody"))
11493 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
11494 (organization "Emacs is it")))
11497 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
11498 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
11499 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
11500 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
11501 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
11502 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
11503 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
11504 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
11506 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
11507 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
11508 If it is the form @code{(header @var{match} @var{regexp})}, then Gnus
11509 will look in the original article for a header whose name is
11510 @var{match} and compare that @var{regexp}. @var{match} and
11511 @var{regexp} are strings. (There original article is the one you are
11512 replying or following up to. If you are not composing a reply or a
11513 followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
11514 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with
11515 no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
11516 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
11517 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is
11518 said to @dfn{match}.
11520 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
11521 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
11522 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
11523 @code{x-face-file}, @code{address} (overriding
11524 @code{user-mail-address}), @code{name} (overriding
11525 @code{(user-full-name)}) or @code{body}. The attribute name can also
11526 be a string or a symbol. In that case, this will be used as a header
11527 name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the article; if
11528 the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed. If the
11529 attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the result
11532 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
11533 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
11534 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
11535 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
11536 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
11537 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
11538 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
11539 references chars lines xref extra.
11541 @vindex message-reply-headers
11543 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
11544 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
11545 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
11547 @findex message-mail-p
11548 @findex message-news-p
11550 So here's a new example:
11553 (setq gnus-posting-styles
11555 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11557 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11558 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11560 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
11561 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; A form
11562 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
11563 (message-news-p ;; A function symbol
11564 (signature my-news-signature))
11565 (window-system ;; A value symbol
11566 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
11567 ;; If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.
11568 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
11569 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
11570 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; A user defined function
11571 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
11572 (address "user@@bar.foo")
11573 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
11574 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
11576 (From (save-excursion
11577 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
11578 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
11580 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
11583 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
11584 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
11585 if you fill many roles.
11587 Setting the @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} variable will make
11588 posting-styles allow to have distinctive names. You can specify an
11589 arbitrary posting-style when article posting with @kbd{S P} in the
11590 summary buffer. @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} is an alist which maps
11591 the names to styles. Once a posting-style is added to the alist, we can
11592 import it from @code{gnus-posting-styles}. If an attribute whose name
11593 is @code{import} is found, Gnus will look for the attribute value in
11594 @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} and expand it in place.
11599 (setq gnus-named-posting-styles
11601 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11603 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11604 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11607 (organization "The Church of Emacs"))))
11610 The posting-style named "Emacs" will inherit all the attributes from
11611 "Default" except @code{organization}.
11618 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
11619 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
11620 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
11621 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
11622 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
11624 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
11625 some sort using the gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
11626 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
11627 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
11628 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
11632 @vindex nndraft-directory
11633 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
11634 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
11635 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
11636 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
11637 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
11638 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
11640 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
11641 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
11642 unsubscribe it. The special properties of the draft group comes from
11643 a group property (@pxref{Group Parameters}), and if lost the group
11644 behaves like any other group. This means the commands below will not
11645 be available. To restore the special properties of the group, the
11646 simplest way is to kill the group, using @kbd{C-k}, and restart
11647 Gnus. The group is automatically created again with the
11648 correct parameters. The content of the group is not lost.
11650 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
11651 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
11652 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
11653 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
11654 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
11655 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
11656 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
11657 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
11658 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
11659 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
11660 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
11661 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
11662 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
11663 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
11665 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
11666 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
11667 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
11669 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
11670 @kindex D e (Draft)
11671 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
11672 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
11673 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
11675 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
11678 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
11679 @kindex D s (Draft)
11680 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
11681 @kindex D S (Draft)
11682 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
11683 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
11684 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
11685 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
11686 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
11689 @findex gnus-draft-toggle-sending
11690 @kindex D t (Draft)
11691 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
11692 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
11693 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
11696 @node Rejected Articles
11697 @section Rejected Articles
11698 @cindex rejected articles
11700 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
11701 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
11702 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
11703 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
11705 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of gnus.
11706 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
11707 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
11708 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So gnus saves these
11709 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
11711 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
11712 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
11713 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
11715 @node Signing and encrypting
11716 @section Signing and encrypting
11718 @cindex using s/mime
11719 @cindex using smime
11721 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla PGP
11722 format or @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}. For decoding such messages,
11723 see the @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} options
11724 (@pxref{Security}).
11726 @vindex gnus-message-replysign
11727 @vindex gnus-message-replyencrypt
11728 @vindex gnus-message-replysignencrypted
11729 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
11730 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
11731 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
11732 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
11733 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
11734 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
11735 automatically encrypted messages.
11737 Instructing MML to perform security operations on a @sc{mime} part is
11738 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c
11739 C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
11744 @kindex C-c C-m s s
11745 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
11747 Digitally sign current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11750 @kindex C-c C-m s o
11751 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11753 Digitally sign current message using PGP.
11756 @kindex C-c C-m s p
11757 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11759 Digitally sign current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11762 @kindex C-c C-m c s
11763 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
11765 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11768 @kindex C-c C-m c o
11769 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
11771 Digitally encrypt current message using PGP.
11774 @kindex C-c C-m c p
11775 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
11777 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11780 @kindex C-c C-m C-n
11781 @findex mml-unsecure-message
11782 Remove security related MML tags from message.
11786 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
11788 @node Select Methods
11789 @chapter Select Methods
11790 @cindex foreign groups
11791 @cindex select methods
11793 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
11794 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
11795 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
11796 personal mail group.
11798 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
11799 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
11800 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
11801 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
11802 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
11803 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
11805 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
11806 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
11808 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
11811 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
11812 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
11813 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
11814 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
11815 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
11817 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
11820 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
11821 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
11822 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
11823 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
11824 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
11825 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
11826 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
11827 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
11831 @node Server Buffer
11832 @section Server Buffer
11834 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
11835 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
11836 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
11837 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
11838 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
11839 back end represents a virtual server.
11841 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
11842 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
11843 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
11844 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
11846 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
11847 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
11848 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
11849 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
11850 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
11851 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
11852 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
11854 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
11855 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
11858 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
11859 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
11860 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
11861 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
11862 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
11863 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
11864 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
11867 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
11868 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
11871 @node Server Buffer Format
11872 @subsection Server Buffer Format
11873 @cindex server buffer format
11875 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
11876 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
11877 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
11878 variable, with some simple extensions:
11883 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
11886 The name of this server.
11889 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
11892 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
11895 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
11896 The mode line can also be customized by using the
11897 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
11898 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
11908 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
11911 @node Server Commands
11912 @subsection Server Commands
11913 @cindex server commands
11919 @findex gnus-server-add-server
11920 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
11924 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
11925 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
11928 @kindex SPACE (Server)
11929 @findex gnus-server-read-server
11930 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
11934 @findex gnus-server-exit
11935 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
11939 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
11940 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
11944 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
11945 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
11949 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
11950 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
11954 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
11955 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
11959 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
11960 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
11961 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
11966 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
11967 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
11968 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
11969 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
11974 @node Example Methods
11975 @subsection Example Methods
11977 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
11980 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
11983 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
11989 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
11990 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
11993 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
11994 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
11996 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
11997 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
12001 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
12004 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
12005 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
12007 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
12008 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
12009 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
12013 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
12016 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
12019 Here's the method for a public spool:
12023 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
12024 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
12030 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
12031 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
12032 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
12033 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
12034 should probably look something like this:
12038 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
12039 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
12040 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
12041 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
12044 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
12045 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
12046 configuration to the example above:
12049 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
12052 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}.
12054 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
12055 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
12056 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
12060 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12061 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
12062 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
12063 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
12066 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
12067 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
12068 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
12069 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
12072 @node Creating a Virtual Server
12073 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
12075 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
12076 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
12078 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
12079 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
12080 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
12082 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
12084 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
12085 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
12086 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
12087 will contain the following:
12097 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
12098 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
12099 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
12102 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
12103 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
12104 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
12107 @node Server Variables
12108 @subsection Server Variables
12110 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
12111 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
12112 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
12113 change the ``base'' variable after the variables have been loaded, you
12114 won't change the ``derived'' variables.
12116 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
12117 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
12118 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
12119 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
12120 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
12121 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
12122 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
12123 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
12124 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
12128 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
12129 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
12130 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
12134 @node Servers and Methods
12135 @subsection Servers and Methods
12137 Wherever you would normally use a select method
12138 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
12139 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
12140 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
12144 @node Unavailable Servers
12145 @subsection Unavailable Servers
12147 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
12148 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
12149 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
12150 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
12151 actually the case or not.
12153 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
12154 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
12155 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
12156 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
12157 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
12158 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
12159 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
12160 it will regard that server as ``down''.
12162 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
12163 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
12165 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
12166 with the following commands:
12172 @findex gnus-server-open-server
12173 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
12174 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
12178 @findex gnus-server-close-server
12179 Close the connection (if any) to the server
12180 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
12184 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
12185 Mark the current server as unreachable
12186 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
12189 @kindex M-o (Server)
12190 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
12191 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
12192 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
12195 @kindex M-c (Server)
12196 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
12197 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
12198 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
12202 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
12203 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
12204 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
12208 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
12209 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
12215 @section Getting News
12216 @cindex reading news
12217 @cindex news back ends
12219 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
12220 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
12221 or it can read from a local spool.
12224 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
12225 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
12233 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
12234 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
12235 server as the, uhm, address.
12237 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
12238 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
12239 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
12240 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12242 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
12243 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
12244 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
12246 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
12251 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
12252 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
12253 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
12255 @cindex authentification
12256 @cindex nntp authentification
12257 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12258 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
12259 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
12260 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
12261 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
12262 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
12263 present in this hook.
12265 @item nntp-authinfo-function
12266 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
12267 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12268 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
12269 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
12270 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
12271 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
12272 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
12273 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
12274 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
12275 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
12276 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
12280 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
12283 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
12285 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
12286 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
12287 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
12288 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
12289 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
12290 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
12291 @samp{force} is explained below.
12295 Here's an example file:
12298 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
12299 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
12302 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
12303 have to be first, for instance.
12305 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
12306 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
12307 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
12308 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
12309 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
12310 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
12311 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
12313 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
12314 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
12320 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
12321 previously mentioned.
12323 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
12325 @item nntp-server-action-alist
12326 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
12327 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
12328 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
12329 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
12332 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
12333 '(("innd" (ding))))
12336 You probably don't want to do that, though.
12338 The default value is
12341 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
12342 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
12343 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
12346 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
12347 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
12349 @item nntp-maximum-request
12350 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
12351 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this back end
12352 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
12353 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
12354 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
12355 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
12356 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
12358 @item nntp-connection-timeout
12359 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
12360 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
12361 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
12362 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
12363 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
12364 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
12365 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
12366 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
12367 no timeouts are done.
12369 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
12370 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
12371 @c @cindex PPP connections
12372 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
12373 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
12374 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
12375 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
12376 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
12377 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
12378 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
12379 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
12380 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
12381 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
12383 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
12384 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
12385 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
12386 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
12387 @c described above.
12389 @item nntp-server-hook
12390 @vindex nntp-server-hook
12391 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
12394 @item nntp-buggy-select
12395 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
12396 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
12398 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
12399 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
12400 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
12401 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
12404 @item nntp-xover-commands
12405 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
12408 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
12409 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
12413 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
12414 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
12415 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
12416 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
12417 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
12418 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
12419 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
12420 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
12421 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
12422 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
12423 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
12425 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
12426 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
12427 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
12429 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12430 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12431 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
12432 server closes connection.
12434 @item nntp-record-commands
12435 @vindex nntp-record-commands
12436 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
12437 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
12438 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
12439 that doesn't seem to work.
12441 @item nntp-open-connection-function
12442 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
12443 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
12444 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
12445 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
12446 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
12447 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
12448 indirect ones (two pre-made).
12450 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
12451 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
12452 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
12453 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
12454 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
12455 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
12456 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
12459 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
12462 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
12463 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
12465 @item nntp-read-timeout
12466 @vindex nntp-read-timeout
12467 How long nntp should wait between checking for the end of output.
12468 Shorter values mean quicker response, but is more CPU intensive. The
12469 default is 0.1 seconds. If you have a slow line to the server (and
12470 don't like to see Emacs eat your available CPU power), you might set
12473 @item nntp-list-options
12474 @vindex nntp-list-options
12475 List of newsgroup name used for a option of the LIST command to restrict
12476 the listing output to only the specified newsgroups. Each newsgroup name
12477 can be a shell-style wildcard, for instance, @dfn{fj.*}, @dfn{japan.*},
12478 etc. Fortunately, if the server can accept such a option, it will
12479 probably make gnus run faster. You may use it as a server variable as
12483 (setq gnus-select-method
12484 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12485 (nntp-list-options ("fj.*" "japan.*"))))
12488 @item nntp-options-subscribe
12489 @vindex nntp-options-subscribe
12490 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will be subscribed
12491 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12492 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12493 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12494 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12497 (setq gnus-select-method
12498 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12499 (nntp-options-subscribe "^fj\\.\\|^japan\\.")))
12502 @item nntp-options-not-subscribe
12503 @vindex nntp-options-not-subscribe
12504 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will not be subscribed
12505 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12506 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12507 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12508 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12511 (setq gnus-select-method
12512 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12513 (nntp-options-not-subscribe "\\.binaries\\.")))
12518 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
12519 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
12520 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
12524 @node Direct Functions
12525 @subsubsection Direct Functions
12526 @cindex direct connection functions
12528 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
12529 between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server. The behavior of these
12530 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
12531 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12534 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
12535 @item nntp-open-network-stream
12536 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
12539 @findex nntp-open-tls-stream
12540 @item nntp-open-tls-stream
12541 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12542 this you must have GNUTLS installed (see
12543 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/}). You then define a server
12547 ;; "nntps" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
12548 ;; however, gnutls-cli -p doesn't like named ports.
12550 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12551 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-tls-stream)
12552 (nntp-port-number )
12553 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12556 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
12557 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
12558 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
12559 you must have OpenSSL (@uref{http://www.openssl.org}) or SSLeay
12560 installed (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}. You then
12561 define a server as follows:
12564 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
12565 ;; however, openssl s_client -port doesn't like named ports.
12567 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12568 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
12569 (nntp-port-number 563)
12570 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12573 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
12574 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
12575 Opens a connection to an @sc{nntp} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
12576 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
12577 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
12578 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
12579 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
12580 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
12584 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12585 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
12586 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
12589 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
12590 session, which is not a good idea.
12594 @node Indirect Functions
12595 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
12596 @cindex indirect connection functions
12598 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
12599 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @sc{nntp} server.
12600 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
12601 the ``via'' family of connection: they're all prefixed with ``via'' to make
12602 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
12603 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12606 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12607 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12608 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
12609 to the real @sc{nntp} server from there. This is useful for instance if
12610 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
12612 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12615 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12616 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12617 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12618 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12620 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12621 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12622 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12623 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
12624 @samp{ssh} for @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}, you may set this to
12625 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
12626 this to @samp{("-t" "-e" "none")} or @samp{("-C" "-t" "-e" "none")} if
12627 the telnet command requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate
12631 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12632 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12633 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
12634 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
12636 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12639 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
12640 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
12641 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
12644 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
12645 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
12646 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12647 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
12649 @item nntp-via-user-password
12650 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
12651 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
12653 @item nntp-via-envuser
12654 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
12655 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
12656 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
12657 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
12659 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
12660 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
12661 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
12662 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
12669 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
12674 @item nntp-via-user-name
12675 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
12676 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
12678 @item nntp-via-address
12679 @vindex nntp-via-address
12680 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
12685 @node Common Variables
12686 @subsubsection Common Variables
12688 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
12689 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
12694 @item nntp-pre-command
12695 @vindex nntp-pre-command
12696 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native
12697 connection function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream},
12698 @code{nntp-open-tls-stream}, and @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is
12699 where you would put a @samp{SOCKS} wrapper for instance.
12702 @vindex nntp-address
12703 The address of the @sc{nntp} server.
12705 @item nntp-port-number
12706 @vindex nntp-port-number
12707 Port number to connect to the @sc{nntp} server. The default is
12708 @samp{nntp}. If you use @sc{nntp} over @sc{tls}/@sc{ssl}, you may
12709 want to use integer ports rather than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563}
12710 instead of @samp{snews} or @samp{nntps}), because external TLS/SSL
12711 tools may not work with named ports.
12713 @item nntp-end-of-line
12714 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
12715 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
12716 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
12717 using a non native connection function.
12719 @item nntp-telnet-command
12720 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
12721 Command to use when connecting to the @sc{nntp} server through
12722 @samp{telnet}. This is NOT for an intermediate host. This is just for
12723 the real @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{telnet}.
12725 @item nntp-telnet-switches
12726 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
12727 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
12734 @subsection News Spool
12738 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
12739 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
12740 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
12743 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
12744 anything else) as the address.
12746 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
12747 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
12748 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
12749 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
12753 @item nnspool-inews-program
12754 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
12755 Program used to post an article.
12757 @item nnspool-inews-switches
12758 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
12759 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
12761 @item nnspool-spool-directory
12762 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
12763 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
12764 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
12766 @item nnspool-nov-directory
12767 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
12768 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
12769 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
12771 @item nnspool-lib-dir
12772 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
12773 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
12775 @item nnspool-active-file
12776 @vindex nnspool-active-file
12777 The name of the active file.
12779 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
12780 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
12781 The name of the group descriptions file.
12783 @item nnspool-history-file
12784 @vindex nnspool-history-file
12785 The name of the news history file.
12787 @item nnspool-active-times-file
12788 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
12789 The name of the active date file.
12791 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
12792 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
12793 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
12796 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12797 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12799 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
12800 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
12801 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
12807 @section Getting Mail
12808 @cindex reading mail
12811 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
12815 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
12816 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
12817 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
12818 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
12819 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
12820 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
12821 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
12822 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
12823 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
12824 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
12825 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
12826 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
12827 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
12831 @node Mail in a Newsreader
12832 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
12834 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
12835 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
12836 of a culture shock.
12838 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
12839 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
12841 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
12842 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
12843 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
12844 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
12846 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
12848 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
12849 deleted? How awful!
12851 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
12852 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
12853 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
12854 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
12857 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
12858 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
12859 they want to treat a message.
12861 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
12862 via @sc{smtp}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
12863 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
12864 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
12865 archived somewhere else.
12867 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
12868 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
12869 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
12870 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
12871 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
12873 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
12874 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
12875 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
12877 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
12878 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
12881 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
12882 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
12883 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
12884 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
12885 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
12887 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
12888 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
12889 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
12890 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
12891 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
12892 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
12896 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
12897 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
12899 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
12900 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
12901 and things will happen automatically.
12903 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a ``one file per
12904 mail'' back end), you could put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
12907 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12910 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
12911 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
12912 directory, which is @file{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
12913 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
12914 like any other group.
12916 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
12919 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12920 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12921 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12925 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
12926 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
12927 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
12930 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
12931 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
12932 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
12935 @node Splitting Mail
12936 @subsection Splitting Mail
12937 @cindex splitting mail
12938 @cindex mail splitting
12940 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
12941 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
12942 to be split into groups.
12945 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12946 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12947 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12948 ("mail.other" "")))
12951 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
12952 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
12953 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
12954 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
12955 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
12956 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
12957 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
12960 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
12963 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
12964 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
12965 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
12966 mail belongs in that group.
12968 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
12969 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{*} so that it matches any mails
12970 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
12971 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
12972 rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have crossposting enabled.
12973 In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.)
12975 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
12976 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
12977 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
12978 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
12979 thinks should carry this mail message.
12981 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
12982 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
12983 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
12984 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
12986 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
12987 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
12988 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
12989 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
12990 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{*}) group.
12992 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
12995 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
12996 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
12997 links. If that's the case for you, set
12998 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
12999 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
13001 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
13002 @kindex nnmail-split-history
13003 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
13004 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
13005 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
13006 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
13009 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
13010 Header lines longer than the value of
13011 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
13014 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
13015 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
13016 By default the splitting codes @sc{mime} decodes headers so you can match
13017 on non-ASCII strings. The @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
13018 variable specifies the default charset for decoding. The behaviour
13019 can be turned off completely by binding
13020 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to nil, which is useful if you
13021 want to match articles based on the raw header data.
13023 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
13024 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If
13025 you specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable
13026 @code{mail-sources} @pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}, however, then
13027 splitting does @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
13028 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-nil value to make splitting
13029 happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on other kinds
13032 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
13033 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
13034 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
13035 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
13036 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
13037 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
13038 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
13039 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
13040 month's rent money.
13044 @subsection Mail Sources
13046 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
13047 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
13051 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
13052 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
13053 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
13057 @node Mail Source Specifiers
13058 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
13060 @cindex mail server
13063 @cindex mail source
13065 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
13066 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
13071 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
13074 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
13075 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
13076 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
13079 The following mail source types are available:
13083 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
13089 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
13090 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
13091 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
13095 Script run before/after fetching mail.
13098 An example file mail source:
13101 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
13104 Or using the default file name:
13110 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
13111 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
13112 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
13115 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
13119 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
13122 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
13126 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
13129 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
13131 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
13134 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
13138 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
13139 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
13140 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. That is,
13141 there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that directory and
13142 groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool} will be put in
13143 the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix to be used instead
13144 of @code{.spool}.) Setting
13145 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil forces Gnus to
13146 scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful if you want
13147 to scan mail groups at a specified level.
13149 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
13150 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
13151 that to a non-nil value, then the normal splitting process is applied
13152 to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
13158 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
13162 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
13166 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
13167 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
13168 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
13169 predicate are considered.
13173 Script run before/after fetching mail.
13177 An example directory mail source:
13180 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
13185 Get mail from a POP server.
13191 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
13192 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13195 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
13196 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
13197 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
13198 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
13199 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
13202 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
13206 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
13210 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
13211 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
13214 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
13217 The valid format specifier characters are:
13221 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
13222 included in this string.
13225 The name of the server.
13228 The port number of the server.
13231 The user name to use.
13234 The password to use.
13237 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13238 corresponding keywords.
13241 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13242 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13245 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13246 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13249 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
13250 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
13253 @item :authentication
13254 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
13255 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
13259 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this can be the symbol
13260 @code{ssl}, the symbol @code{tls} or others. The default is @code{nil}
13261 and use insecure connections. Note that for SSL/TLS, you need external
13262 programs and libraries:
13266 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL@. Requires OpenSSL (the program
13267 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
13268 library @samp{ssl.el}.
13270 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to SSL)@.
13271 Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
13276 Non-@code{nil} if mail is to be left on the server and UIDL used for
13277 message retrieval. The default is @code{nil}.
13281 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
13282 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
13284 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
13285 default user name, and default fetcher:
13291 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
13294 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
13295 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
13298 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
13301 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
13305 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
13306 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
13307 contains exactly one mail.
13313 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
13314 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
13317 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
13318 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
13320 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
13321 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
13322 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
13325 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
13326 from locking problems).
13330 Two example maildir mail sources:
13333 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
13334 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
13338 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
13343 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
13344 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
13345 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
13346 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
13349 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, TLS/SSL and STARTTLS support you
13350 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
13356 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
13357 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13360 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
13361 @samp{993} for TLS/SSL connections.
13364 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
13368 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
13372 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
13373 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
13374 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{tls},
13375 @samp{ssl}, @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
13377 @item :authentication
13378 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
13379 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
13380 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
13381 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
13384 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
13385 mapped into the @code{imap-shell-program} variable. This should be a
13386 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
13392 The valid format specifier characters are:
13396 The name of the server.
13399 User name from @code{imap-default-user}.
13402 The port number of the server.
13405 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13406 corresponding keywords.
13409 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
13410 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
13413 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
13414 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
13415 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
13416 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
13417 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
13418 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
13421 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
13422 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
13423 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
13424 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
13427 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
13428 after finishing the fetch.
13432 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
13435 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
13437 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
13441 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{www.hotmail.com},
13442 @uref{webmail.netscape.com}, @uref{www.netaddress.com},
13443 @uref{mail.yahoo..com}.
13445 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
13446 required for url "4.0pre.46".
13448 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
13454 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
13455 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
13458 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
13462 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
13466 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
13467 folder after finishing the fetch.
13471 An example webmail source:
13474 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
13476 :password "secret")
13481 @item Common Keywords
13482 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
13488 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
13489 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
13493 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
13498 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
13499 useful when you use local mail and news.
13504 @subsubsection Function Interface
13506 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
13507 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
13508 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
13509 consider the following mail-source setting:
13512 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
13513 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
13516 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
13517 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
13518 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
13519 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
13520 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
13522 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
13525 @node Mail Source Customization
13526 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
13528 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
13529 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
13533 @item mail-source-crash-box
13534 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
13535 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
13536 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
13538 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
13539 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
13540 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them. If
13541 @code{t}, delete the files immediately, if @code{nil}, never delete any
13542 files. If a positive number, delete files older than number of days
13543 (This will only happen, when reveiving new mail). You may also set
13544 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} to @code{nil} and call
13545 @code{mail-source-delete-old-incoming} from a hook or interactively.
13547 @item mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
13548 @vindex mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
13549 If @code{non-nil}, ask for for confirmation before deleting old incoming
13550 files. This variable only applies when
13551 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is a positive number.
13553 @item mail-source-ignore-errors
13554 @vindex mail-source-ignore-errors
13555 If non-@code{nil}, ignore errors when reading mail from a mail source.
13557 @item mail-source-directory
13558 @vindex mail-source-directory
13559 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
13560 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
13561 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
13564 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13565 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13566 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
13567 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
13568 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
13569 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
13571 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
13572 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
13573 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
13575 @item mail-source-movemail-program
13576 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
13577 If non-nil, name of program for fetching new mail. If nil,
13578 @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
13583 @node Fetching Mail
13584 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
13586 @vindex mail-sources
13587 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
13588 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
13589 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
13590 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
13592 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
13593 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
13596 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
13597 mail server, you'd say something like:
13602 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13603 :password "secret")))
13606 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
13610 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
13611 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13614 :password "secret")))
13618 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
13619 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
13620 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
13621 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
13622 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
13623 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
13627 @node Mail Back End Variables
13628 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
13630 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
13634 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13635 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13636 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
13637 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
13639 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
13640 @item nnmail-split-hook
13641 @findex gnus-article-decode-encoded-words
13642 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
13643 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
13644 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
13645 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
13646 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
13647 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
13648 in the buffer will show up in any files.
13649 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
13652 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13653 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13654 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13655 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13656 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
13657 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
13658 starting to handle the new mail) and
13659 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
13660 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
13661 default file modes the new mail files get:
13664 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13665 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
13667 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13668 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
13671 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
13672 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
13673 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
13674 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
13675 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
13676 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
13677 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
13679 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
13680 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
13681 @findex delete-file
13682 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
13684 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13685 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13686 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
13687 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
13688 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
13690 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13691 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13692 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
13693 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
13694 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
13696 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
13697 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
13698 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
13703 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
13704 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
13705 @cindex mail splitting
13706 @cindex fancy mail splitting
13708 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
13709 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
13710 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
13711 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
13712 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
13713 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
13715 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
13718 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
13719 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
13720 ;; from real errors.
13721 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
13723 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
13724 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
13725 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
13726 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
13727 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
13728 ;; Other mailing lists...
13729 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
13730 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
13731 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
13732 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
13733 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
13734 ;; message was really cross-posted.
13735 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
13736 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
13738 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
13739 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
13743 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
13744 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
13745 the five possible split syntaxes:
13750 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
13751 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
13755 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
13756 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
13757 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
13758 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
13759 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
13760 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
13761 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
13762 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
13765 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13766 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
13767 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
13768 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
13771 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13772 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
13775 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
13776 (i.e., delete) this message. Use with extreme caution.
13779 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
13780 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
13781 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
13782 function should return a @var{split}.
13785 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
13786 body of the messages:
13789 (defun split-on-body ()
13791 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
13792 (goto-char (point-min))
13793 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
13797 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
13798 when the @code{:} function is run.
13801 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the
13802 first element is @code{!}, then @var{split} will be processed, and
13803 @var{func} will be called as a function with the result of @var{split}
13804 as argument. @var{func} should return a split.
13807 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
13811 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
13812 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
13813 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
13814 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
13815 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
13817 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
13818 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
13819 are expanded as specified by the variable
13820 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
13821 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
13824 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
13825 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
13826 when all this splitting is performed.
13828 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
13829 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
13830 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
13833 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
13836 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
13837 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
13839 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
13840 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
13841 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
13842 groupings 1 through 9.
13844 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
13845 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
13846 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
13847 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
13848 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
13849 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
13850 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
13851 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
13852 it once per thread.
13854 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} and
13855 @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-nil value. And then
13856 you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon
13859 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; or 'delete
13860 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
13862 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
13863 ;; other splits go here
13867 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
13868 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
13869 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
13870 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
13871 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
13872 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
13873 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
13874 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
13875 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name
13876 unless the group name matches the regexp
13877 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is recommended
13878 that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a somewhat higher
13879 number than the default so that the message ids are still in the cache.
13880 (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300 kBytes in size.)
13881 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13882 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
13883 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
13884 messages goes into the new group.
13886 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
13887 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
13888 outgoing messages are written to an `outgoing' group, you could set
13889 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
13890 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
13894 @node Group Mail Splitting
13895 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
13896 @cindex mail splitting
13897 @cindex group mail splitting
13899 @findex gnus-group-split
13900 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
13901 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
13902 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
13903 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
13904 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
13905 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
13906 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
13907 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
13909 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
13910 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
13911 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
13912 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
13914 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
13915 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
13916 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
13917 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
13918 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
13919 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
13920 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
13922 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
13923 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
13924 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
13925 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
13926 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
13927 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
13928 @code{gnus-group-split}.
13930 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
13931 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
13932 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
13933 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
13934 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
13935 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
13936 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
13937 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
13938 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
13939 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
13940 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
13941 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
13942 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
13944 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
13949 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
13950 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
13952 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
13953 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
13954 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
13955 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
13957 ((split-spec . catch-all))
13960 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
13961 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
13962 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
13965 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
13966 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
13967 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
13971 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
13972 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
13973 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
13977 (: gnus-group-split-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
13980 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
13981 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
13982 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
13983 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
13984 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
13985 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
13986 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
13987 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
13988 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
13990 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
13991 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
13992 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
13993 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
13994 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
13995 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
13996 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
13997 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
13998 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
14000 @findex gnus-group-split-update
14001 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
14002 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
14003 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
14004 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
14005 you. For example, add to your @file{~/.gnus.el}:
14008 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
14011 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
14012 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
14013 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
14014 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
14015 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
14018 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
14019 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
14020 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
14021 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
14023 @node Incorporating Old Mail
14024 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
14025 @cindex incorporating old mail
14026 @cindex import old mail
14028 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
14029 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
14030 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
14033 Doing so can be quite easy.
14035 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
14036 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
14037 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
14038 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
14039 your @code{nnml} groups.
14045 Go to the group buffer.
14048 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
14049 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14052 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
14055 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
14056 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
14059 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
14060 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
14063 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
14064 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
14065 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
14066 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
14067 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
14069 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
14070 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
14071 using the new mail back end.
14074 @node Expiring Mail
14075 @subsection Expiring Mail
14076 @cindex article expiry
14078 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
14079 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
14080 different approach to mail reading.
14082 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
14083 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
14084 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
14085 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
14086 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
14087 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
14090 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
14091 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default keybindings, this means
14092 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
14093 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
14094 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
14095 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
14096 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
14097 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
14098 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
14100 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
14101 two features, called `auto-expire' and `total-expire', that can help you
14102 with this. In a nutshell, `auto-expire' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
14103 for you when you select an article. And `total-expire' means that Gnus
14104 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
14105 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
14106 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
14109 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
14110 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
14111 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
14112 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
14113 into its own group.)
14115 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
14116 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
14117 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
14118 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
14119 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
14120 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
14121 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring @pxref{Adaptive
14122 Scoring}. Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
14125 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
14126 Groups that match the regular expression
14127 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
14128 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
14129 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
14131 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
14132 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
14133 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
14134 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
14135 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
14137 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
14139 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
14140 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
14141 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
14144 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
14145 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
14146 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
14147 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
14148 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
14150 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
14151 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
14154 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
14155 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
14158 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
14159 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
14161 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
14162 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
14163 don't really mix very well.
14165 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
14166 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
14167 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
14168 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
14171 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
14172 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
14173 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
14174 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
14177 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
14179 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
14181 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
14183 ((string= group "mail.junk")
14185 ((string= group "important")
14191 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
14192 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
14194 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
14195 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
14196 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
14199 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
14200 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
14202 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
14203 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
14204 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
14205 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
14206 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
14207 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
14208 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
14209 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
14210 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
14211 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
14212 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
14213 from as its parameter) which should return a target -- either a group
14214 name or @code{delete}.
14216 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
14218 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
14221 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14222 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14223 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
14224 expire mail to groups according to the variable
14225 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
14228 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14229 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14230 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
14231 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
14232 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
14235 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
14236 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
14237 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
14238 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
14239 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
14240 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
14242 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
14243 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
14244 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
14245 easier for procmail users.
14247 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
14248 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
14249 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
14250 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
14251 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
14252 caution. Even more dangerous is the
14253 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
14254 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
14255 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
14256 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
14257 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
14258 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
14259 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
14262 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
14264 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
14265 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
14266 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
14267 auto-expire turned on.
14271 @subsection Washing Mail
14272 @cindex mail washing
14273 @cindex list server brain damage
14274 @cindex incoming mail treatment
14276 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
14277 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
14278 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
14279 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
14280 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
14281 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
14283 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
14284 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
14285 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
14288 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
14289 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
14290 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
14291 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
14294 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14295 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14296 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
14297 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
14298 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
14301 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14302 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14303 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
14304 Emacs running on MS machines.
14308 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14309 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14310 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
14311 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
14314 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14315 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14316 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
14317 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
14319 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
14320 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
14321 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
14322 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
14323 into a feature by documenting it.)
14325 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14326 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14327 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
14328 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
14329 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
14330 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
14331 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
14334 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
14335 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
14338 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
14339 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
14342 This can also be done non-destructively with
14343 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
14345 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
14346 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
14347 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
14349 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14350 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14352 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
14353 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
14354 @code{References} headers.
14358 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14359 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14360 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
14364 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
14365 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
14366 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
14373 @subsection Duplicates
14375 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
14376 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
14377 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
14378 @cindex duplicate mails
14379 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
14380 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
14381 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
14382 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
14383 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
14384 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
14385 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
14386 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
14387 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
14388 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
14389 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
14390 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
14391 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
14393 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
14394 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
14395 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
14396 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
14398 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
14401 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
14402 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
14406 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
14407 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
14408 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
14409 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
14410 (any mail "mail.misc")
14417 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14418 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
14423 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
14424 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
14425 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
14426 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
14427 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
14430 @node Not Reading Mail
14431 @subsection Not Reading Mail
14433 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
14434 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
14435 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
14437 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
14438 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
14439 mail, which should help.
14441 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14442 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14443 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14444 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14445 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14446 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
14447 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
14448 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
14449 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
14450 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
14451 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
14453 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
14454 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
14458 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
14459 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
14461 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
14462 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
14463 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
14465 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
14466 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
14467 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
14471 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
14472 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
14473 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
14474 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
14475 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
14476 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
14477 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
14481 @node Unix Mail Box
14482 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
14484 @cindex unix mail box
14486 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14487 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14488 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
14489 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
14490 which group it belongs in.
14492 Virtual server settings:
14495 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
14496 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14497 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
14500 @item nnmbox-active-file
14501 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14502 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
14503 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
14505 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
14506 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14507 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
14508 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
14513 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
14517 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14518 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14519 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
14520 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
14521 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
14523 Virtual server settings:
14526 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
14527 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14528 The name of the rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
14530 @item nnbabyl-active-file
14531 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14532 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
14533 @file{~/.rmail-active}
14535 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14536 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14537 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
14543 @subsubsection Mail Spool
14545 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
14547 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
14548 format. It should be used with some caution.
14550 @vindex nnml-directory
14551 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
14552 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
14553 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
14554 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
14556 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
14559 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
14560 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
14561 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
14562 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
14563 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
14564 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
14565 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
14566 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
14568 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
14569 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
14570 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
14571 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
14573 @cindex self contained nnml servers
14575 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
14576 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14577 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14578 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
14579 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
14580 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
14581 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
14582 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
14585 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
14586 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
14587 them next time it starts.
14589 Virtual server settings:
14592 @item nnml-directory
14593 @vindex nnml-directory
14594 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory. The
14595 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default value
14598 @item nnml-active-file
14599 @vindex nnml-active-file
14600 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
14601 @file{~/Mail/active}.
14603 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
14604 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
14605 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14606 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}.
14608 @item nnml-get-new-mail
14609 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14610 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
14613 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
14614 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
14615 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14616 default is @code{nil}.
14618 @item nnml-nov-file-name
14619 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
14620 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
14622 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14623 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14624 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
14626 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
14627 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
14628 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14629 default is @code{nil}.
14631 @item nnml-marks-file-name
14632 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
14633 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
14635 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
14636 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
14637 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
14642 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
14643 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
14644 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
14645 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
14646 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
14647 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
14648 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
14653 @subsubsection MH Spool
14655 @cindex mh-e mail spool
14657 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
14658 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks file.
14659 This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than @code{nnml},
14660 but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
14662 Virtual server settings:
14665 @item nnmh-directory
14666 @vindex nnmh-directory
14667 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
14668 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14671 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
14672 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14673 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
14677 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
14678 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
14679 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
14680 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
14681 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
14682 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
14683 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
14688 @subsubsection Maildir
14692 @code{nnmaildir} stores mail in the maildir format, with each maildir
14693 corresponding to a group in Gnus. This format is documented here:
14694 @uref{http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html} and here:
14695 @uref{http://www.qmail.org/man/man5/maildir.html}. nnmaildir also
14696 stores extra information in the @file{.nnmaildir/} directory within a
14699 Maildir format was designed to allow concurrent deliveries and
14700 reading, without needing locks. With other backends, you would have
14701 your mail delivered to a spool of some kind, and then you would
14702 configure Gnus to split mail from that spool into your groups. You
14703 can still do that with nnmaildir, but the more common configuration is
14704 to have your mail delivered directly to the maildirs that appear as
14707 nnmaildir is designed to be perfectly reliable: @kbd{C-g} will never
14708 corrupt its data in memory, and @code{SIGKILL} will never corrupt its
14709 data in the filesystem.
14711 nnmaildir stores article marks and NOV data in each maildir. So you
14712 can copy a whole maildir from one Gnus setup to another, and you will
14715 Virtual server settings:
14719 For each of your nnmaildir servers (it's very unlikely that you'd need
14720 more than one), you need to create a directory and populate it with
14721 maildirs or symlinks to maildirs (and nothing else; do not choose a
14722 directory already used for other purposes). Each maildir will be
14723 represented in Gnus as a newsgroup on that server; the filename of the
14724 symlink will be the name of the group. Any filenames in the directory
14725 starting with `.' are ignored. The directory is scanned when you
14726 first start Gnus, and each time you type @kbd{g} in the group buffer;
14727 if any maildirs have been removed or added, nnmaildir notices at these
14730 The value of the @code{directory} parameter should be a Lisp form
14731 which is processed by @code{eval} and @code{expand-file-name} to get
14732 the path of the directory for this server. The form is @code{eval}ed
14733 only when the server is opened; the resulting string is used until the
14734 server is closed. (If you don't know about forms and @code{eval},
14735 don't worry - a simple string will work.) This parameter is not
14736 optional; you must specify it. I don't recommend using
14737 @code{"~/Mail"} or a subdirectory of it; several other parts of Gnus
14738 use that directory by default for various things, and may get confused
14739 if nnmaildir uses it too. @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} is a typical value.
14741 @item target-prefix
14742 This should be a Lisp form which is processed by @code{eval} and
14743 @code{expand-file-name}. The form is @code{eval}ed only when the
14744 server is opened; the resulting string is used until the server is
14747 When you create a group on an nnmaildir server, the maildir is created
14748 with @code{target-prefix} prepended to its name, and a symlink
14749 pointing to that maildir is created, named with the plain group name.
14750 So if @code{directory} is @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} and
14751 @code{target-prefix} is @code{"../maildirs/"}, then when you create
14752 the group @code{foo}, nnmaildir will create
14753 @file{~/.nnmaildir/../maildirs/foo} as a maildir, and will create
14754 @file{~/.nnmaildir/foo} as a symlink pointing to
14755 @file{../maildirs/foo}.
14757 You can set @code{target-prefix} to a string without any slashes to
14758 create both maildirs and symlinks in the same @code{directory}; in
14759 this case, any maildirs found in @code{directory} whose names start
14760 with @code{target-prefix} will not be listed as groups (but the
14761 symlinks pointing to them will be).
14763 As a special case, if @code{target-prefix} is @code{""} (the default),
14764 then when you create a group, the maildir will be created in
14765 @code{directory} without a corresponding symlink. Beware that you
14766 cannot use @code{gnus-group-delete-group} on such groups without the
14767 @code{force} argument.
14769 @item directory-files
14770 This should be a function with the same interface as
14771 @code{directory-files} (such as @code{directory-files} itself). It is
14772 used to scan the server's @code{directory} for maildirs. This
14773 parameter is optional; the default is
14774 @code{nnheader-directory-files-safe} if
14775 @code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is @code{nil}, and
14776 @code{directory-files} otherwise.
14777 (@code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is checked only once when the
14778 server is opened; if you want to check it each time the directory is
14779 scanned, you'll have to provide your own function that does that.)
14782 If non-@code{nil}, then after scanning for new mail in the group
14783 maildirs themselves as usual, this server will also incorporate mail
14784 the conventional Gnus way, from @code{mail-sources} according to
14785 @code{nnmail-split-methods} or @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. The default
14786 value is @code{nil}.
14788 Do @emph{not} use the same maildir both in @code{mail-sources} and as
14789 an nnmaildir group. The results might happen to be useful, but that
14790 would be by chance, not by design, and the results might be different
14791 in the future. If your split rules create new groups, remember to
14792 supply a @code{create-directory} server parameter.
14795 @subsubsection Group parameters
14797 nnmaildir uses several group parameters. It's safe to ignore all
14798 this; the default behavior for nnmaildir is the same as the default
14799 behavior for other mail backends: articles are deleted after one week,
14800 etc. Except for the expiry parameters, all this functionality is
14801 unique to nnmaildir, so you can ignore it if you're just trying to
14802 duplicate the behavior you already have with another backend.
14804 If the value of any of these parameters is a vector, the first element
14805 is evaluated as a Lisp form and the result is used, rather than the
14806 original value. If the value is not a vector, the value itself is
14807 evaluated as a Lisp form. (This is why these parameters use names
14808 different from those of other, similar parameters supported by other
14809 backends: they have different, though similar, meanings.) (For
14810 numbers, strings, @code{nil}, and @code{t}, you can ignore the
14811 @code{eval} business again; for other values, remember to use an extra
14812 quote and wrap the value in a vector when appropriate.)
14816 An integer specifying the minimum age, in seconds, of an article before
14817 it will be expired, or the symbol @code{never} to specify that
14818 articles should never be expired. If this parameter is not set,
14819 nnmaildir falls back to the usual
14820 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) variables (overridable by
14821 the @code{expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) group parameters. If you
14822 wanted a value of 3 days, you could use something like @code{[(* 3 24
14823 60 60)]}; nnmaildir will evaluate the form and use the result. An
14824 article's age is measured starting from the article file's
14825 modification time. Normally, this is the same as the article's
14826 delivery time, but editing an article makes it younger. Moving an
14827 article (other than via expiry) may also make an article younger.
14830 If this is set to a string (a full Gnus group name, like
14831 @code{"backend+server.address.string:group.name"}), and if it is not
14832 the name of the same group that the parameter belongs to, then
14833 articles will be moved to the specified group during expiry before
14834 being deleted. @emph{If this is set to an nnmaildir group, the
14835 article will be just as old in the destination group as it was in the
14836 source group.} So be careful with @code{expire-age} in the
14837 destination group. If this is set to the name of the same group that
14838 the parameter belongs to, then the article is not expired at all. If
14839 you use the vector form, the first element is evaluated once for each
14840 article. So that form can refer to
14841 @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name}, etc., to decide where to put the
14842 article. @emph{If this parameter is not set, nnmaildir does not fall
14843 back to the @code{expiry-target} group parameter or the
14844 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} variable.}
14847 If this is set to @code{t}, nnmaildir will treat the articles in this
14848 maildir as read-only. This means: articles are not renamed from
14849 @file{new/} into @file{cur/}; articles are only found in @file{new/},
14850 not @file{cur/}; articles are never deleted; articles cannot be
14851 edited. @file{new/} is expected to be a symlink to the @file{new/}
14852 directory of another maildir - e.g., a system-wide mailbox containing
14853 a mailing list of common interest. Everything in the maildir outside
14854 @file{new/} is @emph{not} treated as read-only, so for a shared
14855 mailbox, you do still need to set up your own maildir (or have write
14856 permission to the shared mailbox); your maildir just won't contain
14857 extra copies of the articles.
14859 @item directory-files
14860 A function with the same interface as @code{directory-files}. It is
14861 used to scan the directories in the maildir corresponding to this
14862 group to find articles. The default is the function specified by the
14863 server's @code{directory-files} parameter.
14865 @item distrust-Lines:
14866 If non-@code{nil}, nnmaildir will always count the lines of an
14867 article, rather than use the @code{Lines:} header field. If
14868 @code{nil}, the header field will be used if present.
14871 A list of mark symbols, such as
14872 @code{['(read expire)]}. Whenever Gnus asks nnmaildir for
14873 article marks, nnmaildir will say that all articles have these
14874 marks, regardless of whether the marks stored in the filesystem
14875 say so. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will probably be
14876 removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
14877 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
14880 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(tick expire)]}. Whenever
14881 Gnus asks nnmaildir for article marks, nnmaildir will say that no
14882 articles have these marks, regardless of whether the marks stored in
14883 the filesystem say so. @code{never-marks} overrides
14884 @code{always-marks}. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will
14885 probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
14886 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
14888 @item nov-cache-size
14889 An integer specifying the size of the NOV memory cache. To speed
14890 things up, nnmaildir keeps NOV data in memory for a limited number of
14891 articles in each group. (This is probably not worthwhile, and will
14892 probably be removed in the future.) This parameter's value is noticed
14893 only the first time a group is seen after the server is opened - i.e.,
14894 when you first start Gnus, typically. The NOV cache is never resized
14895 until the server is closed and reopened. The default is an estimate
14896 of the number of articles that would be displayed in the summary
14897 buffer: a count of articles that are either marked with @code{tick} or
14898 not marked with @code{read}, plus a little extra.
14901 @subsubsection Article identification
14902 Articles are stored in the @file{cur/} subdirectory of each maildir.
14903 Each article file is named like @code{uniq:info}, where @code{uniq}
14904 contains no colons. nnmaildir ignores, but preserves, the
14905 @code{:info} part. (Other maildir readers typically use this part of
14906 the filename to store marks.) The @code{uniq} part uniquely
14907 identifies the article, and is used in various places in the
14908 @file{.nnmaildir/} subdirectory of the maildir to store information
14909 about the corresponding article. The full pathname of an article is
14910 available in the variable @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name} after you
14911 request the article in the summary buffer.
14913 @subsubsection NOV data
14914 An article identified by @code{uniq} has its NOV data (used to
14915 generate lines in the summary buffer) stored in
14916 @code{.nnmaildir/nov/uniq}. There is no
14917 @code{nnmaildir-generate-nov-databases} function. (There isn't much
14918 need for it - an article's NOV data is updated automatically when the
14919 article or @code{nnmail-extra-headers} has changed.) You can force
14920 nnmaildir to regenerate the NOV data for a single article simply by
14921 deleting the corresponding NOV file, but @emph{beware}: this will also
14922 cause nnmaildir to assign a new article number for this article, which
14923 may cause trouble with @code{seen} marks, the Agent, and the cache.
14925 @subsubsection Article marks
14926 An article identified by @code{uniq} is considered to have the mark
14927 @code{flag} when the file @file{.nnmaildir/marks/flag/uniq} exists.
14928 When Gnus asks nnmaildir for a group's marks, nnmaildir looks for such
14929 files and reports the set of marks it finds. When Gnus asks nnmaildir
14930 to store a new set of marks, nnmaildir creates and deletes the
14931 corresponding files as needed. (Actually, rather than create a new
14932 file for each mark, it just creates hard links to
14933 @file{.nnmaildir/markfile}, to save inodes.)
14935 You can invent new marks by creating a new directory in
14936 @file{.nnmaildir/marks/}. You can tar up a maildir and remove it from
14937 your server, untar it later, and keep your marks. You can add and
14938 remove marks yourself by creating and deleting mark files. If you do
14939 this while Gnus is running and your nnmaildir server is open, it's
14940 best to exit all summary buffers for nnmaildir groups and type @kbd{s}
14941 in the group buffer first, and to type @kbd{g} or @kbd{M-g} in the
14942 group buffer afterwards. Otherwise, Gnus might not pick up the
14943 changes, and might undo them.
14947 @subsubsection Mail Folders
14949 @cindex mbox folders
14950 @cindex mail folders
14952 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a separate
14953 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
14954 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
14957 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
14959 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
14960 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14961 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14962 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
14963 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
14964 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
14965 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder} directory.
14966 Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to backup, use
14967 @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the
14968 @code{nnfolder} directory).
14970 Virtual server settings:
14973 @item nnfolder-directory
14974 @vindex nnfolder-directory
14975 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
14976 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14979 @item nnfolder-active-file
14980 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
14981 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
14983 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14984 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14985 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14986 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}
14988 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
14989 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14990 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
14993 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14994 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14995 @cindex backup files
14996 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
14997 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
14998 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
14999 your @file{.emacs} file:
15002 (defun turn-off-backup ()
15003 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
15005 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
15008 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
15009 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
15010 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
15011 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
15012 extract some information from it before removing it.
15014 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
15015 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
15016 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
15017 default is @code{nil}.
15019 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
15020 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
15021 The extension for @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
15023 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
15024 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
15025 The directory where the @sc{nov} files should be stored. If nil,
15026 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
15028 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
15029 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
15030 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
15031 default is @code{nil}.
15033 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
15034 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
15035 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
15037 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
15038 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
15039 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If nil,
15040 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
15045 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
15046 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
15047 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
15048 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
15049 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
15050 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
15053 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
15054 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
15056 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
15057 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
15058 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
15059 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
15060 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
15062 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
15063 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
15064 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
15065 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
15066 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
15067 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
15068 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
15069 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
15072 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
15073 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
15074 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
15075 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
15080 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
15081 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
15082 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
15083 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
15084 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
15085 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
15086 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
15087 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
15088 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
15089 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
15090 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
15091 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
15092 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
15097 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
15098 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
15099 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
15100 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
15101 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
15102 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
15103 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
15104 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
15105 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
15106 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
15107 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
15108 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
15109 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
15110 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
15112 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
15113 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
15118 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
15119 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
15120 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
15121 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
15122 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
15123 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
15124 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
15125 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
15126 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
15127 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
15128 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
15129 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
15130 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
15131 provided by the active file and overviews.
15133 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
15134 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
15135 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
15136 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
15137 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
15140 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
15141 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
15146 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
15147 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
15148 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
15149 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
15150 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
15151 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
15152 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
15156 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
15157 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
15158 itself puts @emph{all} one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
15159 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
15160 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
15161 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
15162 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
15163 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
15164 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
15166 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
15167 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
15168 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
15169 friendly mail back end all over.
15173 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses
15174 incompatible group parameters, slightly different from those of other
15177 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
15178 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
15179 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
15180 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
15181 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
15182 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
15183 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to ReiserFS
15184 (@uref{http://www.namesys.com/}) or another non-block-structured
15187 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
15188 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
15189 This means you can skip Gnus's mail splitting if your mail is already
15190 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
15191 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
15192 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
15193 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
15194 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
15195 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
15196 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will not
15197 undergo treatment such as duplicate checking.
15199 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
15200 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
15201 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
15202 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
15203 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
15206 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
15207 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
15208 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
15209 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
15210 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
15211 would) to make it use less memory. This caching will probably be
15212 removed in the future.
15214 Startup is likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than with other
15215 back ends. Everything else is likely to be faster, depending in part
15216 on your file system.
15218 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
15219 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
15224 @node Browsing the Web
15225 @section Browsing the Web
15227 @cindex browsing the web
15231 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
15232 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
15233 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
15234 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
15235 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
15236 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
15237 even know what a news group is.
15239 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
15240 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
15241 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
15242 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
15243 you mad in the end.
15245 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
15248 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
15249 interfaces to these sources.
15253 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
15254 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
15255 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
15256 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
15257 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
15258 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
15261 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
15263 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
15264 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
15265 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
15266 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
15267 though, you should be ok.
15269 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
15270 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
15271 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
15272 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
15273 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
15275 @node Archiving Mail
15276 @subsection Archiving Mail
15277 @cindex archiving mail
15278 @cindex backup of mail
15280 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
15281 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
15282 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
15283 marks is fairly simple.
15285 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
15286 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
15289 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
15290 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
15291 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
15292 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
15293 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
15294 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
15295 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
15296 before you restore the data.
15298 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
15299 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
15300 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
15301 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
15302 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
15303 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
15304 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
15305 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
15306 is unnecessary in that case.
15309 @subsection Web Searches
15314 @cindex Usenet searches
15315 @cindex searching the Usenet
15317 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
15318 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
15319 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
15320 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
15321 searches without having to use a browser.
15323 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
15324 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
15325 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
15326 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
15327 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
15329 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
15330 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
15331 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
15332 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
15333 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
15334 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
15335 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
15336 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
15337 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
15338 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
15341 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
15342 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
15343 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
15344 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
15345 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
15346 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
15348 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
15349 to use @code{nnweb}.
15351 Virtual server variables:
15356 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
15357 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
15358 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
15361 @vindex nnweb-search
15362 The search string to feed to the search engine.
15364 @item nnweb-max-hits
15365 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
15366 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
15369 @item nnweb-type-definition
15370 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
15371 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
15372 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
15377 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
15381 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
15384 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
15387 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
15391 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
15398 @subsection Slashdot
15402 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
15403 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
15404 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
15406 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
15407 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
15410 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15411 '((nnslashdot "")))
15414 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
15415 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
15416 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
15417 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
15418 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
15421 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
15422 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
15424 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
15425 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
15426 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
15427 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
15428 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
15429 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
15432 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
15435 @item nnslashdot-threaded
15436 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
15437 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
15438 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
15439 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
15440 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
15441 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
15443 @item nnslashdot-login-name
15444 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
15445 The login name to use when posting.
15447 @item nnslashdot-password
15448 @vindex nnslashdot-password
15449 The password to use when posting.
15451 @item nnslashdot-directory
15452 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
15453 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
15454 @file{~/News/slashdot/}.
15456 @item nnslashdot-active-url
15457 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
15458 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
15459 news articles and comments. The default is
15460 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
15462 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
15463 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
15464 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
15466 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
15468 @item nnslashdot-article-url
15469 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
15470 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
15472 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
15474 @item nnslashdot-threshold
15475 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
15476 The score threshold. The default is -1.
15478 @item nnslashdot-group-number
15479 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
15480 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
15481 updated. The default is 0.
15488 @subsection Ultimate
15490 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
15492 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
15493 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
15494 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
15495 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
15497 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
15498 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
15499 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
15500 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
15501 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
15502 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
15503 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
15505 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
15508 @item nnultimate-directory
15509 @vindex nnultimate-directory
15510 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
15511 @file{~/News/ultimate/}.
15516 @subsection Web Archive
15518 @cindex Web Archive
15520 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
15521 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
15522 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
15523 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15526 @findex gnus-group-make-warchive-group
15527 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
15528 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
15529 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
15530 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
15531 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
15532 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
15533 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
15535 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
15538 @item nnwarchive-directory
15539 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
15540 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
15541 @file{~/News/warchive/}.
15543 @item nnwarchive-login
15544 @vindex nnwarchive-login
15545 The account name on the web server.
15547 @item nnwarchive-passwd
15548 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
15549 The password for your account on the web server.
15557 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
15558 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
15559 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15562 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
15563 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
15566 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
15569 @item nnrss-directory
15570 @vindex nnrss-directory
15571 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
15572 @file{~/News/rss/}.
15576 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
15577 the summary buffer.
15580 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
15581 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
15583 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
15585 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
15586 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
15589 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
15592 (require 'browse-url)
15594 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
15596 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
15599 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
15600 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
15603 (browse-url (cdr url))
15604 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
15605 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
15607 (eval-after-load "gnus"
15608 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
15609 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
15610 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
15613 @node Customizing w3
15614 @subsection Customizing w3
15620 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
15621 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
15622 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
15624 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
15625 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
15626 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
15629 (eval-after-load "w3"
15631 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
15632 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
15633 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
15634 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
15636 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
15639 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
15640 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
15649 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or @dots{}),
15650 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
15651 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
15652 specify the network address of the server.
15654 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
15655 POP can, it can hence be viewed as a POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
15656 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
15657 protocol -- however, @sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp}
15658 because news is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
15660 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a POP++, use an imap entry in
15661 @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the
15662 @sc{imap} server and store them on the local disk. This is not the
15663 usage described in this section--@xref{Mail Sources}.
15665 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
15666 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
15667 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
15668 usage explained in this section.
15670 A server configuration in @file{~/.gnus.el} with a few @sc{imap} servers
15671 might look something like the following. (Note that for TLS/SSL, you
15672 need external programs and libraries, see below.)
15675 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15676 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
15677 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
15679 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15680 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
15681 ; a UW server running on localhost
15683 (nnimap-server-port 143)
15684 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15685 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
15686 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
15687 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
15688 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
15689 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
15690 (nnimap-stream network))
15691 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
15693 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
15694 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
15695 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
15698 After defining the new server, you can subscribe to groups on the
15699 server using normal Gnus commands such as @kbd{U} in the Group Buffer
15700 (@pxref{Subscription Commands}) or via the Server Buffer
15701 (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
15703 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
15708 @item nnimap-address
15709 @vindex nnimap-address
15711 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
15712 server name if not specified.
15714 @item nnimap-server-port
15715 @vindex nnimap-server-port
15716 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for TLS/SSL.
15718 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
15721 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15722 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
15725 @item nnimap-list-pattern
15726 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
15727 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
15728 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
15729 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
15730 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
15731 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
15733 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
15734 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
15735 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
15738 Example server specification:
15741 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15742 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
15743 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
15746 @item nnimap-stream
15747 @vindex nnimap-stream
15748 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
15749 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
15750 of TLS/SSL. (@sc{imap} over TLS/SSL is being replaced by STARTTLS, which
15751 can be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
15753 Example server specification:
15756 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15757 (nnimap-stream ssl))
15760 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
15764 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
15765 @samp{gsasl} or @samp{imtest} program.
15767 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
15769 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
15770 TLS/SSL). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
15773 @dfn{tls:} Connect through TLS. Requires GNUTLS (the program
15774 @samp{gnutls-cli}).
15776 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Requires OpenSSL (the program
15777 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
15779 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
15781 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
15784 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
15785 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
15786 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
15787 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
15788 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
15789 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
15790 restrictions on @sc{imap} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
15791 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
15792 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
15795 For TLS connection, the @code{gnutls-cli} program from GNUTLS is
15796 needed. It is available from
15797 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/}.
15799 @vindex imap-gssapi-program
15800 This parameter specifies a list of command lines that invoke a GSSAPI
15801 authenticated IMAP stream in a subshell. They are tried sequentially
15802 until a connection is made, or the list has been exhausted. By
15803 default, @samp{gsasl} from GNU SASL, available from
15804 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gsasl/}, and the @samp{imtest}
15805 program from Cyrus IMAPD (see @code{imap-kerberos4-program}), are
15808 @vindex imap-ssl-program
15809 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
15810 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
15811 and nnimap support it too - although the most recent versions of
15812 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
15813 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
15814 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
15817 @vindex imap-shell-program
15818 @vindex imap-shell-host
15819 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
15820 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
15822 @item nnimap-authenticator
15823 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
15825 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
15826 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
15828 Example server specification:
15831 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15832 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
15835 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
15839 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
15840 external program @code{gsasl} or @code{imtest}.
15842 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
15845 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
15846 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
15848 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
15850 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
15852 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your email address as password.
15855 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
15857 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
15858 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
15859 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
15860 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
15861 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
15862 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
15865 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
15866 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
15867 running in circles yet?
15869 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
15870 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
15873 The possible options are:
15878 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as ``Deleted'' when
15881 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
15882 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
15883 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
15884 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
15886 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
15891 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
15892 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
15894 If non-nil (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as well),
15895 for other @sc{imap} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
15896 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
15897 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @sc{imap}
15898 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @sc{imap}
15901 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
15902 enable per-user persistant dormant flags, using something like:
15905 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
15906 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15907 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
15908 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15911 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
15912 as ticked for other users.
15914 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
15916 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
15918 This variable contain the @sc{imap} search command sent to server when
15919 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
15920 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
15921 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
15923 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
15924 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
15925 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
15926 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
15928 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
15929 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
15931 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
15932 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
15933 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
15939 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
15940 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
15941 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
15942 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
15943 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
15948 @node Splitting in IMAP
15949 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
15950 @cindex splitting imap mail
15952 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
15953 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
15954 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
15955 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
15956 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
15960 Here are the variables of interest:
15964 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
15965 @cindex splitting, crosspost
15967 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
15969 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
15970 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
15972 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
15974 @item nnimap-split-inbox
15975 @cindex splitting, inbox
15977 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
15979 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
15980 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
15984 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
15985 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
15988 No nnmail equivalent.
15990 @item nnimap-split-rule
15991 @cindex Splitting, rules
15992 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
15994 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
15997 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
15998 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
15999 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
16000 Neither did I, we need examples.
16003 (setq nnimap-split-rule
16005 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
16006 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
16007 ("INBOX.private" "")))
16010 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
16011 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
16012 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
16014 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
16015 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
16019 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
16022 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
16023 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
16025 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
16026 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
16027 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
16028 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
16030 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
16031 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
16032 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
16033 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
16034 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
16035 them every time you fetch new mail.)
16037 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
16038 end. The first rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have
16039 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.
16041 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
16042 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
16043 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
16045 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
16047 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
16048 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
16049 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
16052 (setq nnimap-split-rule
16053 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
16054 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
16055 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
16056 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
16057 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
16060 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
16061 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
16062 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
16063 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
16064 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
16065 group/function elements.
16067 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
16069 @item nnimap-split-predicate
16071 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
16073 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
16074 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
16076 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
16077 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
16078 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
16081 @item nnimap-split-fancy
16082 @cindex splitting, fancy
16083 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
16084 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
16086 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
16087 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
16088 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
16090 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
16091 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
16092 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
16093 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
16098 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
16099 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
16102 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
16104 @item nnimap-split-download-body
16105 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
16106 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
16108 Set to non-nil to download entire articles during splitting. This is
16109 generally not required, and will slow things down considerably. You
16110 may need it if you want to use an advanced splitting function that
16111 analyses the body to split the article.
16115 @node Expiring in IMAP
16116 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
16117 @cindex expiring imap mail
16119 Even though @code{nnimap} is not a proper @code{nnmail} derived back
16120 end, it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring
16121 Mail}). Unlike splitting in IMAP (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}) it do
16122 not clone the @code{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating
16123 @var{nnimap-expiry-wait}) but reuse the @code{nnmail} variables. What
16124 follows below are the variables used by the @code{nnimap} expiry
16127 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @sc{imap} server is
16128 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
16129 @code{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
16130 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
16131 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
16132 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
16133 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
16134 messages. Most do, fortunately.
16138 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
16139 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
16141 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
16142 number, the symbol @code{immediate} or @code{never}.
16144 @item nnmail-expiry-target
16146 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
16147 @code{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
16148 that if the destination is a IMAP group on the same server, the
16149 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
16153 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
16154 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
16155 @cindex editing imap acls
16156 @cindex Access Control Lists
16157 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
16159 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
16161 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
16162 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
16163 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
16166 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
16167 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
16168 editing window with detailed instructions.
16170 Some possible uses:
16174 Giving ``anyone'' the ``lrs'' rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
16175 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
16176 follow the list without subscribing to it.
16178 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
16179 ``anyone'' posting ("p") capabilities to have ``plussing'' work (that is,
16180 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
16184 @node Expunging mailboxes
16185 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
16189 @cindex Manual expunging
16191 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
16193 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
16194 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
16195 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
16197 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
16200 @node A note on namespaces
16201 @subsection A note on namespaces
16202 @cindex IMAP namespace
16205 The IMAP protocol has a concept called namespaces, described by the
16206 following text in the RFC:
16209 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
16211 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
16212 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
16213 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
16214 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
16216 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
16217 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
16218 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
16219 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
16220 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
16221 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
16224 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the IMAP
16225 implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace prefixes in a way
16226 that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
16228 Specifically, University of Washington's IMAP server uses mailbox
16229 names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only in the
16230 @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is created
16231 (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed without
16232 the namespace prefix, i.e. @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do not make it
16233 possible for the user to guarantee that user entered mailbox names
16234 will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands, you should
16235 simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in Gnus.
16237 See the UoW @sc{imapd} documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
16238 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
16239 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
16241 @node Other Sources
16242 @section Other Sources
16244 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
16245 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
16249 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
16250 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
16251 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
16252 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
16253 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
16257 @node Directory Groups
16258 @subsection Directory Groups
16260 @cindex directory groups
16262 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
16263 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
16266 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
16267 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
16268 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
16269 back end to read directories. Big deal.
16271 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
16272 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
16273 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
16274 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
16275 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
16277 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
16279 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
16280 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
16281 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
16282 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
16285 @node Anything Groups
16286 @subsection Anything Groups
16289 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
16290 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
16291 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
16294 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
16295 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
16296 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
16297 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
16298 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
16299 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
16300 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
16301 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
16302 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
16303 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
16306 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
16307 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
16308 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
16309 in the article buffer, just as usual.
16311 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
16312 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
16313 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
16314 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
16316 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
16317 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
16318 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
16319 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
16320 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
16321 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
16322 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
16323 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
16328 @item nneething-map-file-directory
16329 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
16330 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
16331 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
16333 @item nneething-exclude-files
16334 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
16335 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
16336 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
16338 @item nneething-include-files
16339 @vindex nneething-include-files
16340 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
16341 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
16343 @item nneething-map-file
16344 @vindex nneething-map-file
16345 Name of the map files.
16349 @node Document Groups
16350 @subsection Document Groups
16352 @cindex documentation group
16355 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
16356 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
16363 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
16368 The standard Unix mbox file.
16370 @cindex MMDF mail box
16372 The MMDF mail box format.
16375 Several news articles appended into a file.
16378 @cindex rnews batch files
16379 The rnews batch transport format.
16380 @cindex forwarded messages
16383 Forwarded articles.
16386 Netscape mail boxes.
16389 @sc{mime} multipart messages.
16391 @item standard-digest
16392 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
16395 A @sc{mime} digest of messages.
16397 @item lanl-gov-announce
16398 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
16400 @item rfc822-forward
16401 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
16404 The Outlook mail box.
16407 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
16410 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
16413 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
16416 An RFC934-forwarded message.
16422 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
16425 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
16431 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
16432 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
16433 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
16436 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
16437 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
16438 group. And that's it.
16440 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
16441 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
16442 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
16443 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
16444 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
16445 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
16446 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
16447 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
16448 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
16449 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
16451 Virtual server variables:
16454 @item nndoc-article-type
16455 @vindex nndoc-article-type
16456 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
16457 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
16458 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
16459 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
16460 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
16462 @item nndoc-post-type
16463 @vindex nndoc-post-type
16464 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
16465 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
16470 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
16474 @node Document Server Internals
16475 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
16477 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
16478 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
16479 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
16480 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
16482 First, here's an example document type definition:
16486 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
16487 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
16490 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
16491 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
16492 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
16493 types can be defined with very few settings:
16496 @item first-article
16497 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
16498 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
16501 @item article-begin
16502 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
16503 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
16505 @item head-begin-function
16506 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
16509 @item nndoc-head-begin
16510 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
16513 @item nndoc-head-end
16514 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
16515 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
16517 @item body-begin-function
16518 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
16522 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
16525 @item body-end-function
16526 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
16530 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
16533 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
16534 regexp will be totally ignored.
16538 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
16539 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
16540 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
16541 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
16542 something that's palatable for Gnus:
16545 @item prepare-body-function
16546 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
16547 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
16548 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
16550 @item article-transform-function
16551 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
16552 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
16553 body of the article.
16555 @item generate-head-function
16556 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
16557 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
16558 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
16559 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
16563 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
16568 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16569 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16570 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
16571 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
16572 (head-end . "^ ?$")
16573 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
16574 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
16575 (subtype digest guess))
16578 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
16579 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
16580 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
16581 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
16582 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
16584 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
16585 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first
16586 is the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says
16587 where in the document type definition alist to put this definition.
16588 The alist is traversed sequentially, and @code{nndoc-TYPE-type-p} is
16589 called for a given type @code{TYPE}. So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is
16590 called to see whether a document is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on.
16591 These type predicates should return @code{nil} if the document is not
16592 of the correct type; @code{t} if it is of the correct type; and a
16593 number if the document might be of the correct type. A high number
16594 means high probability; a low number means low probability with
16595 @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
16603 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
16604 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
16605 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
16607 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
16608 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
16609 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
16612 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
16613 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
16614 that interested in doing things properly.
16616 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
16617 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
16620 First some terminology:
16625 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
16626 get news and/or mail from.
16629 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
16630 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
16633 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
16637 @item message packets
16638 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
16639 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
16640 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16642 @item response packets
16643 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
16644 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
16645 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16655 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
16656 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
16657 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
16658 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
16661 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
16664 You put the packet in your home directory.
16667 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
16668 the native or secondary server.
16671 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
16672 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
16675 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
16679 You transfer this packet to the server.
16682 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
16685 You then repeat until you die.
16689 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
16690 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
16693 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
16694 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
16695 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
16699 @node SOUP Commands
16700 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
16702 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
16706 @kindex G s b (Group)
16707 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
16708 Pack all unread articles in the current group
16709 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
16710 process/prefix convention.
16713 @kindex G s w (Group)
16714 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
16715 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
16718 @kindex G s s (Group)
16719 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
16720 Send all replies from the replies packet
16721 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
16724 @kindex G s p (Group)
16725 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
16726 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
16729 @kindex G s r (Group)
16730 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
16731 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
16734 @kindex O s (Summary)
16735 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
16736 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
16737 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
16738 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16743 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
16748 @item gnus-soup-directory
16749 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
16750 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
16751 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
16753 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
16754 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
16755 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
16756 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
16758 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
16759 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
16760 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
16761 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
16763 @item gnus-soup-packer
16764 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
16765 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16766 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
16768 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
16769 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
16770 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16771 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16773 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
16774 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
16775 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
16777 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16778 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16779 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
16780 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
16786 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
16789 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
16790 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
16791 you can read them at leisure.
16793 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
16797 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
16798 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
16799 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
16800 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
16802 @item nnsoup-directory
16803 @vindex nnsoup-directory
16804 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
16805 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
16807 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
16808 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
16809 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
16810 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/}.
16812 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
16813 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
16814 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
16815 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
16816 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
16818 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
16819 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
16820 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
16821 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
16823 @item nnsoup-active-file
16824 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
16825 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
16826 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
16827 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
16828 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
16830 @item nnsoup-packer
16831 @vindex nnsoup-packer
16832 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
16833 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
16835 @item nnsoup-unpacker
16836 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
16837 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
16838 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16840 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
16841 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
16842 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
16845 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
16846 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
16847 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
16850 @item nnsoup-always-save
16851 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
16852 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
16858 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
16860 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
16861 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
16862 more for that to happen.
16864 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
16865 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
16866 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
16869 In specific, this is what it does:
16872 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
16873 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
16876 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
16877 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
16878 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
16881 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
16882 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
16883 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
16886 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
16887 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
16888 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
16890 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
16896 @item nngateway-address
16897 @vindex nngateway-address
16898 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
16900 @item nngateway-header-transformation
16901 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
16902 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
16903 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
16904 transformation should be called, and defaults to
16905 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
16906 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
16909 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
16910 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
16911 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
16914 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
16917 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
16920 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
16923 The following pre-defined functions exist:
16925 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16928 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16929 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16930 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
16932 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16934 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16935 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16936 @code{nngateway-address}.
16941 (setq gnus-post-method
16943 "mail2news@@replay.com"
16944 (nngateway-header-transformation
16945 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
16953 So, to use this, simply say something like:
16956 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
16961 @node Combined Groups
16962 @section Combined Groups
16964 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
16968 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
16969 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
16973 @node Virtual Groups
16974 @subsection Virtual Groups
16976 @cindex virtual groups
16977 @cindex merging groups
16979 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
16982 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
16983 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
16984 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
16986 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
16987 regexp to match component groups.
16989 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
16990 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
16991 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
16992 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
16993 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
16994 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
16995 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
16996 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
16998 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
16999 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
17002 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
17005 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
17006 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
17008 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
17009 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
17010 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
17011 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
17014 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
17017 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
17018 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
17019 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
17021 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
17022 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
17023 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
17024 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
17025 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
17027 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
17028 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
17029 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
17031 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
17032 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
17033 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
17034 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
17035 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
17036 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
17037 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
17038 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
17039 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
17040 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
17041 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
17043 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
17044 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
17045 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
17046 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
17047 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
17048 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
17049 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
17051 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
17052 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
17054 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
17055 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
17059 @node Kibozed Groups
17060 @subsection Kibozed Groups
17064 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
17065 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will do this for
17066 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
17067 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
17069 @kindex G k (Group)
17070 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
17073 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
17074 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
17075 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
17076 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
17078 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
17079 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
17080 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
17082 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
17083 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
17084 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
17085 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
17086 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
17087 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
17088 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
17089 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
17091 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
17092 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
17093 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
17094 Stranger things have happened.
17096 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
17097 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
17099 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
17100 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
17101 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
17102 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
17103 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
17104 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
17106 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
17107 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
17110 @node Gnus Unplugged
17111 @section Gnus Unplugged
17116 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
17118 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
17119 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
17120 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
17121 read news. Believe it or not.
17123 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
17124 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
17125 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
17126 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
17127 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
17129 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
17130 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
17131 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
17132 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
17133 reading news on a machine.
17135 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
17136 fact, you don't even have to configure anything.
17138 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
17141 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
17142 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
17143 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
17144 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
17145 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
17146 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
17147 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
17148 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
17149 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
17150 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
17151 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
17152 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
17157 @subsection Agent Basics
17159 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
17161 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
17162 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
17163 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
17164 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
17166 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
17167 connected to the net continuously.
17169 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
17170 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
17172 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
17177 @findex gnus-unplugged
17178 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
17179 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
17180 already fetched while in this mode.
17183 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
17184 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
17185 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
17186 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
17187 Source Specifiers}).
17190 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
17191 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
17192 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
17193 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
17194 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
17197 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
17198 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
17199 then you read the news offline.
17202 And then you go to step 2.
17205 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
17211 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
17212 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
17213 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
17214 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
17215 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
17216 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
17217 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} groups in @code{gnus-select-method} and
17218 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
17222 Decide on download policy. It's fairly simple once you decide whether
17223 you are going to use agent categories, topic parameters, and/or group
17224 parameters to implement your policy. If you're new to gnus, it
17225 is probably best to start with a category @xref{Agent Categories}.
17227 Both topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) and agent categories
17228 (@pxref{Agent Categories}) provide for setting a policy that applies
17229 to multiple groups. Which you use is entirely up to you. Topic
17230 parameters do override categories so, if you mix the two, you'll have
17231 to take that into account. If you have a few groups that deviate from
17232 your policy, you can use grou parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to
17236 Uhm@dots{} that's it.
17240 @node Agent Categories
17241 @subsection Agent Categories
17243 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
17244 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
17245 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
17246 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
17247 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
17248 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
17249 you're interested in the articles anyway.
17251 One of the more effective methods for controlling what is to be
17252 downloaded is to create a @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all)
17253 groups to this category. Groups that do not belong in any other
17254 category belong to the @code{default} category. Gnus has its own
17255 buffer for creating and managing categories.
17257 If you prefer, you can also use group parameters (@pxref{Group
17258 Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) for an
17259 alternative approach to controlling the agent. The only real
17260 difference is that categories are specific to the agent (so there is
17261 less to learn) while group and topic parameters include the kitchen
17264 Since you can set agent parameters in several different places we have
17265 a rule to decide which source to believe. This rule specifies that
17266 the parameter sources are checked in the following order: group
17267 parameters, topic parameters, agent category, and finally customizable
17268 variables. So you can mix all of these sources to produce a wide range
17269 of behavior, just don't blame me if you don't remember where you put
17273 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
17274 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
17275 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
17279 @node Category Syntax
17280 @subsubsection Category Syntax
17282 A category consists of a name, the list of groups belonging to the
17283 category, and a number of optional parameters that override the
17284 customizable variables. The complete list of agent parameters are
17288 @item gnus-agent-cat-name
17289 The name of the category.
17291 @item gnus-agent-cat-groups
17292 The list of groups that are in this category.
17294 @item gnus-agent-cat-predicate
17295 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
17296 are eligible for downloading; and
17298 @item gnus-agent-cat-score-file
17299 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
17300 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
17301 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
17303 @item gnus-agent-cat-enable-expiration
17304 a boolean indicating whether the agent should expire old articles in
17305 this group. Most groups should be expired to conserve disk space. In
17306 fact, its probably safe to say that the gnus.* hierarchy contains the
17307 only groups that should not be expired.
17309 @item gnus-agent-cat-days-until-old
17310 an integer indicating the number of days that the agent should wait
17311 before deciding that a read article is safe to expire.
17313 @item gnus-agent-cat-low-score
17314 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-low-score}.
17316 @item gnus-agent-cat-high-score
17317 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-high-score}.
17319 @item gnus-agent-cat-length-when-short
17320 an integer that overrides the value of
17321 @code{gnus-agent-short-article}.
17323 @item gnus-agent-cat-length-when-long
17324 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-long-article}.
17327 The name of a category can not be changed once the category has been
17330 Each category maintains a list of groups that are exclusive members of
17331 that category. The exclusivity rule is automatically enforced, add a
17332 group to a new category and it is automatically removed from its old
17335 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
17336 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
17337 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
17338 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
17340 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
17341 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
17342 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
17344 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
17345 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
17346 operators sprinkled in between.
17348 Perhaps some examples are in order.
17350 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
17351 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
17357 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
17358 short (for some value of ``short'').
17360 Here's a more complex predicate:
17369 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
17370 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
17373 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
17374 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
17375 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
17377 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
17378 you want to do, you can write your own.
17380 When evaluating each of these predicates, the named constant will be
17381 bound to the value determined by calling
17382 @code{gnus-agent-find-parameter} on the appropriate parameter. For
17383 example, gnus-agent-short-article will be bound to
17384 @code{(gnus-agent-find-parameter group 'agent-short-article)}. This
17385 means that you can specify a predicate in your category then tune that
17386 predicate to individual groups.
17390 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
17391 lines; default 100.
17394 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
17395 lines; default 200.
17398 True iff the article has a download score less than
17399 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
17402 True iff the article has a download score greater than
17403 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
17406 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
17407 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
17408 checksum and sees whether articles match.
17417 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
17418 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
17419 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
17422 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
17423 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
17424 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
17425 something along the lines of the following:
17428 (defun my-article-old-p ()
17429 "Say whether an article is old."
17430 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
17431 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
17434 with the predicate then defined as:
17437 (not my-article-old-p)
17440 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
17441 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
17445 (require 'gnus-agent)
17446 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
17447 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
17448 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
17451 and simply specify your predicate as:
17457 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
17458 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
17459 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
17460 just don't give a damn.
17462 The above predicates apply to @emph{all} the groups which belong to the
17463 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
17464 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
17465 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
17466 parameters like so:
17469 (agent-predicate . short)
17472 This is the group/topic parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
17473 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
17474 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
17476 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
17479 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
17482 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
17483 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
17484 predicate is assumed to be a list.
17487 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
17488 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
17489 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
17490 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
17491 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
17492 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
17494 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
17495 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
17496 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
17497 if it's to be specific to that group.
17499 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
17506 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
17507 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
17513 Category specification
17517 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
17523 Group/Topic Parameter specification
17526 (agent-score ("from"
17527 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
17532 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
17538 These score files must @emph{only} contain the permitted scoring
17539 keywords stated above.
17545 Category specification
17548 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
17554 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
17558 Group Parameter specification
17561 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
17564 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
17569 Use @code{normal} score files
17571 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
17572 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
17573 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
17574 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
17576 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
17577 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
17578 files for a group, @emph{filtering out} those sections that do not
17579 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
17583 Category Specification
17590 Group Parameter specification
17593 (agent-score . file)
17598 @node Category Buffer
17599 @subsubsection Category Buffer
17601 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
17602 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
17603 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
17605 The following commands are available in this buffer:
17609 @kindex q (Category)
17610 @findex gnus-category-exit
17611 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
17614 @kindex e (Category)
17615 @findex gnus-category-customize-category
17616 Use a customization buffer to set all of the selected category's
17617 parameters at one time (@code{gnus-category-customize-category}).
17620 @kindex k (Category)
17621 @findex gnus-category-kill
17622 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
17625 @kindex c (Category)
17626 @findex gnus-category-copy
17627 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
17630 @kindex a (Category)
17631 @findex gnus-category-add
17632 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
17635 @kindex p (Category)
17636 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
17637 Edit the predicate of the current category
17638 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
17641 @kindex g (Category)
17642 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
17643 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
17644 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
17647 @kindex s (Category)
17648 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
17649 Edit the download score rule of the current category
17650 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
17653 @kindex l (Category)
17654 @findex gnus-category-list
17655 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
17659 @node Category Variables
17660 @subsubsection Category Variables
17663 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
17664 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
17665 Hook run in category buffers.
17667 @item gnus-category-line-format
17668 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
17669 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
17670 Variables}). Valid elements are:
17674 The name of the category.
17677 The number of groups in the category.
17680 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
17681 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
17682 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
17684 @item gnus-agent-short-article
17685 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
17686 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
17688 @item gnus-agent-long-article
17689 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
17690 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
17692 @item gnus-agent-low-score
17693 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
17694 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
17697 @item gnus-agent-high-score
17698 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
17699 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
17702 @item gnus-agent-expire-days
17703 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
17704 The number of days that a @samp{read} article must stay in the agent's
17705 local disk before becoming eligible for expiration (While the name is
17706 the same, this doesn't mean expiring the article on the server. It
17707 just means deleting the local copy of the article). What is also
17708 important to understand is that the counter starts with the time the
17709 article was written to the local disk and not the time the article was
17713 @item gnus-agent-enable-expiration
17714 @vindex gnus-agent-enable-expiration
17715 Determines whether articles in a group are, by default, expired or
17716 retained indefinitely. The default is @code{ENABLE} which means that
17717 you'll have to disable expiration when desired. On the other hand,
17718 you could set this to @code{DISABLE}. In that case, you would then
17719 have to enable expiration in selected groups.
17724 @node Agent Commands
17725 @subsection Agent Commands
17726 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-plugged
17727 @kindex J j (Agent)
17729 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
17730 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
17731 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
17735 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
17736 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
17737 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
17743 @node Group Agent Commands
17744 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
17748 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
17749 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
17750 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
17751 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
17754 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
17755 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
17756 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
17759 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
17760 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
17761 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
17762 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
17765 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
17766 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
17767 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
17768 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
17771 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
17772 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
17773 Add the current group to an Agent category
17774 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
17775 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17778 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
17779 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
17780 Remove the current group from its category, if any
17781 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
17782 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17785 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
17786 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17787 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
17793 @node Summary Agent Commands
17794 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
17798 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
17799 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
17800 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
17803 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
17804 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
17805 Remove the downloading mark from the article
17806 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
17810 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
17811 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
17812 Toggle whether to download the article
17813 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The dowload mark is @samp{%} by
17817 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
17818 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
17819 Mark all articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}) that are neither cached, downloaded, nor downloadable.
17822 @kindex J S (Agent Summary)
17823 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
17824 Download all eligible (See @pxref{Agent Categories}) articles in this group.
17825 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
17828 @kindex J s (Agent Summary)
17829 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-series
17830 Download all processable articles in this group.
17831 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-series}).
17834 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
17835 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
17836 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
17837 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
17842 @node Server Agent Commands
17843 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
17847 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
17848 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
17849 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
17850 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
17853 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
17854 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
17855 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
17856 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
17861 @node Agent as Cache
17862 @subsection Agent as Cache
17864 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
17865 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
17866 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
17867 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
17868 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
17869 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
17870 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
17871 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
17872 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
17874 If you so desire, you can configure the agent (see @code{gnus-agent-cache}
17875 @pxref{Agent Variables}) to always download headers and articles while
17876 plugged. Gnus will almost certainly be slower, but it will be kept
17877 synchronized with the server. That last point probably won't make any
17878 sense if you are using a nntp or nnimap backend.
17881 @subsection Agent Expiry
17883 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
17884 @findex gnus-agent-expire
17885 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
17886 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire-group
17887 @findex gnus-agent-expire-group
17888 @cindex Agent expiry
17889 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
17892 The Agent backend, @code{nnagent}, doesn't handle expiry. Well, at
17893 least it doesn't handle it like other backends. Instead, there are
17894 special @code{gnus-agent-expire} and @code{gnus-agent-expire-group}
17895 commands that will expire all read articles that are older than
17896 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. They can be run whenever you feel
17897 that you're running out of space. Neither are particularly fast or
17898 efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to interrupt them (with
17899 @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started one of them.
17901 Note that other functions, e.g. @code{gnus-request-expire-articles},
17902 might run @code{gnus-agent-expire} for you to keep the agent
17903 synchronized with the group.
17905 The agent parameter @code{agent-enable-expiration} may be used to
17906 prevent expiration in selected groups.
17908 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
17909 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, the agent
17910 expiration commands will expire all articles---unread, read, ticked
17911 and dormant. If @code{nil} (which is the default), only read articles
17912 are eligible for expiry, and unread, ticked and dormant articles will
17913 be kept indefinitely.
17915 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
17916 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's are special
17917 commands, @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} and
17918 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group}, to fix possible problems.
17920 @node Agent Regeneration
17921 @subsection Agent Regeneration
17923 @cindex Agent Regeneration
17924 @cindex Gnus Agent Regeneration
17925 @cindex regeneration
17927 The local data structures used by @code{nnagent} may become corrupted
17928 due to certain exceptional conditions. When this happens,
17929 @code{nnagent} functionality may degrade or even fail. The solution
17930 to this problem is to repair the local data structures by removing all
17931 internal inconsistencies.
17933 For example, if your connection to your server is lost while
17934 downloaded articles into the agent, the local data structures will not
17935 know about articles successfully downloaded prior to the connection
17936 failure. Running @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} or
17937 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} will update the data structures
17938 such that you don't need to download these articles a second time.
17940 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
17941 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate
17942 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} will perform
17943 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} on every agentized group. While
17944 you can run @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} in any buffer, it is strongly
17945 recommended that you first close all summary buffers.
17947 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate-group
17948 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate-group
17949 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} uses the local copies
17950 of individual articles to repair the local NOV(header) database. It
17951 then updates the internal data structures that document which articles
17952 are stored locally. An optional argument will mark articles in the
17955 @node Agent and IMAP
17956 @subsection Agent and IMAP
17958 The Agent works with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
17959 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
17960 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
17961 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
17963 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
17964 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @file{.newsrc} as is the
17965 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
17966 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
17968 Gnus keeps track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
17969 Agent. When you plug back in, Gnus will check if you have any changed
17970 any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the server.
17971 The behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
17973 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17974 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
17975 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
17976 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
17977 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
17978 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
17980 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
17981 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
17982 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
17983 in the group buffer.
17985 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
17986 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
17991 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
17994 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
17998 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by ``pushing''
17999 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
18000 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
18001 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
18002 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
18003 removed from the server when you ``synchronize''. The queued flag
18004 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
18005 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
18008 @node Outgoing Messages
18009 @subsection Outgoing Messages
18011 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
18012 stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view
18013 them there after posting, and edit them at will.
18015 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
18016 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
18017 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
18018 messages in the draft group.
18022 @node Agent Variables
18023 @subsection Agent Variables
18026 @item gnus-agent-directory
18027 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
18028 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
18029 @file{~/News/agent/}.
18031 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
18032 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
18033 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
18034 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
18035 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
18038 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
18039 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
18040 Hook run when connecting to the network.
18042 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
18043 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
18044 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
18046 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
18047 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
18048 Hook run when finished fetching articles.
18050 @item gnus-agent-cache
18051 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
18052 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @sc{nov} and
18053 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
18054 The default is non-nil, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
18056 @item gnus-agent-go-online
18057 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
18058 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
18059 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
18060 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
18061 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
18062 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
18065 @item gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
18066 @vindex gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
18067 If @code{gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded} is non-@code{nil},
18068 mark articles as unread after downloading. This is usually a safe
18069 thing to do as the newly downloaded article has obviously not been
18070 read. The default is t.
18072 @item gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
18073 @vindex gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
18074 If @code{gnus-agent-consider-all-articles} is non-@code{nil}, the
18075 agent will fetch all missing headers. When @code{nil}, the agent will
18076 fetch only new headers. The default is @code{nil}.
18078 @item gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
18079 @vindex gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
18080 The agent fetches articles into a temporary buffer prior to parsing
18081 them into individual files. To avoid exceeding the max. buffer size,
18082 the agent alternates between fetching and parsing until all articles
18083 have been fetched. @code{gnus-agent-max-fetch-size} provides a size
18084 limit to control how often the cycling occurs. A large value improves
18085 performance. A small value minimizes the time lost should the
18086 connection be lost while fetching (You may need to run
18087 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} to update the group's state.
18088 However, all articles parsed prior to loosing the connection will be
18089 available while unplugged). The default is 10M so it is unusual to
18092 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
18093 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
18094 Perhaps not a Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
18095 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
18096 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
18097 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
18098 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
18099 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
18100 is only valid if the Agent is used.
18102 @item gnus-auto-goto-ignores
18103 @vindex gnus-auto-goto-ignores
18104 Another variable that isn't a Agent variable, yet so closely related
18105 that most will look for it here, this variable tells the summary
18106 buffer how to maneuver around undownloaded (only headers stored in the
18107 agent) and unfetched (neither article nor headers stored) articles.
18109 The legal values are @code{nil} (maneuver to any article),
18110 @code{undownloaded} (maneuvering while unplugged ignores articles that
18111 have not been fetched), @code{always-undownloaded} (maneuvering always
18112 ignores articles that have not been fetched), @code{unfetched}
18113 (maneuvering ignores articles whose headers have not been fetched).
18118 @node Example Setup
18119 @subsection Example Setup
18121 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
18122 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
18123 @file{~/.gnus.el} file to get started.
18126 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
18127 ;;; from your ISP's server.
18128 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
18130 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
18131 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
18132 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
18134 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
18135 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
18137 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
18138 ;;; (gnus-agentize) ; The obsolete setting.
18139 ;;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; Now the default.
18142 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
18143 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
18146 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
18147 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
18148 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
18149 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
18150 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
18153 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
18154 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
18155 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
18156 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
18157 back all the killed groups.)
18159 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
18160 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
18161 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
18164 @node Batching Agents
18165 @subsection Batching Agents
18166 @findex gnus-agent-batch
18168 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
18169 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
18170 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
18172 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
18173 following incantation:
18177 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f -l ~/.gnus.el gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
18181 @node Agent Caveats
18182 @subsection Agent Caveats
18184 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
18185 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
18189 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
18191 @strong{No}. If you want this behaviour, add
18192 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
18193 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
18195 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in
18196 the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
18198 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is @code{nil}.
18202 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
18203 articles; when it's plugged, it talks to your ISP and may also use the
18204 locally stored articles.
18211 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
18212 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
18213 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
18216 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
18217 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
18218 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
18219 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
18220 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
18222 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
18223 before generating the summary buffer.
18225 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
18226 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
18227 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
18229 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
18230 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
18231 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
18232 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
18235 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
18236 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
18237 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
18238 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
18239 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
18240 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
18241 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
18242 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
18243 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
18244 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
18245 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
18246 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
18247 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
18248 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
18249 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
18250 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
18251 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
18255 @node Summary Score Commands
18256 @section Summary Score Commands
18257 @cindex score commands
18259 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
18260 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
18261 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
18262 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
18263 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
18265 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
18266 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
18267 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
18268 score file the current one.
18270 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
18275 @kindex V s (Summary)
18276 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
18277 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
18280 @kindex V S (Summary)
18281 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
18282 Display the score of the current article
18283 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
18286 @kindex V t (Summary)
18287 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
18288 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
18289 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}). In the @code{*Score Trace*} buffer, you
18290 can use @kbd{q} to quit. @kbd{e} edits the corresponding score file.
18291 When point is on a string within the match element, @kbd{e} will try to
18292 bring you to this string in the score file.
18295 @kindex V w (Summary)
18296 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
18297 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
18300 @kindex V R (Summary)
18301 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
18302 Run the current summary through the scoring process
18303 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
18304 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
18305 effect you're having.
18308 @kindex V c (Summary)
18309 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
18310 Make a different score file the current
18311 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
18314 @kindex V e (Summary)
18315 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
18316 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
18317 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
18321 @kindex V f (Summary)
18322 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
18323 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
18324 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
18327 @kindex V F (Summary)
18328 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
18329 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
18330 after editing score files.
18333 @kindex V C (Summary)
18334 @findex gnus-score-customize
18335 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
18336 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
18340 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
18345 @kindex V m (Summary)
18346 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
18347 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
18348 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
18351 @kindex V x (Summary)
18352 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
18353 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
18354 expunge all articles below this score
18355 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
18358 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
18359 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
18362 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
18363 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
18367 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
18368 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
18370 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
18371 keys are available:
18375 Score on the author name.
18378 Score on the subject line.
18381 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
18384 Score on the @code{References} line.
18390 Score on the number of lines.
18393 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
18396 Score on an ``extra'' header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
18397 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
18400 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
18401 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
18402 @file{ADAPT} files.)
18411 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
18417 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
18418 what headers you are scoring on.
18430 Substring matching.
18433 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
18462 Greater than number.
18467 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
18468 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
18469 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
18474 Temporary score entry.
18477 Permanent score entry.
18480 Immediately scoring.
18484 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
18485 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
18486 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
18490 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
18491 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
18492 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
18493 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
18495 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
18496 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
18497 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
18498 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
18499 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
18501 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
18502 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
18503 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
18504 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
18505 current score file.
18507 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
18508 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
18509 pretend they are keymaps or not.
18512 @node Group Score Commands
18513 @section Group Score Commands
18514 @cindex group score commands
18516 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
18521 @kindex W f (Group)
18522 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
18523 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
18524 all the time. This command will flush the cache
18525 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
18529 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
18531 @findex gnus-batch-score
18532 @cindex batch scoring
18534 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
18538 @node Score Variables
18539 @section Score Variables
18540 @cindex score variables
18544 @item gnus-use-scoring
18545 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
18546 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
18547 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
18549 @item gnus-kill-killed
18550 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
18551 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
18552 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
18553 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
18554 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
18555 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
18556 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
18558 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
18559 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
18560 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
18561 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
18562 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
18564 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
18565 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
18566 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
18567 (@file{SCORE} by default.)
18569 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
18570 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
18571 @cindex score cache
18572 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
18573 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
18574 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely
18575 to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
18576 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
18577 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
18578 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
18581 @item gnus-save-score
18582 @vindex gnus-save-score
18583 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
18584 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
18585 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
18587 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
18588 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
18589 across group visits.
18591 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
18592 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
18593 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
18594 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
18595 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
18596 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
18597 manually entered data.
18599 @item gnus-summary-default-score
18600 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
18601 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
18603 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
18604 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
18605 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
18606 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
18607 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
18608 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
18610 @item gnus-score-over-mark
18611 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
18612 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
18613 default. Default is @samp{+}.
18615 @item gnus-score-below-mark
18616 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
18617 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
18618 default. Default is @samp{-}.
18620 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
18621 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
18622 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
18623 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
18625 Predefined functions available are:
18628 @item gnus-score-find-single
18629 @findex gnus-score-find-single
18630 Only apply the group's own score file.
18632 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
18633 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
18634 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
18635 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
18636 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
18637 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
18638 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
18639 then a regexp match is done.
18641 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
18642 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
18644 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
18645 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
18646 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
18647 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
18649 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
18650 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
18651 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
18652 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
18653 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
18657 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
18658 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
18659 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
18660 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
18661 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
18662 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
18663 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
18666 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
18667 overall score file, you could use the value
18669 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
18670 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
18673 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
18674 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
18675 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
18676 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
18677 are expired. It's 7 by default.
18679 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
18680 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
18681 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
18682 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
18683 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
18684 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
18685 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
18686 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
18688 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
18689 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
18690 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
18692 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
18693 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
18694 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
18695 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
18696 threading---according to the current value of
18697 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
18698 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
18699 simplified in this manner.
18704 @node Score File Format
18705 @section Score File Format
18706 @cindex score file format
18708 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
18709 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
18710 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
18712 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
18716 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
18718 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
18720 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
18722 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
18727 (mark-and-expunge -10)
18731 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
18732 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
18733 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
18734 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
18738 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
18739 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
18741 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
18742 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
18743 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
18745 Six keys are supported by this alist:
18750 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
18751 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
18752 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
18753 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
18754 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
18755 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
18756 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
18757 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
18758 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
18759 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
18760 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
18761 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
18762 to articles that matches these score entries.
18764 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
18765 score entry has one to four elements.
18769 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
18770 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
18774 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
18775 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
18776 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
18777 is successful. If this element is not present, the
18778 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
18779 instead. This is 1000 by default.
18782 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
18783 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
18784 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
18785 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
18786 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
18789 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
18790 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
18791 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
18792 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
18795 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
18796 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
18797 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
18798 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
18799 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
18800 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
18801 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
18802 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
18803 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
18804 instead, if you feel like.
18807 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
18808 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
18809 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
18810 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
18811 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin host,
18812 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks NNTP-Posting-Host in overviews:
18815 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s "NNTP-Posting-Host")
18819 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
18820 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
18822 These predicates are true if
18825 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
18828 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
18829 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
18836 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
18837 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
18838 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
18839 it's not. I think.)
18841 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
18842 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
18843 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
18844 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
18847 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
18848 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
18849 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
18850 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
18851 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
18852 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
18853 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
18857 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
18858 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
18859 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
18860 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
18861 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
18862 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
18863 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
18864 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
18867 @item Head, Body, All
18868 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
18872 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
18873 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
18874 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
18875 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
18876 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
18877 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
18878 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
18882 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
18883 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
18884 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
18885 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
18886 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
18887 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
18888 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
18889 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
18890 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
18891 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
18892 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
18896 @cindex Score File Atoms
18898 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18899 lower than this number will be marked as read.
18902 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18903 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
18905 @item mark-and-expunge
18906 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18907 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
18910 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
18911 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
18912 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
18913 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
18914 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
18917 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
18918 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
18921 @item exclude-files
18922 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
18923 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
18927 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
18928 ignored when handling global score files.
18931 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
18932 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
18933 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
18934 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
18937 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
18938 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
18939 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
18940 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
18942 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
18946 (mark-and-expunge -100)
18949 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
18950 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
18951 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
18952 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
18953 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
18955 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
18956 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
18957 scoring rules exist.
18960 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
18961 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
18962 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
18963 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
18964 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
18965 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
18966 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18967 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
18968 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
18969 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
18970 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
18974 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
18975 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
18976 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
18977 file for a number of groups.
18980 @cindex local variables
18981 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(@var{var}
18982 @var{value})} pairs. Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the
18983 current summary buffer, and set to the value specified. This is a
18984 convenient, if somewhat strange, way of setting variables in some
18985 groups if you don't like hooks much. Note that the @var{value} won't
18990 @node Score File Editing
18991 @section Score File Editing
18993 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
18994 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
18995 with a mode for that.
18997 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
18998 additional commands:
19003 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
19004 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
19005 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
19006 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
19009 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
19010 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
19011 Insert the current date in numerical format
19012 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
19013 you were wondering.
19016 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
19017 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
19018 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
19019 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
19020 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
19025 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
19027 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
19028 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
19030 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
19031 e} to begin editing score files.
19034 @node Adaptive Scoring
19035 @section Adaptive Scoring
19036 @cindex adaptive scoring
19038 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
19039 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
19040 stupidity, to be precise.
19042 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
19043 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
19044 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
19045 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
19046 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
19047 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
19048 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
19049 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
19050 variable to @code{(word line)}.
19052 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
19053 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
19054 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
19055 might look something like this:
19058 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
19059 '((gnus-unread-mark)
19060 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
19061 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
19062 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
19063 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
19064 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
19065 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
19066 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
19067 (gnus-ancient-mark)
19068 (gnus-low-score-mark)
19069 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
19072 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
19073 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
19074 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
19075 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
19076 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
19077 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
19080 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
19081 will be applied to each article.
19083 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
19084 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{e}) will have a
19085 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
19086 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
19088 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
19089 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
19090 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
19091 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
19093 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
19094 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
19095 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
19096 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
19098 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
19099 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
19100 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
19101 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
19102 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
19103 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
19105 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
19106 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
19107 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
19109 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
19110 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
19111 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
19113 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
19114 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
19115 let you use different rules in different groups.
19117 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
19118 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
19119 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
19122 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
19123 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
19124 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
19125 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
19126 the length of the match is less than
19127 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
19128 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
19131 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
19132 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
19133 headers. If you adapt on words, the
19134 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
19135 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
19138 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
19139 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
19140 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
19141 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
19142 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
19145 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
19146 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
19147 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
19148 score with 30 points.
19150 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
19151 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
19152 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
19153 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
19154 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
19156 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
19157 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
19158 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
19159 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
19160 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
19162 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
19163 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
19164 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
19165 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
19167 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
19168 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
19169 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
19170 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
19172 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
19173 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
19174 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
19175 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
19176 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
19178 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
19179 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
19180 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
19182 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
19183 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
19184 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
19185 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
19188 @node Home Score File
19189 @section Home Score File
19191 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
19192 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
19193 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
19194 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
19196 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
19197 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
19198 could perhaps use the same home score file.
19200 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
19201 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
19206 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
19210 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
19211 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
19215 A list. The elements in this list can be:
19219 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
19220 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
19223 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
19224 the home score file.
19227 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
19230 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
19235 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
19238 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19239 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
19242 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
19243 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
19245 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
19247 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19248 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
19251 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
19252 Other functions include
19255 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
19256 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
19257 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
19258 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
19262 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
19263 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
19264 their own home score files:
19267 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19268 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
19269 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
19270 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
19271 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
19274 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
19275 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
19276 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
19277 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
19278 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
19280 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
19281 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
19282 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
19283 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
19284 precedence over this variable.
19287 @node Followups To Yourself
19288 @section Followups To Yourself
19290 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
19291 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
19292 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
19293 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
19294 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
19295 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
19299 @item gnus-score-followup-article
19300 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
19301 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
19304 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
19305 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
19306 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
19310 @vindex message-sent-hook
19311 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
19312 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
19314 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
19318 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
19319 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
19323 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
19324 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
19327 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
19328 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
19333 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
19337 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
19338 is system-dependent.
19341 @node Scoring On Other Headers
19342 @section Scoring On Other Headers
19343 @cindex scoring on other headers
19345 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
19346 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
19347 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
19348 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
19349 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
19351 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
19352 mail groups, you have greater control. In the @pxref{To From
19353 Newsgroups} section of the manual, it's explained in greater detail what
19354 this mechanism does, but here's a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on
19355 how to allow scoring on the @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
19357 Put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
19360 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
19361 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
19364 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
19365 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
19366 time if you have much mail.
19368 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
19369 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
19375 @section Scoring Tips
19376 @cindex scoring tips
19382 @cindex scoring crossposts
19383 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
19384 the @code{Xref} header.
19386 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
19389 @item Multiple crossposts
19390 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
19391 more than, say, 3 groups:
19394 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
19398 @item Matching on the body
19399 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
19400 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
19401 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
19402 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
19403 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
19404 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
19405 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
19408 @item Marking as read
19409 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
19410 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
19411 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
19415 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
19417 @item Negated character classes
19418 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
19419 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
19420 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
19424 @node Reverse Scoring
19425 @section Reverse Scoring
19426 @cindex reverse scoring
19428 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
19429 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
19430 like this in your score file:
19434 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
19439 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
19440 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
19443 @node Global Score Files
19444 @section Global Score Files
19445 @cindex global score files
19447 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
19448 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
19449 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
19451 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
19452 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
19453 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
19455 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
19456 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
19457 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
19458 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
19459 files are applicable to which group.
19461 To use the score file
19462 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
19463 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
19467 (setq gnus-global-score-files
19468 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
19469 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
19472 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
19474 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
19475 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
19476 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
19477 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
19479 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
19480 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
19482 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
19483 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
19484 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
19485 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
19486 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
19487 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
19489 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
19495 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
19497 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
19499 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
19501 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
19502 lowered out of existence.
19504 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
19505 articles completely.
19508 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
19509 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
19510 old articles for a long time.
19513 @dots{} I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
19514 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
19515 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
19516 holding our breath yet?
19520 @section Kill Files
19523 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
19524 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
19525 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
19527 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
19528 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
19529 files into score files.
19531 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
19532 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
19533 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
19534 that isn't a very good idea.
19536 Normal kill files look like this:
19539 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19540 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
19544 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
19545 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
19547 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
19548 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
19551 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
19556 @kindex M-k (Summary)
19557 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
19558 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
19561 @kindex M-K (Summary)
19562 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
19563 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
19566 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
19571 @kindex M-k (Group)
19572 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
19573 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
19576 @kindex M-K (Group)
19577 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
19578 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
19581 Kill file variables:
19584 @item gnus-kill-file-name
19585 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
19586 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
19587 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
19588 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
19589 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
19590 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
19592 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
19593 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
19594 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
19595 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
19598 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
19599 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
19600 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
19601 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
19602 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
19603 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
19604 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
19605 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
19606 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
19608 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
19609 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
19610 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
19615 @node Converting Kill Files
19616 @section Converting Kill Files
19618 @cindex converting kill files
19620 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
19621 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
19622 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
19625 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
19626 You can fetch it from
19627 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
19629 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
19630 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
19631 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
19639 GroupLens (@uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/}) is a
19640 collaborative filtering system that helps you work together with other
19641 people to find the quality news articles out of the huge volume of
19642 news articles generated every day.
19644 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
19645 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
19646 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
19647 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
19648 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
19649 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
19650 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
19651 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
19654 @sc{Note:} Unfortunately the GroupLens system seems to have shut down,
19655 so this section is mostly of historical interest.
19658 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
19659 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
19660 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
19661 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
19665 @node Using GroupLens
19666 @subsection Using GroupLens
19668 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
19670 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
19671 better bit in town at the moment.
19673 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
19677 @item gnus-use-grouplens
19678 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
19679 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
19680 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
19682 @item grouplens-pseudonym
19683 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
19684 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
19685 with the Better Bit Bureau.
19687 @item grouplens-newsgroups
19688 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
19689 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
19693 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
19694 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
19695 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
19696 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
19697 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
19698 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
19701 @node Rating Articles
19702 @subsection Rating Articles
19704 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
19705 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
19706 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
19707 yourself is, ``on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
19710 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
19715 @kindex r (GroupLens)
19716 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
19717 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
19720 @kindex k (GroupLens)
19721 @findex grouplens-score-thread
19722 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
19723 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
19724 threads in rec.humor.
19728 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
19729 the score of the article you're reading.
19734 @kindex n (GroupLens)
19735 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
19736 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
19739 @kindex , (GroupLens)
19740 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
19741 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
19745 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
19746 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
19749 @node Displaying Predictions
19750 @subsection Displaying Predictions
19752 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
19753 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
19754 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
19755 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
19756 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
19758 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
19759 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
19760 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
19761 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
19762 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
19763 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
19764 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
19765 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
19766 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
19767 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
19768 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
19769 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
19770 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
19772 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
19773 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
19774 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
19775 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
19777 The following are valid values for that variable.
19780 @item prediction-spot
19781 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
19784 @item confidence-interval
19785 A numeric confidence interval.
19787 @item prediction-bar
19788 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
19790 @item confidence-bar
19791 Numerical confidence.
19793 @item confidence-spot
19794 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
19796 @item prediction-num
19797 Plain-old numeric value.
19799 @item confidence-plus-minus
19800 Prediction +/- confidence.
19805 @node GroupLens Variables
19806 @subsection GroupLens Variables
19810 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
19811 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
19812 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
19813 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
19816 @item grouplens-bbb-host
19817 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
19820 @item grouplens-bbb-port
19821 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
19823 @item grouplens-score-offset
19824 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
19825 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
19828 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
19829 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
19830 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
19835 @node Advanced Scoring
19836 @section Advanced Scoring
19838 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
19839 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
19840 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
19841 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
19842 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
19844 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
19848 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
19849 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
19850 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
19854 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
19855 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
19857 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
19858 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
19859 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
19860 non-@code{nil} value.
19862 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
19863 operator, and various match operators.
19870 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19871 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
19872 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
19877 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19878 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
19879 then this operator will return @code{false}.
19884 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
19885 logical negation of the value of its argument.
19889 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
19890 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
19891 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
19892 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
19893 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
19894 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
19895 the ancestry you want to go.
19897 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
19898 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
19899 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
19900 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
19901 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
19904 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
19905 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
19907 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
19908 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
19911 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
19912 when he's talking about Gnus:
19916 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19917 ("subject" "Gnus"))
19923 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
19927 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19934 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
19935 really don't want to read what he's written:
19939 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19940 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
19944 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
19945 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
19946 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
19953 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
19954 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
19955 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
19956 ("body" "white.*socks"))
19960 The possibilities are endless.
19963 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
19964 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
19966 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
19967 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
19968 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
19969 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
19970 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
19971 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
19972 @samp{subject}) first.
19974 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
19975 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
19986 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
19987 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
19993 ("subject" "Gnus")))
20000 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
20001 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
20006 @section Score Decays
20007 @cindex score decays
20010 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
20011 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
20012 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
20013 use them in any sensible way.
20015 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
20016 @findex gnus-decay-score
20017 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
20018 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
20019 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
20020 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
20021 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
20022 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
20023 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
20024 definition of that function:
20027 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
20029 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
20030 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
20033 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
20035 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
20037 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
20040 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
20041 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
20042 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
20043 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
20047 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
20050 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
20053 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
20057 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
20058 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
20059 the new score, which should be an integer.
20061 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
20062 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
20067 @include message.texi
20068 @chapter Emacs MIME
20069 @include emacs-mime.texi
20071 @include sieve.texi
20073 @c @include pgg.texi
20081 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
20082 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
20083 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
20084 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
20085 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
20086 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
20087 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
20088 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
20089 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
20090 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
20091 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
20092 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
20093 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
20094 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
20095 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
20096 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
20097 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
20098 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
20099 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
20103 @node Process/Prefix
20104 @section Process/Prefix
20105 @cindex process/prefix convention
20107 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
20108 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
20110 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
20111 command to be performed on.
20115 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
20116 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
20117 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
20118 with the current one.
20120 @vindex transient-mark-mode
20121 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
20122 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
20124 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
20125 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
20128 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
20129 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
20131 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
20134 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
20135 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
20136 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
20137 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
20139 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
20140 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
20141 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
20142 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
20143 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
20144 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
20145 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
20146 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
20148 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
20149 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
20150 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
20151 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
20152 expirable, you could say @kbd{M P b M-& E}.
20156 @section Interactive
20157 @cindex interaction
20161 @item gnus-novice-user
20162 @vindex gnus-novice-user
20163 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
20164 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
20165 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
20166 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
20169 @item gnus-expert-user
20170 @vindex gnus-expert-user
20171 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
20172 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
20173 matter how strange.
20175 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
20176 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
20177 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
20178 is @code{t} by default.
20180 @item gnus-interactive-exit
20181 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
20182 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20187 @node Symbolic Prefixes
20188 @section Symbolic Prefixes
20189 @cindex symbolic prefixes
20191 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
20192 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
20193 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
20194 rule of 900 to the current article.
20196 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
20197 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
20198 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
20199 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
20200 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
20201 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
20202 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
20204 @kindex M-i (Summary)
20205 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
20206 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
20207 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
20208 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
20209 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
20210 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
20211 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
20212 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
20214 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
20215 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
20216 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
20218 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
20222 @node Formatting Variables
20223 @section Formatting Variables
20224 @cindex formatting variables
20226 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
20227 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
20228 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
20229 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
20230 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
20233 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
20234 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
20235 lots of percentages everywhere.
20238 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
20239 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
20240 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
20241 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
20242 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
20243 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
20244 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
20245 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
20248 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
20249 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
20250 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
20251 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
20252 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
20253 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
20254 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
20255 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
20257 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
20258 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
20260 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
20261 @findex gnus-update-format
20262 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
20263 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
20264 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
20265 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
20269 @node Formatting Basics
20270 @subsection Formatting Basics
20272 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
20273 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
20274 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
20276 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
20277 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
20278 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
20279 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
20280 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
20283 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
20284 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
20285 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
20286 less than 4 characters wide.
20288 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
20289 @samp{%&user-date;}.
20292 @node Mode Line Formatting
20293 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
20295 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
20296 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
20297 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
20298 with the following two differences:
20303 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
20306 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
20307 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
20308 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
20309 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
20310 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
20311 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
20312 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
20317 @node Advanced Formatting
20318 @subsection Advanced Formatting
20320 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
20321 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
20322 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
20323 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
20325 These are the valid modifiers:
20330 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
20334 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
20339 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
20342 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
20347 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
20350 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
20353 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
20356 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
20362 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
20367 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
20368 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
20369 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
20370 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
20371 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
20372 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
20373 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
20375 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
20376 last operation, padding.
20378 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
20379 If @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} is set to @code{nil} (@code{t} by
20380 default) with your strong personality, and use a lots of these advanced
20381 thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets quite slow. This can be helped
20382 enormously by running @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with
20383 the look of your lines.
20384 @xref{Compilation}.
20387 @node User-Defined Specs
20388 @subsection User-Defined Specs
20390 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
20391 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
20392 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
20393 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
20394 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
20395 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
20396 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
20397 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
20398 should protect against that.
20400 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
20401 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
20403 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
20404 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
20405 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
20406 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
20410 @node Formatting Fonts
20411 @subsection Formatting Fonts
20413 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
20414 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
20415 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
20416 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
20419 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
20420 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
20421 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
20422 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
20423 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
20424 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
20426 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
20427 special @code{balloon-help} property set to
20428 @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get
20429 @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*}
20430 variables should be either strings or symbols naming functions that
20431 return a string. When the mouse passes over text with this property
20432 set, a balloon window will appear and display the string. Please
20433 refer to @ref{Tooltips, ,Tooltips, emacs, The Emacs Manual},
20434 (in GNU Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in
20435 XEmacs) for more information on this. (For technical reasons, the
20436 guillemets have been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this
20439 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
20442 ;; Create three face types.
20443 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
20444 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
20446 ;; We want the article count to be in
20447 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
20448 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
20449 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
20451 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
20452 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
20454 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
20455 (setq gnus-group-line-format
20456 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
20459 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
20460 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
20462 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
20463 mode-line variables.
20465 @node Positioning Point
20466 @subsection Positioning Point
20468 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
20469 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
20470 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
20472 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
20474 @findex gnus-goto-colon
20475 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
20476 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
20478 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
20479 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
20480 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
20485 @subsection Tabulation
20487 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
20488 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
20489 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
20490 about lining up the following text afterwards.
20492 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs--@samp{%=}. There are two
20493 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
20495 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
20496 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
20497 This is the soft tabulator.
20499 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
20500 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
20501 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
20504 @node Wide Characters
20505 @subsection Wide Characters
20507 Proportional fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
20508 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
20509 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
20511 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
20512 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
20513 these countries, that's not true.
20515 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
20516 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
20517 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
20518 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
20522 @node Window Layout
20523 @section Window Layout
20524 @cindex window layout
20526 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
20528 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
20529 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
20530 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
20531 @code{t} by default.
20533 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
20534 glitches. Use at your own peril.
20536 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
20537 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
20538 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
20541 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
20542 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
20543 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
20547 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
20548 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
20549 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
20550 possible names is listed below.
20552 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
20553 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
20556 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
20560 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
20561 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
20562 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
20563 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
20564 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
20565 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
20566 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
20567 size spec per split.
20569 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
20570 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
20571 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
20572 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
20573 present) gets focus.
20575 Here's a more complicated example:
20578 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
20579 (summary 0.25 point)
20580 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
20584 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
20585 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
20586 occupy, not a percentage.
20588 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
20589 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
20590 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
20591 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
20592 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
20595 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
20598 (article (horizontal 1.0
20603 (summary 0.25 point)
20608 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
20609 @code{horizontal} thingie?
20611 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
20612 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
20613 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
20614 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
20615 the screen is to be given to this strip.
20617 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
20618 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
20619 lines from the splits.
20621 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
20625 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
20626 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
20627 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
20628 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
20629 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
20630 size = number | frame-params
20631 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
20634 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
20635 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
20636 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
20637 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
20639 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
20640 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
20641 @cindex window height
20642 @cindex window width
20643 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
20644 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
20645 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
20646 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
20647 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
20648 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
20650 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
20651 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
20652 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
20653 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
20655 @findex gnus-configure-frame
20656 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
20657 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
20658 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
20659 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
20660 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
20661 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
20662 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
20663 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
20664 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
20665 configuration list.
20668 (gnus-configure-frame
20672 (article 0.3 point))
20680 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
20681 @code{frame} split:
20684 (gnus-configure-frame
20687 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
20689 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
20690 (user-position . t)
20691 (left . -1) (top . 1))
20696 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
20697 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
20698 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
20699 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
20700 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
20701 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
20702 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
20703 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
20705 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
20706 be found in its default value.
20708 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
20709 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
20710 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
20714 (message (horizontal 1.0
20715 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
20717 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
20722 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
20723 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
20724 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
20729 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
20730 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
20731 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
20732 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
20733 (name . "Message"))
20734 (message 1.0 point))))
20737 @findex gnus-add-configuration
20738 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
20739 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
20740 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
20741 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
20744 (gnus-add-configuration
20745 '(article (vertical 1.0
20747 (summary .25 point)
20751 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
20752 @file{~/.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
20753 Gnus has been loaded.
20755 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
20756 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
20757 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
20758 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
20759 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
20761 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
20762 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
20763 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
20766 @subsection Example Window Configurations
20770 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
20771 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
20786 (gnus-add-configuration
20789 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20791 (summary 0.16 point)
20794 (gnus-add-configuration
20797 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20798 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
20804 @node Faces and Fonts
20805 @section Faces and Fonts
20810 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
20811 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
20812 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
20817 @section Compilation
20818 @cindex compilation
20819 @cindex byte-compilation
20821 @findex gnus-compile
20823 Remember all those line format specification variables?
20824 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
20825 on. By default, T-gnus will use the byte-compiled codes of these
20826 variables and we can keep a slow-down to a minimum. However, if you set
20827 @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} to @code{nil} (@code{t} by default),
20828 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
20829 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
20830 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
20833 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
20834 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
20835 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
20836 you'll get top speed again. Note that T-gnus will not save these
20837 compiled specs in the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
20840 @item gnus-compile-user-specs
20841 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
20842 If it is non-nil, the user-defined format specs will be byte-compiled
20843 automatically. The default value of this variable is @code{t}. It has
20844 an effect on the values of @code{gnus-*-line-format-spec}.
20849 @section Mode Lines
20852 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
20853 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
20854 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
20855 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
20856 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
20857 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
20858 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
20861 @cindex display-time
20863 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
20864 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
20865 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
20866 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
20867 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
20868 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
20869 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
20870 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
20873 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
20875 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
20876 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
20878 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
20879 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
20880 (length display-time-string)))))
20883 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
20884 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
20885 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
20886 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
20887 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
20890 @node Highlighting and Menus
20891 @section Highlighting and Menus
20893 @cindex highlighting
20896 @vindex gnus-visual
20897 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
20898 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
20899 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
20902 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
20903 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
20906 @item group-highlight
20907 Do highlights in the group buffer.
20908 @item summary-highlight
20909 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
20910 @item article-highlight
20911 Do highlights in the article buffer.
20913 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
20915 Create menus in the group buffer.
20917 Create menus in the summary buffers.
20919 Create menus in the article buffer.
20921 Create menus in the browse buffer.
20923 Create menus in the server buffer.
20925 Create menus in the score buffers.
20927 Create menus in all buffers.
20930 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
20931 buffers, you could say something like:
20934 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
20937 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
20940 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
20943 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
20944 in all Gnus buffers.
20946 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
20949 @item gnus-mouse-face
20950 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
20951 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
20952 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
20956 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
20960 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
20961 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
20962 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
20964 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
20965 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
20966 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
20968 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
20969 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
20970 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
20972 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
20973 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
20974 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
20976 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
20977 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
20978 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
20980 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
20981 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
20982 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
20993 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
20994 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
20995 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
20996 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
20997 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
21001 @vindex gnus-carpal
21002 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
21003 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
21004 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
21009 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
21010 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
21011 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
21013 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
21014 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
21015 Face used on buttons.
21017 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
21018 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
21019 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
21021 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
21022 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
21023 Buttons in the group buffer.
21025 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
21026 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
21027 Buttons in the summary buffer.
21029 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
21030 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
21031 Buttons in the server buffer.
21033 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
21034 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
21035 Buttons in the browse buffer.
21038 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
21039 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
21040 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
21048 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
21049 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
21050 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
21051 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
21052 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
21054 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
21055 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
21056 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
21058 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
21059 been idle for thirty minutes:
21062 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
21065 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
21069 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
21072 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
21073 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
21074 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
21076 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
21077 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
21078 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
21079 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
21081 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
21082 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
21083 @var{idle} minutes.
21085 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
21086 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
21089 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
21090 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
21091 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
21093 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
21094 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
21095 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
21096 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
21098 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
21099 your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21101 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
21103 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
21106 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
21107 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
21108 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
21109 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
21110 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
21111 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
21112 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
21113 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
21114 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
21115 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
21116 @file{~/.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
21118 @findex gnus-demon-init
21119 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
21120 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
21121 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
21122 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
21123 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
21125 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
21126 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
21127 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
21136 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
21137 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
21139 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
21140 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
21141 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
21142 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
21145 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
21146 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
21147 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
21148 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
21150 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
21151 this will make spam disappear.
21153 There are some variables to customize, of course:
21156 @item gnus-use-nocem
21157 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
21158 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
21161 @item gnus-nocem-groups
21162 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
21163 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
21164 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
21165 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
21167 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
21168 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
21169 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
21170 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
21171 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
21172 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
21174 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
21175 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
21177 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
21178 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
21179 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
21180 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
21181 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
21182 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
21183 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
21184 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
21185 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
21186 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
21188 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
21189 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
21192 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
21195 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
21196 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
21199 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
21202 The specs are applied left-to-right.
21205 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
21206 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
21208 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
21209 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
21210 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
21211 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
21213 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
21214 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
21217 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
21219 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
21227 This might be dangerous, though.
21229 @item gnus-nocem-directory
21230 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
21231 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
21232 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
21234 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
21235 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
21236 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
21237 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
21238 might then see old spam.
21240 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
21241 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
21242 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
21243 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
21244 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
21247 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
21248 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
21249 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
21250 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
21254 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
21255 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
21256 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
21257 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
21264 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
21265 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
21266 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
21268 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
21269 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
21270 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
21271 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
21272 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
21273 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
21274 @code{undo} function.
21276 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
21277 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
21278 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
21279 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
21280 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
21281 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
21282 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
21283 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
21284 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
21285 never be totally undoable.
21287 @findex gnus-undo-mode
21288 @vindex gnus-use-undo
21290 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
21291 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
21292 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
21293 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
21297 @node Predicate Specifiers
21298 @section Predicate Specifiers
21299 @cindex predicate specifiers
21301 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
21302 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
21303 to type all that much.
21305 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
21310 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
21311 gnus-article-unread-p)
21314 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
21315 functions all take one parameter.
21317 @findex gnus-make-predicate
21318 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
21319 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
21320 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
21325 @section Moderation
21328 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
21329 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
21330 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
21333 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
21337 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
21340 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
21342 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
21347 You split your incoming mail by matching on
21348 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
21349 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
21352 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
21353 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
21356 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
21357 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
21361 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
21364 (setq gnus-moderated-list
21365 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
21369 @node Image Enhancements
21370 @section Image Enhancements
21372 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21, is able to display pictures and stuff, so
21373 Gnus has taken advantage of that.
21376 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
21377 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
21378 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
21379 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
21392 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
21393 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
21394 over your shoulder as you read news.
21396 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
21405 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
21406 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
21407 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
21408 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
21409 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
21410 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
21411 @code{GIF} formats.
21414 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
21415 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases,
21416 point your Web browser at
21417 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
21419 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
21420 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
21422 To enable displaying picons, simply make sure that
21423 @code{gnus-picon-databases} points to the directory containing the
21426 The following variables offer control over where things are located.
21430 @item gnus-picon-databases
21431 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
21432 The location of the picons database. This is a list of directories
21433 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
21434 subdirectories. Defaults to @code{("/usr/lib/picon"
21435 "/usr/local/faces")}.
21437 @item gnus-picon-news-directories
21438 @vindex gnus-picon-news-directories
21439 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
21440 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
21442 @item gnus-picon-user-directories
21443 @vindex gnus-picon-user-directories
21444 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for user
21445 faces. @code{("users" "usenix" "local" "misc")} is the default.
21447 @item gnus-picon-domain-directories
21448 @vindex gnus-picon-domain-directories
21449 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
21450 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
21451 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
21453 @item gnus-picon-file-types
21454 @vindex gnus-picon-file-types
21455 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
21456 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your Emacs.
21461 @subsection Smileys
21466 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
21471 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
21472 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
21474 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
21475 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21478 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
21481 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{8-)}, @samp{:-(} and
21482 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
21483 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
21484 text and maps that to file names.
21486 @vindex smiley-regexp-alist
21487 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist}
21488 variable. The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched;
21489 the second element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by
21490 the picture; and the third element is the name of the file to be
21493 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
21498 @item smiley-data-directory
21499 @vindex smiley-data-directory
21500 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
21502 @item gnus-smiley-file-types
21503 @vindex gnus-smiley-file-types
21504 List of suffixes on smiley file names to try.
21513 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
21514 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
21515 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
21519 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
21520 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
21521 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
21522 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
21530 Decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
21531 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
21532 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
21533 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
21535 The variable that controls this is the
21536 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
21537 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
21538 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
21539 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
21540 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
21542 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
21543 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
21544 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
21545 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
21548 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
21549 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
21550 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
21551 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
21552 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
21553 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
21554 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
21555 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
21557 (Note: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
21560 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
21561 easier insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages.
21563 @findex gnus-random-x-face
21564 @vindex gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command
21565 @vindex gnus-x-face-directory
21566 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
21567 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
21568 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
21569 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
21570 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
21571 header data as a string.
21573 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
21574 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
21575 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
21576 randomly generated data.
21578 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
21579 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command
21580 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
21581 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
21582 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
21584 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
21585 like the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21588 (setq message-required-news-headers
21589 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21590 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
21593 Using the last function would be something like this:
21596 (setq message-required-news-headers
21597 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21598 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
21599 (gnus-x-face-from-file
21600 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
21605 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
21608 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21609 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21610 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
21611 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
21612 unusual directory structure.
21614 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21615 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21616 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
21617 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
21619 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21620 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21621 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
21622 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
21623 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
21624 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
21626 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21627 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21628 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
21633 @subsubsection Toolbar
21637 @item gnus-use-toolbar
21638 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
21639 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
21640 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
21641 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
21643 @item gnus-group-toolbar
21644 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
21645 The toolbar in the group buffer.
21647 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
21648 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
21649 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
21651 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21652 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21653 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
21664 @node Fuzzy Matching
21665 @section Fuzzy Matching
21666 @cindex fuzzy matching
21668 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
21669 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
21671 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
21672 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
21673 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
21675 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
21676 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
21677 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
21678 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
21679 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
21682 @node Thwarting Email Spam
21683 @section Thwarting Email Spam
21687 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21689 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
21690 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
21691 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
21692 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
21693 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
21694 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
21695 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
21696 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
21699 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
21700 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
21701 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
21702 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
21703 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
21704 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
21706 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
21709 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
21710 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
21711 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
21712 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
21713 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
21714 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
21717 @node The problem of spam
21718 @subsection The problem of spam
21720 @cindex spam filtering approaches
21721 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
21723 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21725 First, some background on spam.
21727 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
21728 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it exists
21729 because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail, so only
21730 a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to make it
21731 worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most common
21732 spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for further
21733 spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers}, but terms like
21734 @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, and @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
21736 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
21737 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
21738 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
21739 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
21740 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
21741 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
21742 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
21743 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
21744 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
21747 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering. If you get 200
21748 spam messages per day from @samp{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you
21749 block @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about
21750 @samp{VIAGRA}, you discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the
21751 message. This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate
21752 e-mail. For instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest
21753 has been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it
21754 @strong{contained} words that were common in spam messages.
21755 Nevertheless, in isolated cases, with great care, direct filtering of
21756 mail can be useful.
21758 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
21759 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
21760 @code{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @samp{X} in
21761 China, Ghana, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
21762 @code{N} systems enter @samp{X} or the spam e-mail from @samp{X} into
21763 a database. The criteria for spam detection vary - it may be the
21764 number of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When
21765 a user of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a
21766 message is spam, he consults one of those @code{N} systems.
21768 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
21769 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
21770 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
21771 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
21772 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
21773 sending spam, and their web sites have been shut down for some time
21774 because of the incident.
21776 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
21777 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
21778 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
21779 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
21780 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
21781 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
21782 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
21783 to store the database of spam analyses.
21785 @node Anti-Spam Basics
21786 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
21790 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21792 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
21793 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
21795 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
21796 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
21797 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
21798 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
21799 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
21800 part of the mail address.)
21803 (setq message-default-news-headers
21804 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
21807 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
21808 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21813 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
21814 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
21815 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
21821 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
21822 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
21823 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
21824 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
21826 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @sc{smtp} server
21827 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
21828 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
21829 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
21830 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
21831 your fancy split rule in this way:
21836 (to "larsi" "misc")
21840 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
21841 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
21842 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
21843 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
21844 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
21846 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
21847 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
21848 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
21849 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
21850 cosmic balance somewhat.
21852 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
21853 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
21854 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
21855 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
21860 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
21861 @cindex SpamAssassin
21862 @cindex Vipul's Razor
21865 The days where the hints in the previous section was sufficient in
21866 avoiding spam is coming to an end. There are many tools out there
21867 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
21868 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
21869 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
21870 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
21871 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
21873 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
21874 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
21875 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
21876 Specifiers}) follows.
21880 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
21883 :postscript "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
21886 Once you managed to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
21887 the mail contain e.g. a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
21888 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
21891 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
21895 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21898 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
21899 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
21903 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
21904 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
21905 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
21906 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
21909 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
21911 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
21913 (let ((buf (or (get-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
21914 (get-buffer " *nnml move*"))))
21916 (progn (message "Oops, cannot find message buffer") nil)
21918 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
21919 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
21923 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
21924 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
21925 spam. And here is the nifty function:
21928 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
21929 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
21931 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
21932 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
21933 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
21937 @subsection Hashcash
21940 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
21941 costly for each message they send. This has the obvious drawback that
21942 you cannot rely on that everyone in the world uses this technique,
21943 since it is not part of the Internet standards, but it may be useful
21944 in smaller communities.
21946 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
21947 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
21948 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
21949 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
21950 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
21951 instead requires that everyone you communicate with supports the
21952 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
21953 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
21954 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
21955 one of them separately.
21958 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
21959 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
21960 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:}
21961 header. For more details, and for the external application
21962 @code{hashcash} you need to install to use this feature, see
21963 @uref{http://www.cypherspace.org/~adam/hashcash/}. Even more
21964 information can be found at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
21966 If you wish to call hashcash for each message you send, say something
21970 (require 'hashcash)
21971 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'mail-add-payment)
21974 The @code{hashcash.el} library can be found at
21975 @uref{http://users.actrix.gen.nz/mycroft/hashcash.el}, or in the Gnus
21976 development contrib directory.
21978 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
21982 @item hashcash-default-payment
21983 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
21984 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
21985 should consist of. By default this is 0, meaning nothing will be
21986 done. Suggested useful values include 17 to 29.
21988 @item hashcash-payment-alist
21989 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
21990 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
21991 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(@var{addr}
21992 @var{amount})} cells, where @var{addr} is the receiver (email address
21993 or newsgroup) and @var{amount} is the number of bits in the collision
21994 that is needed. It can also contain @samp{(@var{addr} @var{string}
21995 @var{amount})} cells, where the @var{string} is the string to use
21996 (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
22000 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed.
22004 Currently there is no built in functionality in Gnus to verify
22005 hashcash cookies, it is expected that this is performed by your hand
22006 customized mail filtering scripts. Improvements in this area would be
22007 a useful contribution, however.
22009 @node Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
22010 @subsection Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
22011 @cindex spam filtering
22014 The idea behind @code{spam.el} is to have a control center for spam detection
22015 and filtering in Gnus. To that end, @code{spam.el} does two things: it
22016 filters incoming mail, and it analyzes mail known to be spam or ham.
22017 @emph{Ham} is the name used throughout @code{spam.el} to indicate
22020 So, what happens when you load @code{spam.el}? First of all, you get
22021 the following keyboard commands:
22031 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
22032 @code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}.
22034 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{$} mark.
22035 Whenever you see a spam article, make sure to mark its summary line
22036 with @kbd{M-d} before leaving the group. This is done automatically
22037 for unread articles in @emph{spam} groups.
22043 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
22044 @code{spam-bogofilter-score}.
22046 You must have Bogofilter installed for that command to work properly.
22052 Also, when you load @code{spam.el}, you will be able to customize its
22053 variables. Try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{spam} variable
22056 The concepts of ham processors and spam processors are very important.
22057 Ham processors and spam processors for a group can be set with the
22058 @code{spam-process} group parameter, or the
22059 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. Ham processors take
22060 mail known to be non-spam (@emph{ham}) and process it in some way so
22061 that later similar mail will also be considered non-spam. Spam
22062 processors take mail known to be spam and process it so similar spam
22063 will be detected later.
22065 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
22066 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
22067 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
22068 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
22069 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
22070 by customizing the corresponding variable
22071 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
22072 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
22073 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
22074 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
22075 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
22076 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
22077 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
22080 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
22081 they get the @samp{$} mark when you enter the group. You must review
22082 these messages from time to time and remove the @samp{$} mark for
22083 every message that is not spam after all. To remove the @samp{$}
22084 mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to ``unread'' the article, or @kbd{d} for
22085 declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a group, all
22086 spam-marked (@samp{$}) articles are sent to a spam processor which
22087 will study them as spam samples.
22089 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
22090 @code{spam-ham-marks} gets overridden below, marks @samp{R} and
22091 @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
22092 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
22093 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
22094 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
22095 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
22096 should then adjust the @code{spam-ham-marks} variable.
22098 @defvar spam-ham-marks
22099 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
22100 consider ham. By default, the list contains the deleted, read,
22101 killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks.
22104 @defvar spam-spam-marks
22105 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
22106 consider spam. By default, the list contains only the spam mark.
22109 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
22110 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
22111 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
22112 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
22113 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
22114 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{$},
22117 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
22118 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
22119 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
22120 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
22121 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
22122 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
22123 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
22124 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with
22125 @code{customize-variable gnus-ham-process-destinations}). The ultimate
22126 location is a group name. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
22127 parameter is not set, spam articles are only expired.
22129 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
22130 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
22132 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
22133 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
22134 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
22135 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
22136 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
22137 customize this variable with @code{customize-variable
22138 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). The ultimate location is a group
22139 name. If the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set,
22140 the spam articles are only expired.
22142 To use the @code{spam.el} facilities for incoming mail filtering, you
22143 must add the following to your fancy split list
22144 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}:
22150 Note that the fancy split may be called @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
22151 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on whether you use the nnmail or
22152 nnimap back ends to retrieve your mail.
22154 The @code{spam-split} function will process incoming mail and send the
22155 mail considered to be spam into the group name given by the variable
22156 @code{spam-split-group}. By default that group name is @samp{spam},
22157 but you can customize it.
22159 @emph{Note for IMAP users}
22161 The boolean variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body} needs to be
22162 set, if you want to split based on the whole message instead of just
22163 the headers. By default, the nnimap backend will only retrieve the
22164 message headers. If you use spam-check-bogofilter, spam-check-ifile,
22165 or spam-check-stat (the splitters that can benefit from the full
22166 message body), you should set this variable. It is not set by default
22167 because it will slow IMAP down.
22169 @xref{Splitting in IMAP}.
22171 @emph{TODO: Currently, spam.el only supports insertion of articles
22172 into a backend. There is no way to tell spam.el that an article is no
22173 longer spam or ham.}
22175 @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
22176 statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
22179 The following are the methods you can use to control the behavior of
22180 @code{spam-split} and their corresponding spam and ham processors:
22183 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
22184 * BBDB Whitelists::
22186 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
22188 * ifile spam filtering::
22189 * spam-stat spam filtering::
22190 * Extending the spam elisp package::
22193 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
22194 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
22195 @cindex spam filtering
22196 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
22197 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
22200 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
22202 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
22203 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
22204 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
22205 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
22210 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
22212 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
22213 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
22214 whitelist will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
22215 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the whitelist, their
22216 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
22220 @defvar spam-use-whitelist-exclusive
22222 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists as an
22223 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
22224 unless the sender is in the whitelist. Use with care.
22228 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
22230 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22231 customizing the group parameters or the
22232 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22233 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
22234 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
22238 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
22240 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22241 customizing the group parameters or the
22242 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22243 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
22244 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
22245 whitelist. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
22246 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22250 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
22251 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
22252 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
22253 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
22254 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
22256 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
22257 legitimate. All messages from whitelisted addresses are considered
22258 non-spam. Also see @ref{BBDB Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the
22259 Emacs regular expression syntax.
22261 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
22262 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
22263 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
22264 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
22265 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
22266 @file{blacklist} respectively.
22268 @node BBDB Whitelists
22269 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
22270 @cindex spam filtering
22271 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
22272 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
22275 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
22277 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
22278 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted
22279 addresses, without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded
22280 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Messages whose senders are
22281 not in the BBDB will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
22282 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the BBDB, their
22283 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
22287 @defvar spam-use-BBDB-exclusive
22289 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use the BBDB as an
22290 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
22291 unless the sender is in the BBDB. Use with care. Only sender
22292 addresses in the BBDB will be allowed through; all others will be
22293 classified as spammers.
22297 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
22299 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22300 customizing the group parameters or the
22301 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22302 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
22303 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
22304 BBDB. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
22305 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22310 @subsubsection Blackholes
22311 @cindex spam filtering
22312 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
22315 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
22317 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
22318 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
22319 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
22320 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
22321 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
22322 contains outdated servers.
22324 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
22325 @code{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
22326 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to nil. It is not recommended at this
22327 time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to nil despite the possible
22328 performance improvements, because some users may be unable to use it,
22329 but you can try it and see if it works for you.
22333 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
22335 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
22339 @defvar spam-blackhole-good-server-regex
22341 A regular expression for IPs that should not be checked against the
22342 blackhole server list. When set to nil, it has no effect.
22346 @defvar spam-use-dig
22348 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
22349 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
22353 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
22354 ham processor for blackholes.
22356 @node Regular Expressions Header Matching
22357 @subsubsection Regular Expressions Header Matching
22358 @cindex spam filtering
22359 @cindex regular expressions header matching, spam filtering
22362 @defvar spam-use-regex-headers
22364 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus check the
22365 message headers against lists of regular expressions when you set this
22366 option. The variables @code{spam-regex-headers-spam} and
22367 @code{spam-regex-headers-ham} hold the list of regular expressions.
22368 Gnus will check against the message headers to determine if the
22369 message is spam or ham, respectively.
22373 @defvar spam-regex-headers-spam
22375 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
22376 the message, positively identify it as spam.
22380 @defvar spam-regex-headers-ham
22382 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
22383 the message, positively identify it as ham.
22387 Regular expression header checks are done only on incoming mail.
22388 There is no specific spam or ham processor for regular expressions.
22391 @subsubsection Bogofilter
22392 @cindex spam filtering
22393 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
22396 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
22398 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
22401 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{$} mark for spam
22402 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
22403 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
22404 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
22405 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
22406 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
22408 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on an internal
22409 threshold, set at compilation time. That threshold can't be
22412 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
22413 processing will be turned off.
22415 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
22419 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
22421 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
22422 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
22423 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
22424 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
22425 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
22426 installation documents for details.
22428 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
22432 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
22433 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22434 customizing the group parameters or the
22435 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22436 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
22437 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
22440 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
22441 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22442 customizing the group parameters or the
22443 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22444 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
22445 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
22446 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
22447 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22450 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
22452 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
22453 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
22454 database directory.
22458 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to ifile in intent and
22459 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
22460 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
22461 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
22462 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
22463 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
22465 @node ifile spam filtering
22466 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
22467 @cindex spam filtering
22468 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
22471 @defvar spam-use-ifile
22473 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use ifile, a
22474 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
22478 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
22480 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
22481 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
22482 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
22486 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
22488 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
22489 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
22490 the default value of @samp{spam}.
22493 @defvar spam-ifile-database-path
22495 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
22496 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
22500 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
22501 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
22502 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
22503 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
22506 @node spam-stat spam filtering
22507 @subsubsection spam-stat spam filtering
22508 @cindex spam filtering
22509 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
22513 @xref{Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat}.
22515 @defvar spam-use-stat
22517 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use
22518 spam-stat.el, an Emacs Lisp statistical analyzer.
22522 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
22523 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22524 customizing the group parameters or the
22525 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22526 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
22527 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
22530 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
22531 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22532 customizing the group parameters or the
22533 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22534 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
22535 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
22536 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
22537 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22540 This enables spam.el to cooperate with spam-stat.el. spam-stat.el
22541 provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database, which unlike ifile or
22542 Bogofilter does not require external programs. A spam and a ham
22543 processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for @code{spam-split}
22546 @node Extending the spam elisp package
22547 @subsubsection Extending the spam elisp package
22548 @cindex spam filtering
22549 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
22550 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
22552 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
22553 incoming mail, provide the following:
22561 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
22562 "True if blackbox should be used.")
22567 (spam-use-blackbox . spam-check-blackbox)
22569 to @code{spam-list-of-checks}.
22574 Write the @code{spam-check-blackbox} function. It should return
22575 @samp{nil} or @code{spam-split-group}. See the existing
22576 @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can do.
22578 Make sure to add @code{spam-use-blackbox} to
22579 @code{spam-list-of-statistical-checks} if Blackbox is a statistical
22580 mail analyzer that needs the full message body to operate.
22584 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
22591 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
22592 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
22595 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
22596 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
22597 Only applicable to spam groups.")
22599 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
22600 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
22601 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
22609 (defun spam-blackbox-register-spam-routine ()
22610 (spam-generic-register-routine
22611 ;; the spam function
22613 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
22614 (when (stringp from)
22615 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer from))))
22616 ;; the ham function
22619 (defun spam-blackbox-register-ham-routine ()
22620 (spam-generic-register-routine
22621 ;; the spam function
22623 ;; the ham function
22625 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
22626 (when (stringp from)
22627 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender from))))))
22630 Write the @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender} and
22631 @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer} functions. You can add
22632 more complex code than fetching the message sender, but keep in mind
22633 that retrieving the whole message takes significantly longer than the
22634 sender through @code{spam-fetch-field-from-fast}, because the message
22635 senders are kept in memory by Gnus.
22640 @node Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
22641 @subsection Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
22642 @cindex Paul Graham
22643 @cindex Graham, Paul
22644 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
22645 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
22646 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
22648 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
22649 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
22650 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
22651 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
22652 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
22653 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
22654 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
22655 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
22656 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
22659 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
22660 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
22661 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
22662 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
22663 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
22664 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
22665 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
22666 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
22668 Gnus supports this kind of filtering. But it needs some setting up.
22669 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
22670 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
22671 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
22672 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
22675 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
22676 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
22677 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
22680 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22681 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22683 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
22684 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
22685 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
22686 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
22687 need several hundred emails in both collections.
22689 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
22690 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
22691 per mail. Use the following:
22693 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
22694 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
22695 is treated as one spam mail.
22698 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
22699 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
22700 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
22703 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
22704 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds
22705 the the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
22706 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
22707 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds the the group
22708 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
22710 When you are using IMAP, you won't have the mails available locally,
22711 so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent to cache
22712 the articles. Then you can use directories such as
22713 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
22714 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
22717 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics -- the
22718 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
22719 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
22720 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
22723 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
22724 reset the dictionary.
22726 @defun spam-stat-reset
22727 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
22730 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
22731 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
22732 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
22733 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
22734 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
22735 only non-spam mails.
22737 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
22738 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
22739 to update the dictionary incrementally.
22742 @defun spam-stat-save
22743 Save the dictionary.
22746 @defvar spam-stat-file
22747 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
22748 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
22751 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
22752 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
22754 In order to use @code{spam-stat} to split your mail, you need to add the
22755 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
22758 (require 'spam-stat)
22762 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
22765 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
22766 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
22767 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
22768 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
22770 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
22771 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
22772 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
22773 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
22776 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22777 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22781 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
22782 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
22785 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
22786 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
22787 expression are considered potential spam.
22790 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22791 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22792 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22796 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
22797 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
22798 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
22799 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
22800 mails, when creating the dictionary!
22803 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22804 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22805 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22809 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
22810 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
22811 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
22812 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
22813 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
22817 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22818 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
22819 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22820 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22825 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22826 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22828 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
22830 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
22831 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
22832 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22835 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
22836 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
22837 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22840 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
22841 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
22842 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
22843 already been processed as non-spam.
22846 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
22847 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
22848 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
22849 been processed as spam.
22852 @defun spam-stat-save
22853 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
22854 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22857 @defun spam-stat-load
22858 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
22859 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22862 @defun spam-stat-score-word
22863 Return the spam score for a word.
22866 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
22867 Return the spam score for a buffer.
22870 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
22871 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
22872 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
22875 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
22876 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
22879 (require 'spam-stat)
22883 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
22886 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22887 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22888 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22889 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22890 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22891 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22892 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22893 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22894 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22895 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22896 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22897 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22898 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22899 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22902 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
22905 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22906 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22907 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22908 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
22909 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22910 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22913 @node Various Various
22914 @section Various Various
22920 @item gnus-home-directory
22921 @vindex gnus-home-directory
22922 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
22923 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
22925 @item gnus-directory
22926 @vindex gnus-directory
22927 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
22928 this variable, which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment
22929 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
22931 Note that gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
22932 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
22933 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
22934 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
22936 @item gnus-default-directory
22937 @vindex gnus-default-directory
22938 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
22939 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
22940 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
22941 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
22942 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
22943 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
22946 @vindex gnus-verbose
22947 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
22948 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
22949 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
22950 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
22951 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
22953 @item gnus-verbose-backends
22954 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
22955 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
22956 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
22958 @item nnheader-max-head-length
22959 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
22960 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
22961 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
22962 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
22963 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
22964 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
22965 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
22966 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
22967 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
22969 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
22970 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
22971 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
22972 read when doing the operation described above.
22974 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22975 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22977 @cindex invalid characters in file names
22978 @cindex characters in file names
22979 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
22980 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
22981 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
22984 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22988 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
22989 Windows (phooey) systems.
22991 @item gnus-hidden-properties
22992 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
22993 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
22994 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
22995 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
22997 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
22998 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
22999 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
23000 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
23001 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
23003 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
23004 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
23005 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
23007 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
23008 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
23010 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
23011 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
23012 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
23013 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
23016 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
23024 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
23025 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
23027 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
23029 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
23035 Not because of victories @*
23038 but for the common sunshine,@*
23040 the largess of the spring.
23044 but for the day's work done@*
23045 as well as I was able;@*
23046 not for a seat upon the dais@*
23047 but at the common table.@*
23052 @chapter Appendices
23055 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
23056 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
23057 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
23058 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
23059 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
23060 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
23061 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
23062 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
23063 * Frequently Asked Questions::
23070 @cindex Installing under XEmacs
23072 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
23073 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
23074 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{w3}, @samp{mh-e},
23075 @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{rmail}, @samp{eterm}, @samp{mail-lib},
23076 @samp{xemacs-base}, @samp{sh-script} and @samp{fsf-compat}. The
23077 @samp{misc-games} package is required for Morse decoding.
23084 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
23085 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
23087 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
23088 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
23089 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
23090 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
23091 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
23093 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
23094 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
23095 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
23096 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
23097 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
23098 appropriate name, don't you think?)
23100 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
23101 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
23102 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
23103 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
23106 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
23107 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
23108 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
23109 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
23110 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
23111 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
23112 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
23113 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
23114 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
23118 @node Gnus Versions
23119 @subsection Gnus Versions
23121 @cindex September Gnus
23123 @cindex Quassia Gnus
23124 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
23127 @cindex Gnus versions
23129 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
23130 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
23131 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
23133 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
23134 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
23136 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
23137 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
23139 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
23140 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
23142 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
23143 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
23146 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
23148 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
23149 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
23150 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
23151 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
23152 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
23153 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
23156 @node Other Gnus Versions
23157 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
23160 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
23161 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
23162 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
23163 @sc{mime} capabilities.
23165 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
23166 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
23167 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
23168 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
23175 What's the point of Gnus?
23177 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
23178 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
23179 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
23180 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
23181 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
23182 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
23183 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
23184 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
23185 keep track of millions of people who post?
23187 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
23188 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
23189 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
23190 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
23191 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
23192 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
23193 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
23194 every one of you to explore and invent.
23196 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
23197 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
23200 @node Compatibility
23201 @subsection Compatibility
23203 @cindex compatibility
23204 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
23205 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
23206 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
23211 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
23215 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
23218 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
23221 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
23222 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
23223 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
23224 important variables have their values copied into their global
23225 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
23226 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
23228 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
23229 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
23230 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
23231 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
23232 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
23236 @cindex highlighting
23237 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
23238 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
23239 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
23240 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
23241 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
23242 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
23245 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
23246 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
23247 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
23248 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
23250 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
23251 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
23252 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
23253 to stop doing it the old way.
23255 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
23257 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
23259 @cindex reporting bugs
23261 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
23262 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
23263 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
23265 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
23266 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
23267 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
23268 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
23273 @subsection Conformity
23275 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
23276 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
23284 There are no known breaches of this standard.
23288 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
23290 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
23291 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
23292 We do have some breaches to this one.
23298 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
23299 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
23300 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
23301 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
23302 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
23307 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
23308 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
23309 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
23310 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
23312 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
23314 All the various @sc{mime} RFCs are supported.
23316 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
23317 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
23319 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
23322 RFC 1991 is the original PGP message specification, published as a
23323 Information RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now called Open PGP, and
23324 put on the Standards Track. Both document a non-@sc{mime} aware PGP
23325 format. Gnus supports both encoding (signing and encryption) and
23326 decoding (verification and decryption).
23328 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
23329 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
23330 1991) describes the @sc{mime}-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
23331 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
23333 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
23334 RFC 2633 describes the @sc{s/mime} format.
23336 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
23337 RFC 1730 is @sc{imap} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060 (@sc{imap} 4
23338 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5 authentication for @sc{imap}. RFC
23339 2086 describes access control lists (ACLs) for @sc{imap}. RFC 2359
23340 describes a @sc{imap} protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper
23341 TLS integration (STARTTLS) with @sc{imap}. RFC 1731 describes the
23342 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @sc{imap}.
23346 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
23347 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
23352 @subsection Emacsen
23358 Gnus should work on :
23366 XEmacs 21.1.1 and up.
23370 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
23371 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
23372 Emacs versions. However, T-gnus does support ``Mule 2.3 based on Emacs
23373 19.34'' and possibly the versions of XEmacs prior to 21.1.1, e.g. 20.4.
23374 See the file ``README'' in the T-gnus distribution for more details.
23376 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
23377 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
23378 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
23382 @node Gnus Development
23383 @subsection Gnus Development
23385 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
23386 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
23387 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
23388 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
23389 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
23390 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
23391 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
23392 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
23394 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
23395 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
23396 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
23397 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
23398 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
23401 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
23402 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
23403 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
23404 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
23405 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
23407 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
23408 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
23409 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
23410 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
23411 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
23412 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
23413 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
23414 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
23415 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
23416 can't be assumed to do so.
23421 @subsection Contributors
23422 @cindex contributors
23424 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
23425 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
23426 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
23427 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
23428 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
23429 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
23430 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
23431 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
23432 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
23433 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
23435 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for@dots{} oops,
23441 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
23444 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
23445 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
23446 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
23447 functionality and stuff.
23450 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
23451 well as numerous other things).
23454 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
23457 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
23460 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
23463 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
23466 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
23467 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
23470 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
23473 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
23474 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
23477 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
23480 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
23483 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
23486 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
23489 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
23490 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
23493 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
23496 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
23499 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
23502 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
23506 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
23509 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
23512 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
23515 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
23516 well as autoconf support.
23520 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
23521 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
23523 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
23538 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
23540 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka
23544 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
23554 Alexei V. Barantsev,
23569 Massimo Campostrini,
23574 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
23575 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
23579 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
23582 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
23588 Michael Welsh Duggan,
23593 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
23597 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
23605 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
23607 Michelangelo Grigni,
23611 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
23613 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c Hayashi
23615 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
23622 François Felix Ingrand,
23623 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c Ichikawa
23624 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
23626 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
23636 Peter Skov Knudsen,
23637 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
23639 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
23640 Thor Kristoffersen,
23643 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
23661 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
23662 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
23669 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
23674 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
23678 John McClary Prevost,
23684 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
23689 Christian von Roques,
23692 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
23699 Philippe Schnoebelen,
23701 Randal L. Schwartz,
23715 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
23720 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
23740 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
23741 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
23742 (550kB and counting).
23744 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
23747 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
23748 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
23752 @subsection New Features
23753 @cindex new features
23756 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
23757 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
23758 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
23759 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
23760 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
23763 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
23764 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
23765 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
23768 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
23770 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
23775 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
23776 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
23779 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
23780 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
23783 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
23786 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
23787 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
23788 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
23791 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
23792 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
23793 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
23794 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
23797 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
23798 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23801 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
23802 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
23803 (@pxref{The Active File}).
23806 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
23807 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
23810 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
23811 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
23812 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
23815 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
23816 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
23817 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
23820 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{~/.gnus.el}) to avoid
23821 cluttering up the @file{.emacs} file.
23824 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
23825 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
23828 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
23829 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
23832 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
23833 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23836 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
23837 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
23840 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
23841 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
23844 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
23847 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
23848 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
23851 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
23852 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
23855 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
23856 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
23859 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
23862 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
23863 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23866 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
23870 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
23874 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
23875 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
23878 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
23884 @node September Gnus
23885 @subsubsection September Gnus
23889 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
23893 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
23898 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
23899 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
23903 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
23904 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
23908 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
23912 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
23913 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
23916 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
23920 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
23923 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
23926 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
23929 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
23933 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
23934 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
23937 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
23941 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
23945 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
23949 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
23953 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
23956 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
23957 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
23960 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
23964 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
23965 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
23968 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
23971 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
23972 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
23973 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23976 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
23980 The Gnus cache is much faster.
23983 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
23987 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
23988 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
23991 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
23992 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
23995 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
23996 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
23999 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
24000 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
24001 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
24004 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
24005 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
24008 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
24011 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
24014 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
24017 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
24020 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
24021 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
24024 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
24028 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
24031 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
24036 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
24039 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
24043 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
24046 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
24050 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
24053 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
24056 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
24057 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
24060 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
24061 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
24065 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
24066 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
24069 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
24073 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
24074 buffer to allow easier treatment.
24077 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
24080 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
24084 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
24088 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
24089 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
24092 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
24096 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
24097 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
24100 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
24101 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
24104 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
24108 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
24111 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
24114 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
24120 @subsubsection Red Gnus
24122 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
24126 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
24133 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
24136 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
24137 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
24140 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
24141 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
24145 Article washing status can be displayed in the
24146 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
24149 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
24152 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
24153 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
24156 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
24160 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
24161 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
24165 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
24166 Server Internals}).
24169 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
24173 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
24176 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
24177 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
24180 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
24181 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
24182 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
24185 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
24186 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
24189 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
24190 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
24193 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
24197 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
24198 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
24201 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
24202 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
24205 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
24209 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
24212 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
24216 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
24217 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
24220 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
24221 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
24224 A new command for reading collections of documents
24225 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
24226 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
24229 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
24233 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
24234 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
24237 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
24238 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
24239 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
24242 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
24243 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
24247 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
24251 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
24255 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
24260 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
24264 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
24268 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
24269 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
24272 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
24278 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
24280 New features in Gnus 5.6:
24285 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
24286 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
24287 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
24290 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
24291 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
24292 group, which is created automatically.
24295 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
24299 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
24302 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
24303 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
24306 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
24310 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
24313 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
24314 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
24317 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
24320 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section ``Symbolic
24321 Prefixes'' in the Gnus manual for details.
24324 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
24325 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the @file{all.SCORE} file.
24328 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
24329 control over simplification.
24332 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
24335 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
24339 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
24342 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
24345 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
24346 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
24347 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
24350 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
24351 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
24354 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
24358 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
24359 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
24362 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
24363 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
24366 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
24370 A history of where mails have been split is available.
24373 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
24376 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
24377 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
24380 A new function for citing in Message has been
24381 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
24384 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
24387 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
24391 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
24392 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
24395 The ``lapsed date'' article header can be kept continually
24396 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
24399 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
24402 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
24406 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
24407 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
24409 New features in Gnus 5.8:
24414 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
24415 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
24417 If you used procmail like in
24420 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
24421 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
24422 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
24423 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
24426 this now has changed to
24430 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
24434 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
24435 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
24438 Gnus is now a @sc{mime}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
24439 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
24442 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
24443 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
24446 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
24447 called to position point.
24450 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
24451 summary buffers and @sc{nov} files.
24454 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
24455 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
24458 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
24459 subtly different manner.
24462 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
24463 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
24464 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
24467 Gnus can now read @sc{imap} mail via @code{nnimap}.
24475 @section The Manual
24479 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
24480 either @code{texi2dvi}
24482 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
24483 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
24485 to get what you hold in your hands now.
24487 The following conventions have been used:
24492 This is a @samp{string}
24495 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
24498 This is a @file{file}
24501 This is a @code{symbol}
24505 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
24509 (setq flargnoze "yes")
24512 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
24515 (setq flumphel 'yes)
24518 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
24519 ever get them confused.
24523 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
24524 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
24525 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
24526 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
24527 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
24528 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
24529 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
24535 @node On Writing Manuals
24536 @section On Writing Manuals
24538 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
24539 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
24540 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
24541 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
24542 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
24543 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
24546 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
24547 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
24548 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
24551 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
24552 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
24557 @section Terminology
24559 @cindex terminology
24564 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
24565 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
24566 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
24567 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
24568 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
24572 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
24573 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
24574 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
24575 not posting, and replying is not following up.
24579 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
24583 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
24588 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
24589 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
24590 commonly fetched via the protocol NNTP, whereas mail messages could be
24591 read from a file on the local disk. The internal architecture of Gnus
24592 thus comprises a `front end' and a number of `back ends'. Internally,
24593 when you enter a group (by hitting @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke
24594 a function in the front end in Gnus. The front end then `talks' to a
24595 back end and says things like ``Give me the list of articles in the foo
24596 group'' or ``Show me article number 4711''.
24598 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back end
24599 accesses news via NNTP, the @code{nnimap} back end accesses mail via
24600 IMAP) or a file format and directory layout (the @code{nnspool} back end
24601 accesses news via the common `spool directory' format, the @code{nnml}
24602 back end access mail via a file format and directory layout that's
24605 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
24606 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
24607 access the articles.
24609 However, sometimes the term `back end' is also used where `server'
24610 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term `select
24611 method' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
24616 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
24617 default, way of getting news.
24621 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
24622 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
24627 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
24628 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
24632 A message that has been posted as news.
24635 @cindex mail message
24636 A message that has been mailed.
24640 A mail message or news article
24644 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
24649 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
24654 A line from the head of an article.
24658 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
24659 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
24663 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
24664 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
24665 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
24666 normal @sc{head} format.
24670 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
24671 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
24672 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
24673 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
24674 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
24675 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
24677 @item killed groups
24678 @cindex killed groups
24679 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
24680 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
24682 @item zombie groups
24683 @cindex zombie groups
24684 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
24687 @cindex active file
24688 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
24689 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
24690 is rather large, as you might surmise.
24693 @cindex bogus groups
24694 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
24695 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
24696 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
24699 @cindex activating groups
24700 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
24701 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
24702 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
24706 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
24708 @item select method
24709 @cindex select method
24710 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
24713 @item virtual server
24714 @cindex virtual server
24715 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
24716 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
24717 whole is a virtual server.
24721 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
24722 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
24725 @item ephemeral groups
24726 @cindex ephemeral groups
24727 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
24728 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
24729 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
24732 @cindex solid groups
24733 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
24734 group buffer are solid groups.
24736 @item sparse articles
24737 @cindex sparse articles
24738 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
24739 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
24743 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
24744 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
24748 @cindex thread root
24749 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
24750 articles in the thread.
24754 An article that has responses.
24758 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
24762 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
24763 specified by RFC 1153.
24769 @node Customization
24770 @section Customization
24771 @cindex general customization
24773 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
24774 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
24775 for some quite common situations.
24778 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
24779 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
24780 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
24781 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
24785 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
24786 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
24788 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
24789 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
24790 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
24794 @item gnus-read-active-file
24795 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
24796 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
24797 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24798 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
24799 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
24801 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
24802 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
24803 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
24804 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
24808 @node Slow Terminal Connection
24809 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
24811 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
24812 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
24813 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
24817 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
24818 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
24819 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
24820 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
24821 horizontal and vertical recentering.
24823 @item gnus-visible-headers
24824 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
24825 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
24826 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
24827 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
24829 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
24831 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
24832 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
24833 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
24836 @item gnus-use-full-window
24837 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
24838 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
24839 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
24840 want to read them anyway.
24842 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
24843 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
24847 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
24848 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
24849 lines, which might save some time.
24853 @node Little Disk Space
24854 @subsection Little Disk Space
24857 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
24858 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
24862 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
24863 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
24864 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24865 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24868 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
24869 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
24870 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24871 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24874 @item gnus-save-killed-list
24875 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
24876 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
24877 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
24878 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
24884 @subsection Slow Machine
24885 @cindex slow machine
24887 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
24888 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
24890 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24891 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
24893 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
24894 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
24895 summary buffer faster.
24899 @node Troubleshooting
24900 @section Troubleshooting
24901 @cindex troubleshooting
24903 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
24911 Make sure your computer is switched on.
24914 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
24915 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
24919 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
24920 like @samp{T-gnus 6.15.* (based on Oort Gnus v0.*; for SEMI 1.1*, FLIM
24921 1.1*)} you have the right files loaded. If, on the other hand, you get
24922 something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp flee}, you have some old
24923 @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
24926 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
24930 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
24931 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
24932 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
24933 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
24934 something like that.
24937 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
24940 @cindex reporting bugs
24942 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
24944 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
24945 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
24946 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
24947 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
24949 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
24950 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
24951 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
24952 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
24955 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
24956 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
24957 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
24958 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
24959 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
24960 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
24962 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
24963 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
24964 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
24968 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
24969 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
24972 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
24973 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
24974 edebug. Debugging lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
24975 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
24976 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
24977 you discover some weird behaviour when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
24978 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
24979 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
24980 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
24981 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
24982 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
24983 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
24984 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
24985 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
24990 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate a elisp error but
24991 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
24992 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press @kbd{C-g} when things are
24993 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
24994 helps isolating the real problem areas). A fancier approach is to use
24995 the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is (or should be) fully
24996 documented elsewhere, but to get you started there are a few steps
24997 that need to be followed. First, instrument the part of Gnus you are
24998 interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package RET
24999 gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package RET message}. Then perform
25000 the operation that is slow and press @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will
25001 then see which operations that takes time, and can debug them further.
25002 If the entire operation takes much longer than the time spent in the
25003 slowest function in the profiler output, you probably profiled the
25004 wrong part of Gnus. To reset profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x
25005 elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove
25006 profiling, but given the complexities and dynamic code generation in
25007 Gnus, it might not always work perfectly.
25009 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
25010 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
25012 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
25013 @cindex ding mailing list
25014 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@email{ding@@gnus.org}.
25015 Write to @email{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
25019 @node Gnus Reference Guide
25020 @section Gnus Reference Guide
25022 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
25023 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
25024 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
25025 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
25028 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
25029 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
25030 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
25031 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
25032 and general methods of operation.
25035 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
25036 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
25037 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
25038 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
25039 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
25040 * Group Info:: The group info format.
25041 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
25042 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
25043 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
25047 @node Gnus Utility Functions
25048 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
25049 @cindex Gnus utility functions
25050 @cindex utility functions
25052 @cindex internal variables
25054 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
25055 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
25056 Below is a list of the most common ones.
25060 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
25061 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
25062 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
25064 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
25065 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
25066 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
25068 @item gnus-group-real-name
25069 @findex gnus-group-real-name
25070 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
25073 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
25074 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
25075 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
25076 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
25078 @item gnus-get-info
25079 @findex gnus-get-info
25080 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
25082 @item gnus-group-unread
25083 @findex gnus-group-unread
25084 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
25088 @findex gnus-active
25089 The active entry for @var{group}.
25091 @item gnus-set-active
25092 @findex gnus-set-active
25093 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
25095 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
25096 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
25097 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
25100 @item gnus-continuum-version
25101 @findex gnus-continuum-version
25102 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
25103 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
25106 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
25107 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
25108 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
25110 @item gnus-news-group-p
25111 @findex gnus-news-group-p
25112 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
25114 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
25115 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
25116 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
25118 @item gnus-server-to-method
25119 @findex gnus-server-to-method
25120 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
25122 @item gnus-server-equal
25123 @findex gnus-server-equal
25124 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
25126 @item gnus-group-native-p
25127 @findex gnus-group-native-p
25128 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
25130 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
25131 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
25132 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
25134 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
25135 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
25136 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
25138 @item group-group-find-parameter
25139 @findex group-group-find-parameter
25140 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
25141 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
25143 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
25144 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
25145 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
25147 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
25148 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
25149 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
25151 @item gnus-check-backend-function
25152 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
25153 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
25154 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
25157 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
25161 @item gnus-read-method
25162 @findex gnus-read-method
25163 Prompts the user for a select method.
25168 @node Back End Interface
25169 @subsection Back End Interface
25171 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
25172 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
25173 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
25174 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
25175 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
25176 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
25178 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
25179 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
25180 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
25181 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
25182 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
25183 been opened, the function should fail.
25185 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
25186 name. Take this example:
25190 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
25191 (nntp-port-number 4324))
25194 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
25195 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
25197 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
25198 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
25199 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
25201 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
25202 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
25203 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
25205 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
25206 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
25207 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
25208 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
25209 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
25210 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
25213 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
25214 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
25215 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
25216 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
25219 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
25220 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
25221 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
25222 possible for later articles to `re-use' older article numbers without
25223 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
25224 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
25225 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
25226 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
25227 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
25228 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
25230 The previous paragraph already mentions all the `hard' restrictions that
25231 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
25232 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
25233 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
25234 the `no-reuse' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
25235 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
25236 of numbers as long as possible.
25238 Note that by convention, backends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
25239 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
25240 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
25242 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
25245 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
25248 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
25249 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
25250 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
25251 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
25252 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
25253 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
25257 @node Required Back End Functions
25258 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
25262 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
25264 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
25265 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
25266 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
25267 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
25269 The result data should either be HEADs or @sc{nov} lines, and the result
25270 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
25271 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
25272 of HEADs and @sc{nov} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
25274 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching ``extra
25275 headers'', in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
25276 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
25277 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
25278 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
25279 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
25280 number, do maximum fetches.
25282 Here's an example HEAD:
25285 221 1056 Article retrieved.
25286 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
25287 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
25288 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
25289 Subject: Re: Something very droll
25290 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
25291 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
25293 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
25294 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
25295 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
25299 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
25300 these in the data buffer.
25302 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
25306 head = error / valid-head
25307 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
25308 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
25309 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
25310 header = <text> eol
25314 (The version of BNF used here is the one used in RFC822.)
25316 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
25317 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
25321 nov-buffer = *nov-line
25322 nov-line = field 7*8[ <TAB> field ] eol
25323 field = <text except TAB>
25326 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
25330 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
25332 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
25333 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
25335 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
25336 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
25337 server. In fact, it should do so.
25339 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
25340 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
25343 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
25345 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
25346 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
25349 There should be no data returned.
25352 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
25354 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
25355 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
25356 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
25357 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
25359 There should be no data returned.
25362 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
25364 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
25365 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
25366 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
25367 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
25369 There should be no data returned.
25372 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
25374 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
25376 There should be no data returned.
25379 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
25381 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
25382 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
25383 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
25384 it would be nice if that were possible.
25386 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
25387 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
25388 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
25389 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
25390 into its article buffer.
25392 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
25393 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
25394 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
25395 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
25396 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
25397 on successful article retrieval.
25400 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
25402 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
25403 making @var{group} the current group.
25405 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
25408 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
25411 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
25414 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
25415 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
25416 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
25417 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
25418 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
25419 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
25420 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
25421 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
25422 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
25426 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
25427 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
25428 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
25432 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
25434 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
25435 a no-op on most back ends.
25437 There should be no data returned.
25440 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
25442 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
25445 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
25448 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
25449 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
25452 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
25453 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
25454 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
25455 and the highest as 0.
25458 active-file = *active-line
25459 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
25461 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
25464 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
25465 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
25466 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
25469 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
25471 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
25472 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
25473 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
25474 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
25475 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
25476 clear if the posting could not be completed.
25478 There should be no result data from this function.
25483 @node Optional Back End Functions
25484 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
25488 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
25490 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
25491 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
25492 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
25494 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
25495 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
25496 former is in the same format as the data from
25497 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
25498 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
25501 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
25505 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
25507 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
25508 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all the
25509 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
25510 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
25511 should return a non-nil value.
25513 There should be no result data from this function.
25516 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
25518 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
25519 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
25520 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
25521 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
25522 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
25523 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
25524 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
25525 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
25527 There should be no result data from this function.
25530 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
25532 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
25533 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
25534 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
25535 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
25536 propagate the mark information to the server.
25538 @var{action} is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
25541 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
25544 @var{range} is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.
25545 @var{action} is @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove
25546 marks (preserving all marks not mentioned). @var{mark} is a list of
25547 marks; where each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are
25548 @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
25549 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
25550 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
25551 possible, not limit itself to these.
25553 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
25554 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
25555 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
25556 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
25558 An example action list:
25561 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
25562 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
25563 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
25566 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
25567 mark on (currently not used for anything).
25569 There should be no result data from this function.
25571 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
25573 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
25574 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
25575 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
25576 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
25577 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
25579 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
25580 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
25581 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
25584 There should be no result data from this function.
25587 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
25589 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
25590 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
25591 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query the
25592 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
25593 to be heeded---if the back end decides that it is too much work just
25594 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
25595 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
25597 There should be no result data from this function.
25600 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
25602 The result data from this function should be a description of
25606 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
25608 description = <text>
25611 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
25613 The result data from this function should be the description of all
25614 groups available on the server.
25617 description-buffer = *description-line
25621 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
25623 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
25624 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
25625 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
25626 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
25627 in the active buffer format.
25629 It is okay for this function to return `too many' groups; some back ends
25630 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
25631 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
25632 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
25633 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
25634 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
25635 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
25638 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
25640 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
25642 There should be no return data.
25645 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
25647 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
25648 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
25649 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
25650 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
25651 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
25654 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
25657 There should be no result data returned.
25660 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM &optional LAST)
25662 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
25663 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
25665 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
25666 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
25667 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
25668 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
25669 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
25670 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
25672 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
25673 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
25676 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
25677 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
25679 The group should exist before the backend is asked to accept the
25680 article for that group.
25682 There should be no data returned.
25685 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
25687 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
25688 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
25689 this function in short order.
25691 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
25692 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
25694 There should be no data returned.
25697 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
25699 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
25700 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
25702 There should be no data returned.
25705 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
25707 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
25708 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
25709 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
25711 There should be no data returned.
25714 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
25716 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
25717 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
25719 There should be no data returned.
25724 @node Error Messaging
25725 @subsubsection Error Messaging
25727 @findex nnheader-report
25728 @findex nnheader-get-report
25729 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
25730 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
25731 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
25732 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
25733 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
25734 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
25737 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
25739 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
25742 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
25743 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
25744 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
25745 takes one argument---the server symbol.
25747 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
25748 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
25749 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
25752 @node Writing New Back Ends
25753 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
25755 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
25756 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
25757 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
25758 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
25759 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
25762 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
25763 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
25764 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
25766 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
25767 package called @code{nnoo}.
25769 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
25770 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
25776 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
25777 parameters. For instance:
25780 (nnoo-declare nndir
25784 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
25785 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
25788 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
25789 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
25790 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
25792 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
25793 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
25794 a function in those back ends.
25797 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25798 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25799 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25802 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
25803 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
25804 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
25806 @item nnoo-define-basics
25807 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
25811 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25815 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
25816 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
25817 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
25819 @item nnoo-map-functions
25820 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
25821 functions from the parent back ends.
25824 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25825 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25826 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
25829 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
25830 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
25831 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
25832 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
25835 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
25836 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
25837 haven't already been defined.
25843 nnmh-request-newgroups)
25847 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
25848 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
25849 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
25854 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
25857 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
25858 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
25862 (require 'nnheader)
25866 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
25868 (nnoo-declare nndir
25871 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25872 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25873 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25875 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
25876 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
25879 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
25881 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
25882 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
25883 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
25885 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
25886 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
25888 ;;; Interface functions.
25890 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25892 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
25893 (setq nndir-directory
25894 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
25896 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
25897 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
25898 (push `(nndir-current-group
25899 ,(file-name-nondirectory
25900 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25902 (push `(nndir-top-directory
25903 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25905 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
25907 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25908 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25909 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25910 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
25911 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
25915 nnmh-status-message
25917 nnmh-request-newgroups))
25923 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25924 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25926 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
25927 @findex gnus-declare-backend
25928 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
25929 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
25930 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
25932 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
25933 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
25938 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
25941 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
25943 The abilities can be:
25947 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
25949 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
25951 This back end supports both mail and news.
25953 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
25956 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
25957 articles and groups.
25959 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
25960 true for almost all back ends.
25961 @item prompt-address
25962 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
25963 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
25964 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
25968 @node Mail-like Back Ends
25969 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
25971 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
25972 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
25973 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
25974 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
25977 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
25978 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
25979 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
25982 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
25983 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
25986 This function takes four parameters.
25990 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
25993 @item exit-function
25994 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
25996 @item temp-directory
25997 Where the temporary files should be stored.
26000 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
26001 performed for one group only.
26004 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
26005 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
26006 find the article number assigned to this article.
26008 The function also uses the following variables:
26009 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
26010 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
26011 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
26012 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
26016 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
26017 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
26021 @node Score File Syntax
26022 @subsection Score File Syntax
26024 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
26025 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
26026 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
26028 Here's a typical score file:
26032 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
26039 BNF definition of a score file:
26042 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
26043 element = rule / atom
26044 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
26045 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
26046 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
26047 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
26049 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
26050 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
26051 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
26052 date-header = "date"
26053 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
26054 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
26055 score = "nil" / <integer>
26056 date = "nil" / <natural number>
26057 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
26058 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
26059 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
26060 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
26061 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
26062 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
26063 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
26064 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
26065 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
26066 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
26067 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
26068 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
26069 exclude-files / read-only / touched
26070 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
26071 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
26072 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
26073 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
26074 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
26075 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
26076 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
26077 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
26078 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
26079 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
26080 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
26081 eval = "eval" space <form>
26082 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
26085 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
26088 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
26089 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
26090 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
26091 one looong line, then that's ok.
26093 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
26094 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
26098 @subsection Headers
26100 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
26101 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
26102 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
26103 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
26105 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
26106 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
26107 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
26108 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
26109 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
26110 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
26111 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
26113 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
26114 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
26115 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
26116 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
26117 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
26119 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
26120 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
26126 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
26127 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
26129 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
26130 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
26131 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
26132 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
26134 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
26138 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
26141 is transformed into
26144 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
26147 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
26148 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
26151 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
26154 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
26155 is slightly tricky:
26158 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
26164 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
26167 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
26173 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
26180 and is equal to the previous range.
26182 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
26183 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
26184 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
26188 range = simple-range / normal-range
26189 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
26190 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
26191 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
26192 number *[ " " contents ]
26195 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
26196 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
26197 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
26198 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
26199 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
26204 @subsection Group Info
26206 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
26207 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
26208 describes the group.
26210 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
26211 second is a more complex one:
26214 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
26216 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
26217 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
26219 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
26222 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
26223 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
26224 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
26225 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
26226 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
26227 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
26228 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
26229 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
26230 this section is about.
26232 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
26233 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
26234 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
26236 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
26239 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
26240 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
26241 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
26242 group = quote <string> quote
26243 ralevel = rank / level
26244 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
26245 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
26246 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
26248 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
26249 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
26250 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
26251 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
26254 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
26255 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
26258 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
26259 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
26262 @item gnus-info-group
26263 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
26264 @findex gnus-info-group
26265 @findex gnus-info-set-group
26266 Get/set the group name.
26268 @item gnus-info-rank
26269 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
26270 @findex gnus-info-rank
26271 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
26272 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
26274 @item gnus-info-level
26275 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
26276 @findex gnus-info-level
26277 @findex gnus-info-set-level
26278 Get/set the group level.
26280 @item gnus-info-score
26281 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
26282 @findex gnus-info-score
26283 @findex gnus-info-set-score
26284 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
26286 @item gnus-info-read
26287 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
26288 @findex gnus-info-read
26289 @findex gnus-info-set-read
26290 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
26292 @item gnus-info-marks
26293 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
26294 @findex gnus-info-marks
26295 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
26296 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
26298 @item gnus-info-method
26299 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
26300 @findex gnus-info-method
26301 @findex gnus-info-set-method
26302 Get/set the group select method.
26304 @item gnus-info-params
26305 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
26306 @findex gnus-info-params
26307 @findex gnus-info-set-params
26308 Get/set the group parameters.
26311 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
26312 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
26314 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
26315 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
26316 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
26317 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
26320 @node Extended Interactive
26321 @subsection Extended Interactive
26322 @cindex interactive
26323 @findex gnus-interactive
26325 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
26326 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
26327 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
26330 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
26331 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
26336 The best thing to do would have been to implement
26337 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
26338 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
26339 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
26340 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
26341 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
26342 @code{interactive}.
26344 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
26349 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
26350 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
26354 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
26355 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
26356 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
26359 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
26363 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
26367 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
26373 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
26374 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
26378 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
26379 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
26380 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
26382 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
26383 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
26384 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
26385 Gnus, that's very useful.
26387 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
26388 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
26389 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
26390 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
26391 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
26392 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
26393 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
26394 following function:
26397 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
26401 (,function ,@@args))
26405 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
26406 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
26407 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
26410 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
26411 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
26412 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
26414 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
26415 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
26416 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
26419 @node Various File Formats
26420 @subsection Various File Formats
26423 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
26424 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
26428 @node Active File Format
26429 @subsubsection Active File Format
26431 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
26432 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
26435 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
26438 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
26439 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
26440 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
26441 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
26442 no.general 1000 900 y
26445 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
26448 active = *group-line
26449 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
26450 group = <non-white-space string>
26452 high-number = <non-negative integer>
26453 low-number = <positive integer>
26454 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
26457 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
26458 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
26461 @node Newsgroups File Format
26462 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
26464 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
26465 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
26466 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
26469 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
26470 Here's the definition:
26474 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
26475 group = <non-white-space string>
26477 description = <string>
26482 @node Emacs for Heathens
26483 @section Emacs for Heathens
26485 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
26486 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
26487 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
26488 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
26489 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
26490 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
26491 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
26495 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
26496 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
26501 @subsection Keystrokes
26505 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
26508 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
26511 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
26512 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
26513 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
26514 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
26515 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
26516 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
26518 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
26519 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
26520 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
26521 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
26522 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
26523 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
26524 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
26526 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
26527 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
26528 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
26529 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
26530 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
26531 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
26532 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
26534 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
26535 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
26536 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
26537 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
26538 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
26544 @subsection Emacs Lisp
26546 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
26547 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
26548 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
26549 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
26551 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
26552 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
26553 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
26554 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
26555 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
26556 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
26557 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
26560 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
26561 write the following:
26564 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
26567 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
26568 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
26569 you can go and fill your @file{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
26572 If you have put that thing in your @file{.emacs} file, it will be read
26573 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
26574 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
26575 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
26576 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
26578 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
26579 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
26580 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
26584 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
26588 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
26591 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
26592 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
26595 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
26598 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
26599 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
26602 @include gnus-faq.texi
26622 @c Local Variables:
26624 @c coding: iso-8859-1
26626 % LocalWords: BNF mucho detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
26627 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
26628 % LocalWords: nnmbox newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
26629 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
26630 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref