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
10514 This happens to also be the default action defined in
10515 @var{mailcap-mime-data}.
10518 @section Mailing List
10520 @kindex A M (summary)
10521 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10522 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10523 add a @code{to-list} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10524 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10527 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10532 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10533 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10534 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10537 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10538 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10539 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10542 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10543 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10544 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10548 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10549 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10550 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
10553 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
10554 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10555 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
10558 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
10559 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10560 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
10565 @node Article Buffer
10566 @chapter Article Buffer
10567 @cindex article buffer
10569 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
10570 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
10571 tell gnus otherwise.
10574 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
10575 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
10576 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
10577 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
10578 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
10582 @node Hiding Headers
10583 @section Hiding Headers
10584 @cindex hiding headers
10585 @cindex deleting headers
10587 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
10588 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
10590 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
10591 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
10592 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
10593 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
10594 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
10595 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
10596 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
10597 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
10598 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
10600 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
10604 @item gnus-visible-headers
10605 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
10606 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
10607 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
10608 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
10610 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
10611 the article and the subject, you'd say:
10614 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
10617 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10620 @item gnus-ignored-headers
10621 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
10622 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
10623 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
10624 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
10625 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
10627 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} field
10628 and the @code{Xref} field, you might say:
10631 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
10634 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10637 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
10638 variable will have no effect.
10642 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
10643 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
10644 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
10645 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
10646 the headers are to be displayed.
10648 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
10649 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10652 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10655 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10656 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10658 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10659 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10660 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10661 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10662 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10663 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
10664 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10667 These conditions are:
10670 Remove all empty headers.
10672 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10673 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10675 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
10676 @code{From} header.
10678 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10681 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10682 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
10684 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10685 the current groups's @code{to-list} parameter.
10687 Remove the @code{CC} header if it only contains the address identical to
10688 the current groups's @code{to-list} parameter.
10690 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10693 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10695 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10698 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
10701 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10702 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10705 This is also the default value for this variable.
10709 @section Using MIME
10712 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10713 while people stand around yawning.
10715 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10716 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10718 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10719 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10720 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10722 @vindex gnus-show-mime
10723 @vindex gnus-article-display-method-for-mime
10724 @findex gnus-article-display-mime-message
10725 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
10726 @code{gnus-article-display-method-for-mime}, which is
10727 @code{gnus-article-display-mime-message} by default. This function
10728 calls the @sc{semi} MIME-View program to actually do the work. For more
10729 information on @sc{semi} MIME-View, see its manual page (however it is
10730 not existed yet, sorry).
10732 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
10733 @sc{mime} all the time. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime} set, then
10734 you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article buffer.
10735 These can't be avoided.
10737 In GNUS or Gnus, it might be best to just use the toggling functions
10738 from the summary buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance,
10739 you enter the group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it,
10740 @sc{mime} has decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible
10741 sing-a-long song comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find
10742 the volume button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to
10743 look at you, and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you
10744 can't find the program to control the volume, and everybody else in the
10745 room suddenly decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel
10748 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
10750 To avoid such kind of situation, gnus stops to use
10751 @code{metamail-buffer}. So now, you can set @code{gnus-show-mime} to
10752 non-@code{nil} every-time, then you can push button in the article
10753 buffer when there are nobody else.
10755 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
10758 @node Customizing Articles
10759 @section Customizing Articles
10760 @cindex article customization
10762 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
10763 exist. You can call these functions interactively
10764 (@pxref{Article Washing}), or you can have them
10765 called automatically when you select the articles.
10767 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
10768 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
10769 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
10770 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
10772 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
10773 for sensible values.
10777 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
10780 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
10783 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
10786 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
10789 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
10793 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
10794 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
10795 regexps in the list.
10798 A list where the first element is not a string:
10800 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
10801 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
10802 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
10806 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
10810 @code{mime}: Do this treatment if the value of @code{gnus-show-mime}' is
10815 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
10816 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
10817 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
10818 considered to contain just a single part.
10820 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
10821 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
10822 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
10823 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
10824 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
10825 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
10826 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
10828 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
10829 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
10830 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
10831 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
10834 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
10835 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
10837 @xref{Article Buttons}.
10839 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
10840 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
10841 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
10842 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
10843 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
10844 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
10845 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
10846 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
10847 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
10848 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
10849 @item gnus-treat-decode-article-as-default-mime-charset (t, integer)
10851 @xref{Article Washing}.
10853 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
10854 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
10855 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
10856 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
10857 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
10858 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
10859 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
10861 @xref{Article Date}.
10863 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
10864 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
10865 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
10869 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
10871 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
10873 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
10874 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
10875 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
10879 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
10883 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
10884 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
10885 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
10886 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
10887 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
10888 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
10889 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
10890 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
10891 @item gnus-treat-strip-banner (t, last)
10892 @item gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers (head)
10894 @xref{Article Hiding}.
10896 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
10897 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
10898 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
10900 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
10902 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
10903 @item gnus-treat-translate
10904 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
10906 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
10907 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
10908 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
10909 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
10911 @xref{Article Header}.
10916 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
10917 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
10918 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
10919 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
10920 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
10924 @node Article Keymap
10925 @section Article Keymap
10927 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
10928 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
10929 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
10930 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
10933 A few additional keystrokes are available:
10938 @kindex SPACE (Article)
10939 @findex gnus-article-next-page
10940 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
10941 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h SPACE h}.
10944 @kindex DEL (Article)
10945 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
10946 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
10947 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h DEL h}.
10950 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
10951 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
10952 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
10953 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
10954 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
10957 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
10958 @findex gnus-article-mail
10959 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
10960 given a prefix, include the mail.
10963 @kindex s (Article)
10964 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
10965 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
10966 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
10969 @kindex ? (Article)
10970 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
10971 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
10972 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
10975 @kindex TAB (Article)
10976 @findex gnus-article-next-button
10977 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
10978 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
10981 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
10982 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
10983 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
10986 @kindex R (Article)
10987 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
10988 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
10989 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
10990 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10994 @kindex F (Article)
10995 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
10996 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
10997 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
10998 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
11006 @section Misc Article
11010 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
11011 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
11012 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
11013 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
11016 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
11017 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
11019 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
11020 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
11022 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
11023 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
11024 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
11025 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
11026 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
11027 the contents of the article buffer.
11029 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
11030 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
11031 Hook called in article mode buffers.
11033 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
11034 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
11035 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
11036 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
11038 @vindex gnus-article-over-scroll
11039 @item gnus-article-over-scroll
11040 If non-@code{nil}, allow scrolling the article buffer even when there
11041 no more new text to scroll in. The default is @code{nil}.
11043 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
11044 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
11045 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
11046 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
11047 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
11053 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
11054 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
11055 performed. The characters and their meaning:
11060 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
11063 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
11066 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
11067 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
11068 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
11071 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
11074 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
11077 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
11082 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
11086 @vindex gnus-break-pages
11088 @item gnus-break-pages
11089 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
11090 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
11091 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
11092 paging will not be done.
11094 @item gnus-page-delimiter
11095 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
11096 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
11100 @cindex internationalized domain names
11101 @vindex gnus-use-idna
11102 @item gnus-use-idna
11103 This variable controls whether Gnus performs IDNA decoding of
11104 internationalized domain names inside @sc{From:}, @sc{To:} and
11105 @sc{Cc:} headers. This requires GNU Libidn
11106 (@url{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/}, and this variable is only
11107 enabled if you have installed it.
11112 @node Composing Messages
11113 @chapter Composing Messages
11114 @cindex composing messages
11117 @cindex sending mail
11122 @cindex using s/mime
11123 @cindex using smime
11125 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
11126 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
11127 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
11128 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
11129 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
11130 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
11133 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
11134 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
11135 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
11136 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
11137 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
11138 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
11139 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
11140 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
11143 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
11144 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
11150 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
11153 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
11154 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
11155 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
11156 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
11157 @code{nil} include all headers.
11159 @item gnus-add-to-list
11160 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
11161 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
11162 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
11164 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11165 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11166 This can also be a function receiving the group name as the only
11167 parameter which should return non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is
11168 needed, or a regular expression matching group names, where
11169 confirmation is should be asked for.
11171 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
11172 press R anyway, this variable might be for you.
11174 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11175 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11176 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
11177 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
11178 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
11183 @node Posting Server
11184 @section Posting Server
11186 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
11187 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
11189 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
11191 It can be quite complicated.
11193 @vindex gnus-post-method
11194 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
11195 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
11196 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
11197 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
11198 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
11199 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
11200 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
11201 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
11202 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
11205 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
11208 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
11209 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
11210 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
11211 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
11213 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
11214 gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
11216 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
11217 If that's the case, gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
11220 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
11221 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
11223 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
11224 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
11225 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
11226 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
11227 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @sc{smtp}
11228 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
11229 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
11230 package correctly. An example:
11233 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
11234 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11235 ;; The following variable needs to be set because of the FLIM version of
11236 ;; smtpmail.el. Which smtpmail.el is used depends on the `load-path'.
11237 (setq smtp-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11240 To the thing similar to this, there is @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}.
11241 It is useful if your ISP requires the POP-before-SMTP authentication.
11242 See the documentation for the function @code{mail-source-touch-pop}.
11244 Other possible choices for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
11245 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
11246 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
11248 @node Mail and Post
11249 @section Mail and Post
11251 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
11255 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
11256 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
11257 @cindex mailing lists
11259 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
11260 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
11261 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
11262 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
11263 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
11264 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
11265 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
11266 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
11267 still a pain, though.
11269 @item gnus-user-agent
11270 @vindex gnus-user-agent
11273 This variable controls which information should be exposed in the
11274 User-Agent header. It can be one of the symbols @code{gnus} (show only
11275 Gnus version), @code{emacs-gnus} (show only Emacs and Gnus versions),
11276 @code{emacs-gnus-config} (same as @code{emacs-gnus} plus system
11277 configuration), @code{emacs-gnus-type} (same as @code{emacs-gnus} plus
11278 system type) or a custom string. If you set it to a string, be sure to
11279 use a valid format, see RFC 2616."
11283 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
11284 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
11285 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
11288 @findex ispell-message
11290 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
11293 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
11294 you're in, you could say something like the following:
11297 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
11301 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
11302 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
11304 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
11307 Modify to suit your needs.
11310 @node Archived Messages
11311 @section Archived Messages
11312 @cindex archived messages
11313 @cindex sent messages
11315 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
11316 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
11317 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
11318 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
11321 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
11322 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
11325 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
11326 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server gnus is to
11327 use to store sent messages. The default is:
11330 (nnfolder "archive"
11331 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
11332 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
11333 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
11334 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
11337 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
11338 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
11339 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
11340 directory chosen, you could say something like:
11343 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
11344 '(nnfolder "archive"
11345 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
11346 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
11347 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
11350 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
11352 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
11353 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
11354 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
11356 This variable can be used to do the following:
11361 Messages will be saved in that group.
11363 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
11364 message will not be stored in the select method given by
11365 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
11366 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
11367 has the default value shown above. Then setting
11368 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
11369 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
11370 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
11374 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
11376 an alist of regexps, functions and forms
11377 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
11380 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
11385 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
11387 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
11390 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
11392 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
11395 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
11397 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11398 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
11399 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
11400 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
11403 More complex stuff:
11405 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11406 '((if (message-news-p)
11411 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
11412 messages in one file per month:
11415 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11416 '((if (message-news-p)
11418 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
11421 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
11422 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
11424 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
11425 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
11426 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
11427 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
11428 gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
11429 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
11430 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
11431 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
11432 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
11433 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
11435 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
11436 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
11437 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
11438 this will disable archiving.
11441 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
11442 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
11443 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
11444 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
11445 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
11448 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
11449 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
11450 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
11453 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
11454 but the latter is the preferred method.
11456 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11457 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11458 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
11460 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11461 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11462 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
11463 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
11464 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
11465 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
11466 changed in the future.
11471 @node Posting Styles
11472 @section Posting Styles
11473 @cindex posting styles
11476 All them variables, they make my head swim.
11478 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
11479 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
11480 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
11483 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
11484 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
11485 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
11486 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
11487 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
11492 (signature "Peace and happiness")
11493 (organization "What me?"))
11495 (signature "Death to everybody"))
11496 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
11497 (organization "Emacs is it")))
11500 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
11501 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
11502 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
11503 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
11504 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
11505 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
11506 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
11507 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
11509 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
11510 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
11511 If it is the form @code{(header @var{match} @var{regexp})}, then Gnus
11512 will look in the original article for a header whose name is
11513 @var{match} and compare that @var{regexp}. @var{match} and
11514 @var{regexp} are strings. (There original article is the one you are
11515 replying or following up to. If you are not composing a reply or a
11516 followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
11517 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with
11518 no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
11519 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
11520 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is
11521 said to @dfn{match}.
11523 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
11524 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
11525 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
11526 @code{x-face-file}, @code{address} (overriding
11527 @code{user-mail-address}), @code{name} (overriding
11528 @code{(user-full-name)}) or @code{body}. The attribute name can also
11529 be a string or a symbol. In that case, this will be used as a header
11530 name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the article; if
11531 the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed. If the
11532 attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the result
11535 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
11536 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
11537 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
11538 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
11539 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
11540 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
11541 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
11542 references chars lines xref extra.
11544 @vindex message-reply-headers
11546 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
11547 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
11548 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
11550 @findex message-mail-p
11551 @findex message-news-p
11553 So here's a new example:
11556 (setq gnus-posting-styles
11558 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11560 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11561 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11563 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
11564 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; A form
11565 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
11566 (message-news-p ;; A function symbol
11567 (signature my-news-signature))
11568 (window-system ;; A value symbol
11569 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
11570 ;; If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.
11571 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
11572 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
11573 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; A user defined function
11574 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
11575 (address "user@@bar.foo")
11576 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
11577 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
11579 (From (save-excursion
11580 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
11581 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
11583 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
11586 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
11587 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
11588 if you fill many roles.
11590 Setting the @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} variable will make
11591 posting-styles allow to have distinctive names. You can specify an
11592 arbitrary posting-style when article posting with @kbd{S P} in the
11593 summary buffer. @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} is an alist which maps
11594 the names to styles. Once a posting-style is added to the alist, we can
11595 import it from @code{gnus-posting-styles}. If an attribute whose name
11596 is @code{import} is found, Gnus will look for the attribute value in
11597 @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} and expand it in place.
11602 (setq gnus-named-posting-styles
11604 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11606 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11607 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11610 (organization "The Church of Emacs"))))
11613 The posting-style named "Emacs" will inherit all the attributes from
11614 "Default" except @code{organization}.
11621 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
11622 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
11623 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
11624 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
11625 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
11627 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
11628 some sort using the gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
11629 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
11630 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
11631 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
11635 @vindex nndraft-directory
11636 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
11637 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
11638 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
11639 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
11640 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
11641 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
11643 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
11644 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
11645 unsubscribe it. The special properties of the draft group comes from
11646 a group property (@pxref{Group Parameters}), and if lost the group
11647 behaves like any other group. This means the commands below will not
11648 be available. To restore the special properties of the group, the
11649 simplest way is to kill the group, using @kbd{C-k}, and restart
11650 Gnus. The group is automatically created again with the
11651 correct parameters. The content of the group is not lost.
11653 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
11654 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
11655 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
11656 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
11657 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
11658 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
11659 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
11660 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
11661 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
11662 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
11663 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
11664 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
11665 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
11666 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
11668 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
11669 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
11670 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
11672 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
11673 @kindex D e (Draft)
11674 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
11675 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
11676 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
11678 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
11681 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
11682 @kindex D s (Draft)
11683 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
11684 @kindex D S (Draft)
11685 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
11686 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
11687 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
11688 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
11689 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
11692 @findex gnus-draft-toggle-sending
11693 @kindex D t (Draft)
11694 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
11695 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
11696 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
11699 @node Rejected Articles
11700 @section Rejected Articles
11701 @cindex rejected articles
11703 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
11704 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
11705 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
11706 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
11708 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of gnus.
11709 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
11710 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
11711 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So gnus saves these
11712 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
11714 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
11715 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
11716 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
11718 @node Signing and encrypting
11719 @section Signing and encrypting
11721 @cindex using s/mime
11722 @cindex using smime
11724 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla PGP
11725 format or @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}. For decoding such messages,
11726 see the @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} options
11727 (@pxref{Security}).
11729 @vindex gnus-message-replysign
11730 @vindex gnus-message-replyencrypt
11731 @vindex gnus-message-replysignencrypted
11732 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
11733 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
11734 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
11735 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
11736 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
11737 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
11738 automatically encrypted messages.
11740 Instructing MML to perform security operations on a @sc{mime} part is
11741 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c
11742 C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
11747 @kindex C-c C-m s s
11748 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
11750 Digitally sign current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11753 @kindex C-c C-m s o
11754 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11756 Digitally sign current message using PGP.
11759 @kindex C-c C-m s p
11760 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11762 Digitally sign current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11765 @kindex C-c C-m c s
11766 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
11768 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11771 @kindex C-c C-m c o
11772 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
11774 Digitally encrypt current message using PGP.
11777 @kindex C-c C-m c p
11778 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
11780 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11783 @kindex C-c C-m C-n
11784 @findex mml-unsecure-message
11785 Remove security related MML tags from message.
11789 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
11791 @node Select Methods
11792 @chapter Select Methods
11793 @cindex foreign groups
11794 @cindex select methods
11796 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
11797 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
11798 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
11799 personal mail group.
11801 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
11802 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
11803 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
11804 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
11805 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
11806 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
11808 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
11809 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
11811 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
11814 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
11815 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
11816 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
11817 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
11818 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
11820 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
11823 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
11824 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
11825 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
11826 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
11827 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
11828 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
11829 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
11830 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
11834 @node Server Buffer
11835 @section Server Buffer
11837 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
11838 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
11839 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
11840 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
11841 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
11842 back end represents a virtual server.
11844 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
11845 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
11846 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
11847 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
11849 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
11850 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
11851 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
11852 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
11853 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
11854 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
11855 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
11857 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
11858 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
11861 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
11862 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
11863 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
11864 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
11865 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
11866 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
11867 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
11870 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
11871 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
11874 @node Server Buffer Format
11875 @subsection Server Buffer Format
11876 @cindex server buffer format
11878 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
11879 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
11880 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
11881 variable, with some simple extensions:
11886 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
11889 The name of this server.
11892 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
11895 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
11898 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
11899 The mode line can also be customized by using the
11900 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
11901 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
11911 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
11914 @node Server Commands
11915 @subsection Server Commands
11916 @cindex server commands
11922 @findex gnus-server-add-server
11923 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
11927 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
11928 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
11931 @kindex SPACE (Server)
11932 @findex gnus-server-read-server
11933 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
11937 @findex gnus-server-exit
11938 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
11942 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
11943 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
11947 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
11948 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
11952 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
11953 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
11957 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
11958 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
11962 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
11963 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
11964 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
11969 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
11970 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
11971 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
11972 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
11977 @node Example Methods
11978 @subsection Example Methods
11980 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
11983 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
11986 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
11992 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
11993 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
11996 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
11997 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
11999 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
12000 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
12004 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
12007 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
12008 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
12010 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
12011 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
12012 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
12016 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
12019 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
12022 Here's the method for a public spool:
12026 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
12027 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
12033 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
12034 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
12035 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
12036 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
12037 should probably look something like this:
12041 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
12042 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
12043 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
12044 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
12047 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
12048 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
12049 configuration to the example above:
12052 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
12055 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}.
12057 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
12058 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
12059 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
12063 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12064 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
12065 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
12066 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
12069 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
12070 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
12071 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
12072 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
12075 @node Creating a Virtual Server
12076 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
12078 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
12079 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
12081 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
12082 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
12083 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
12085 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
12087 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
12088 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
12089 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
12090 will contain the following:
12100 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
12101 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
12102 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
12105 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
12106 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
12107 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
12110 @node Server Variables
12111 @subsection Server Variables
12113 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
12114 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
12115 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
12116 change the ``base'' variable after the variables have been loaded, you
12117 won't change the ``derived'' variables.
12119 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
12120 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
12121 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
12122 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
12123 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
12124 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
12125 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
12126 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
12127 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
12131 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
12132 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
12133 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
12137 @node Servers and Methods
12138 @subsection Servers and Methods
12140 Wherever you would normally use a select method
12141 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
12142 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
12143 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
12147 @node Unavailable Servers
12148 @subsection Unavailable Servers
12150 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
12151 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
12152 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
12153 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
12154 actually the case or not.
12156 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
12157 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
12158 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
12159 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
12160 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
12161 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
12162 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
12163 it will regard that server as ``down''.
12165 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
12166 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
12168 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
12169 with the following commands:
12175 @findex gnus-server-open-server
12176 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
12177 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
12181 @findex gnus-server-close-server
12182 Close the connection (if any) to the server
12183 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
12187 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
12188 Mark the current server as unreachable
12189 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
12192 @kindex M-o (Server)
12193 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
12194 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
12195 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
12198 @kindex M-c (Server)
12199 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
12200 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
12201 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
12205 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
12206 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
12207 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
12211 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
12212 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
12218 @section Getting News
12219 @cindex reading news
12220 @cindex news back ends
12222 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
12223 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
12224 or it can read from a local spool.
12227 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
12228 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
12236 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
12237 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
12238 server as the, uhm, address.
12240 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
12241 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
12242 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
12243 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12245 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
12246 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
12247 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
12249 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
12254 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
12255 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
12256 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
12258 @cindex authentification
12259 @cindex nntp authentification
12260 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12261 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
12262 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
12263 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
12264 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
12265 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
12266 present in this hook.
12268 @item nntp-authinfo-function
12269 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
12270 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12271 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
12272 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
12273 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
12274 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
12275 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
12276 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
12277 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
12278 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
12279 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
12283 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
12286 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
12288 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
12289 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
12290 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
12291 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
12292 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
12293 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
12294 @samp{force} is explained below.
12298 Here's an example file:
12301 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
12302 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
12305 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
12306 have to be first, for instance.
12308 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
12309 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
12310 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
12311 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
12312 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
12313 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
12314 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
12316 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
12317 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
12323 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
12324 previously mentioned.
12326 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
12328 @item nntp-server-action-alist
12329 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
12330 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
12331 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
12332 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
12335 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
12336 '(("innd" (ding))))
12339 You probably don't want to do that, though.
12341 The default value is
12344 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
12345 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
12346 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
12349 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
12350 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
12352 @item nntp-maximum-request
12353 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
12354 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this back end
12355 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
12356 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
12357 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
12358 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
12359 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
12361 @item nntp-connection-timeout
12362 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
12363 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
12364 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
12365 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
12366 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
12367 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
12368 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
12369 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
12370 no timeouts are done.
12372 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
12373 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
12374 @c @cindex PPP connections
12375 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
12376 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
12377 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
12378 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
12379 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
12380 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
12381 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
12382 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
12383 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
12384 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
12386 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
12387 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
12388 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
12389 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
12390 @c described above.
12392 @item nntp-server-hook
12393 @vindex nntp-server-hook
12394 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
12397 @item nntp-buggy-select
12398 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
12399 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
12401 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
12402 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
12403 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
12404 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
12407 @item nntp-xover-commands
12408 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
12411 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
12412 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
12416 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
12417 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
12418 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
12419 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
12420 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
12421 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
12422 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
12423 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
12424 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
12425 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
12426 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
12428 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
12429 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
12430 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
12432 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12433 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12434 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
12435 server closes connection.
12437 @item nntp-record-commands
12438 @vindex nntp-record-commands
12439 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
12440 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
12441 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
12442 that doesn't seem to work.
12444 @item nntp-open-connection-function
12445 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
12446 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
12447 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
12448 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
12449 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
12450 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
12451 indirect ones (two pre-made).
12453 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
12454 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
12455 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
12456 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
12457 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
12458 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
12459 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
12462 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
12465 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
12466 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
12468 @item nntp-read-timeout
12469 @vindex nntp-read-timeout
12470 How long nntp should wait between checking for the end of output.
12471 Shorter values mean quicker response, but is more CPU intensive. The
12472 default is 0.1 seconds. If you have a slow line to the server (and
12473 don't like to see Emacs eat your available CPU power), you might set
12476 @item nntp-list-options
12477 @vindex nntp-list-options
12478 List of newsgroup name used for a option of the LIST command to restrict
12479 the listing output to only the specified newsgroups. Each newsgroup name
12480 can be a shell-style wildcard, for instance, @dfn{fj.*}, @dfn{japan.*},
12481 etc. Fortunately, if the server can accept such a option, it will
12482 probably make gnus run faster. You may use it as a server variable as
12486 (setq gnus-select-method
12487 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12488 (nntp-list-options ("fj.*" "japan.*"))))
12491 @item nntp-options-subscribe
12492 @vindex nntp-options-subscribe
12493 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will be subscribed
12494 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12495 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12496 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12497 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12500 (setq gnus-select-method
12501 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12502 (nntp-options-subscribe "^fj\\.\\|^japan\\.")))
12505 @item nntp-options-not-subscribe
12506 @vindex nntp-options-not-subscribe
12507 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will not be subscribed
12508 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12509 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12510 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12511 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12514 (setq gnus-select-method
12515 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12516 (nntp-options-not-subscribe "\\.binaries\\.")))
12521 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
12522 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
12523 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
12527 @node Direct Functions
12528 @subsubsection Direct Functions
12529 @cindex direct connection functions
12531 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
12532 between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server. The behavior of these
12533 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
12534 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12537 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
12538 @item nntp-open-network-stream
12539 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
12542 @findex nntp-open-tls-stream
12543 @item nntp-open-tls-stream
12544 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12545 this you must have GNUTLS installed (see
12546 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/}). You then define a server
12550 ;; "nntps" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
12551 ;; however, gnutls-cli -p doesn't like named ports.
12553 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12554 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-tls-stream)
12555 (nntp-port-number )
12556 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12559 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
12560 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
12561 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
12562 you must have OpenSSL (@uref{http://www.openssl.org}) or SSLeay
12563 installed (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}. You then
12564 define a server as follows:
12567 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
12568 ;; however, openssl s_client -port doesn't like named ports.
12570 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12571 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
12572 (nntp-port-number 563)
12573 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12576 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
12577 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
12578 Opens a connection to an @sc{nntp} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
12579 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
12580 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
12581 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
12582 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
12583 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
12587 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12588 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
12589 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
12592 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
12593 session, which is not a good idea.
12597 @node Indirect Functions
12598 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
12599 @cindex indirect connection functions
12601 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
12602 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @sc{nntp} server.
12603 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
12604 the ``via'' family of connection: they're all prefixed with ``via'' to make
12605 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
12606 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12609 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12610 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12611 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
12612 to the real @sc{nntp} server from there. This is useful for instance if
12613 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
12615 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12618 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12619 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12620 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12621 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12623 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12624 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12625 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12626 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
12627 @samp{ssh} for @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}, you may set this to
12628 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
12629 this to @samp{("-t" "-e" "none")} or @samp{("-C" "-t" "-e" "none")} if
12630 the telnet command requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate
12634 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12635 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12636 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
12637 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
12639 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12642 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
12643 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
12644 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
12647 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
12648 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
12649 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12650 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
12652 @item nntp-via-user-password
12653 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
12654 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
12656 @item nntp-via-envuser
12657 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
12658 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
12659 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
12660 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
12662 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
12663 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
12664 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
12665 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
12672 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
12677 @item nntp-via-user-name
12678 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
12679 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
12681 @item nntp-via-address
12682 @vindex nntp-via-address
12683 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
12688 @node Common Variables
12689 @subsubsection Common Variables
12691 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
12692 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
12697 @item nntp-pre-command
12698 @vindex nntp-pre-command
12699 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native
12700 connection function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream},
12701 @code{nntp-open-tls-stream}, and @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is
12702 where you would put a @samp{SOCKS} wrapper for instance.
12705 @vindex nntp-address
12706 The address of the @sc{nntp} server.
12708 @item nntp-port-number
12709 @vindex nntp-port-number
12710 Port number to connect to the @sc{nntp} server. The default is
12711 @samp{nntp}. If you use @sc{nntp} over @sc{tls}/@sc{ssl}, you may
12712 want to use integer ports rather than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563}
12713 instead of @samp{snews} or @samp{nntps}), because external TLS/SSL
12714 tools may not work with named ports.
12716 @item nntp-end-of-line
12717 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
12718 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
12719 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
12720 using a non native connection function.
12722 @item nntp-telnet-command
12723 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
12724 Command to use when connecting to the @sc{nntp} server through
12725 @samp{telnet}. This is NOT for an intermediate host. This is just for
12726 the real @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{telnet}.
12728 @item nntp-telnet-switches
12729 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
12730 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
12737 @subsection News Spool
12741 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
12742 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
12743 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
12746 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
12747 anything else) as the address.
12749 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
12750 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
12751 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
12752 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
12756 @item nnspool-inews-program
12757 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
12758 Program used to post an article.
12760 @item nnspool-inews-switches
12761 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
12762 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
12764 @item nnspool-spool-directory
12765 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
12766 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
12767 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
12769 @item nnspool-nov-directory
12770 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
12771 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
12772 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
12774 @item nnspool-lib-dir
12775 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
12776 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
12778 @item nnspool-active-file
12779 @vindex nnspool-active-file
12780 The name of the active file.
12782 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
12783 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
12784 The name of the group descriptions file.
12786 @item nnspool-history-file
12787 @vindex nnspool-history-file
12788 The name of the news history file.
12790 @item nnspool-active-times-file
12791 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
12792 The name of the active date file.
12794 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
12795 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
12796 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
12799 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12800 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12802 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
12803 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
12804 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
12810 @section Getting Mail
12811 @cindex reading mail
12814 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
12818 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
12819 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
12820 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
12821 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
12822 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
12823 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
12824 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
12825 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
12826 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
12827 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
12828 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
12829 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
12830 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
12834 @node Mail in a Newsreader
12835 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
12837 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
12838 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
12839 of a culture shock.
12841 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
12842 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
12844 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
12845 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
12846 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
12847 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
12849 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
12851 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
12852 deleted? How awful!
12854 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
12855 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
12856 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
12857 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
12860 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
12861 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
12862 they want to treat a message.
12864 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
12865 via @sc{smtp}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
12866 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
12867 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
12868 archived somewhere else.
12870 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
12871 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
12872 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
12873 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
12874 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
12876 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
12877 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
12878 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
12880 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
12881 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
12884 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
12885 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
12886 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
12887 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
12888 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
12890 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
12891 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
12892 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
12893 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
12894 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
12895 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
12899 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
12900 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
12902 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
12903 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
12904 and things will happen automatically.
12906 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a ``one file per
12907 mail'' back end), you could put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
12910 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12913 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
12914 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
12915 directory, which is @file{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
12916 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
12917 like any other group.
12919 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
12922 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12923 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12924 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12928 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
12929 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
12930 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
12933 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
12934 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
12935 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
12938 @node Splitting Mail
12939 @subsection Splitting Mail
12940 @cindex splitting mail
12941 @cindex mail splitting
12943 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
12944 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
12945 to be split into groups.
12948 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12949 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12950 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12951 ("mail.other" "")))
12954 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
12955 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
12956 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
12957 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
12958 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
12959 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
12960 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
12963 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
12966 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
12967 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
12968 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
12969 mail belongs in that group.
12971 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
12972 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{*} so that it matches any mails
12973 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
12974 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
12975 rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have crossposting enabled.
12976 In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.)
12978 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
12979 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
12980 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
12981 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
12982 thinks should carry this mail message.
12984 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
12985 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
12986 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
12987 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
12989 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
12990 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
12991 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
12992 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
12993 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{*}) group.
12995 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
12998 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
12999 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
13000 links. If that's the case for you, set
13001 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
13002 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
13004 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
13005 @kindex nnmail-split-history
13006 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
13007 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
13008 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
13009 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
13012 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
13013 Header lines longer than the value of
13014 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
13017 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
13018 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
13019 By default the splitting codes @sc{mime} decodes headers so you can match
13020 on non-ASCII strings. The @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
13021 variable specifies the default charset for decoding. The behaviour
13022 can be turned off completely by binding
13023 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to nil, which is useful if you
13024 want to match articles based on the raw header data.
13026 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
13027 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If
13028 you specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable
13029 @code{mail-sources} @pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}, however, then
13030 splitting does @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
13031 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-nil value to make splitting
13032 happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on other kinds
13035 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
13036 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
13037 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
13038 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
13039 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
13040 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
13041 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
13042 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
13043 month's rent money.
13047 @subsection Mail Sources
13049 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
13050 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
13054 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
13055 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
13056 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
13060 @node Mail Source Specifiers
13061 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
13063 @cindex mail server
13066 @cindex mail source
13068 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
13069 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
13074 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
13077 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
13078 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
13079 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
13082 The following mail source types are available:
13086 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
13092 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
13093 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
13094 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
13098 Script run before/after fetching mail.
13101 An example file mail source:
13104 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
13107 Or using the default file name:
13113 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
13114 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
13115 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
13118 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
13122 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
13125 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
13129 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
13132 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
13134 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
13137 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
13141 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
13142 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
13143 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. That is,
13144 there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that directory and
13145 groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool} will be put in
13146 the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix to be used instead
13147 of @code{.spool}.) Setting
13148 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil forces Gnus to
13149 scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful if you want
13150 to scan mail groups at a specified level.
13152 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
13153 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
13154 that to a non-nil value, then the normal splitting process is applied
13155 to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
13161 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
13165 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
13169 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
13170 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
13171 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
13172 predicate are considered.
13176 Script run before/after fetching mail.
13180 An example directory mail source:
13183 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
13188 Get mail from a POP server.
13194 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
13195 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13198 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
13199 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
13200 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
13201 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
13202 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
13205 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
13209 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
13213 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
13214 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
13217 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
13220 The valid format specifier characters are:
13224 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
13225 included in this string.
13228 The name of the server.
13231 The port number of the server.
13234 The user name to use.
13237 The password to use.
13240 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13241 corresponding keywords.
13244 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13245 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13248 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13249 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13252 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
13253 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
13256 @item :authentication
13257 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
13258 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
13262 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this can be the symbol
13263 @code{ssl}, the symbol @code{tls} or others. The default is @code{nil}
13264 and use insecure connections. Note that for SSL/TLS, you need external
13265 programs and libraries:
13269 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL@. Requires OpenSSL (the program
13270 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
13271 library @samp{ssl.el}.
13273 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to SSL)@.
13274 Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
13279 Non-@code{nil} if mail is to be left on the server and UIDL used for
13280 message retrieval. The default is @code{nil}.
13284 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
13285 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
13287 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
13288 default user name, and default fetcher:
13294 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
13297 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
13298 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
13301 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
13304 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
13308 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
13309 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
13310 contains exactly one mail.
13316 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
13317 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
13320 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
13321 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
13323 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
13324 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
13325 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
13328 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
13329 from locking problems).
13333 Two example maildir mail sources:
13336 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
13337 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
13341 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
13346 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
13347 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
13348 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
13349 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
13352 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, TLS/SSL and STARTTLS support you
13353 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
13359 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
13360 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13363 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
13364 @samp{993} for TLS/SSL connections.
13367 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
13371 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
13375 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
13376 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
13377 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{tls},
13378 @samp{ssl}, @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
13380 @item :authentication
13381 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
13382 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
13383 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
13384 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
13387 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
13388 mapped into the @code{imap-shell-program} variable. This should be a
13389 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
13395 The valid format specifier characters are:
13399 The name of the server.
13402 User name from @code{imap-default-user}.
13405 The port number of the server.
13408 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13409 corresponding keywords.
13412 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
13413 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
13416 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
13417 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
13418 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
13419 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
13420 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
13421 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
13424 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
13425 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
13426 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
13427 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
13430 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
13431 after finishing the fetch.
13435 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
13438 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
13440 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
13444 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{www.hotmail.com},
13445 @uref{webmail.netscape.com}, @uref{www.netaddress.com},
13446 @uref{mail.yahoo..com}.
13448 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
13449 required for url "4.0pre.46".
13451 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
13457 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
13458 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
13461 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
13465 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
13469 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
13470 folder after finishing the fetch.
13474 An example webmail source:
13477 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
13479 :password "secret")
13484 @item Common Keywords
13485 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
13491 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
13492 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
13496 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
13501 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
13502 useful when you use local mail and news.
13507 @subsubsection Function Interface
13509 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
13510 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
13511 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
13512 consider the following mail-source setting:
13515 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
13516 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
13519 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
13520 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
13521 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
13522 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
13523 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
13525 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
13528 @node Mail Source Customization
13529 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
13531 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
13532 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
13536 @item mail-source-crash-box
13537 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
13538 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
13539 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
13541 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
13542 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
13543 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them. If
13544 @code{t}, delete the files immediately, if @code{nil}, never delete any
13545 files. If a positive number, delete files older than number of days
13546 (This will only happen, when reveiving new mail). You may also set
13547 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} to @code{nil} and call
13548 @code{mail-source-delete-old-incoming} from a hook or interactively.
13550 @item mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
13551 @vindex mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
13552 If @code{non-nil}, ask for for confirmation before deleting old incoming
13553 files. This variable only applies when
13554 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is a positive number.
13556 @item mail-source-ignore-errors
13557 @vindex mail-source-ignore-errors
13558 If non-@code{nil}, ignore errors when reading mail from a mail source.
13560 @item mail-source-directory
13561 @vindex mail-source-directory
13562 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
13563 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
13564 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
13567 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13568 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13569 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
13570 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
13571 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
13572 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
13574 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
13575 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
13576 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
13578 @item mail-source-movemail-program
13579 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
13580 If non-nil, name of program for fetching new mail. If nil,
13581 @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
13586 @node Fetching Mail
13587 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
13589 @vindex mail-sources
13590 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
13591 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
13592 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
13593 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
13595 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
13596 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
13599 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
13600 mail server, you'd say something like:
13605 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13606 :password "secret")))
13609 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
13613 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
13614 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13617 :password "secret")))
13621 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
13622 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
13623 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
13624 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
13625 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
13626 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
13630 @node Mail Back End Variables
13631 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
13633 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
13637 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13638 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13639 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
13640 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
13642 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
13643 @item nnmail-split-hook
13644 @findex gnus-article-decode-encoded-words
13645 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
13646 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
13647 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
13648 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
13649 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
13650 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
13651 in the buffer will show up in any files.
13652 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
13655 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13656 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13657 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13658 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13659 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
13660 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
13661 starting to handle the new mail) and
13662 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
13663 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
13664 default file modes the new mail files get:
13667 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13668 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
13670 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13671 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
13674 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
13675 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
13676 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
13677 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
13678 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
13679 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
13680 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
13682 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
13683 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
13684 @findex delete-file
13685 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
13687 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13688 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13689 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
13690 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
13691 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
13693 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13694 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13695 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
13696 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
13697 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
13699 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
13700 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
13701 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
13706 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
13707 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
13708 @cindex mail splitting
13709 @cindex fancy mail splitting
13711 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
13712 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
13713 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
13714 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
13715 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
13716 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
13718 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
13721 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
13722 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
13723 ;; from real errors.
13724 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
13726 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
13727 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
13728 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
13729 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
13730 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
13731 ;; Other mailing lists...
13732 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
13733 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
13734 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
13735 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
13736 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
13737 ;; message was really cross-posted.
13738 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
13739 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
13741 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
13742 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
13746 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
13747 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
13748 the five possible split syntaxes:
13753 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
13754 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
13758 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
13759 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
13760 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
13761 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
13762 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
13763 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
13764 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
13765 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
13768 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13769 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
13770 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
13771 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
13774 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13775 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
13778 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
13779 (i.e., delete) this message. Use with extreme caution.
13782 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
13783 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
13784 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
13785 function should return a @var{split}.
13788 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
13789 body of the messages:
13792 (defun split-on-body ()
13794 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
13795 (goto-char (point-min))
13796 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
13800 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
13801 when the @code{:} function is run.
13804 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the
13805 first element is @code{!}, then @var{split} will be processed, and
13806 @var{func} will be called as a function with the result of @var{split}
13807 as argument. @var{func} should return a split.
13810 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
13814 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
13815 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
13816 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
13817 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
13818 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
13820 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
13821 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
13822 are expanded as specified by the variable
13823 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
13824 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
13827 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
13828 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
13829 when all this splitting is performed.
13831 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
13832 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
13833 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
13836 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
13839 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
13840 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
13842 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
13843 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
13844 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
13845 groupings 1 through 9.
13847 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
13848 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
13849 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
13850 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
13851 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
13852 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
13853 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
13854 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
13855 it once per thread.
13857 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} and
13858 @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-nil value. And then
13859 you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon
13862 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; or 'delete
13863 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
13865 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
13866 ;; other splits go here
13870 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
13871 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
13872 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
13873 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
13874 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
13875 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
13876 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
13877 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
13878 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name
13879 unless the group name matches the regexp
13880 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is recommended
13881 that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a somewhat higher
13882 number than the default so that the message ids are still in the cache.
13883 (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300 kBytes in size.)
13884 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13885 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
13886 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
13887 messages goes into the new group.
13889 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
13890 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
13891 outgoing messages are written to an `outgoing' group, you could set
13892 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
13893 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
13897 @node Group Mail Splitting
13898 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
13899 @cindex mail splitting
13900 @cindex group mail splitting
13902 @findex gnus-group-split
13903 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
13904 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
13905 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
13906 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
13907 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
13908 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
13909 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
13910 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
13912 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
13913 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
13914 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
13915 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
13917 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
13918 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
13919 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
13920 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
13921 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
13922 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
13923 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
13925 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
13926 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
13927 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
13928 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
13929 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
13930 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
13931 @code{gnus-group-split}.
13933 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
13934 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
13935 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
13936 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
13937 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
13938 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
13939 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
13940 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
13941 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
13942 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
13943 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
13944 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
13945 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
13947 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
13952 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
13953 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
13955 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
13956 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
13957 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
13958 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
13960 ((split-spec . catch-all))
13963 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
13964 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
13965 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
13968 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
13969 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
13970 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
13974 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
13975 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
13976 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
13980 (: gnus-group-split-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
13983 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
13984 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
13985 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
13986 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
13987 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
13988 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
13989 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
13990 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
13991 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
13993 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
13994 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
13995 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
13996 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
13997 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
13998 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
13999 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
14000 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
14001 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
14003 @findex gnus-group-split-update
14004 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
14005 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
14006 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
14007 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
14008 you. For example, add to your @file{~/.gnus.el}:
14011 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
14014 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
14015 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
14016 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
14017 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
14018 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
14021 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
14022 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
14023 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
14024 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
14026 @node Incorporating Old Mail
14027 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
14028 @cindex incorporating old mail
14029 @cindex import old mail
14031 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
14032 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
14033 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
14036 Doing so can be quite easy.
14038 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
14039 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
14040 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
14041 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
14042 your @code{nnml} groups.
14048 Go to the group buffer.
14051 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
14052 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14055 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
14058 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
14059 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
14062 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
14063 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
14066 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
14067 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
14068 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
14069 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
14070 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
14072 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
14073 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
14074 using the new mail back end.
14077 @node Expiring Mail
14078 @subsection Expiring Mail
14079 @cindex article expiry
14081 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
14082 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
14083 different approach to mail reading.
14085 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
14086 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
14087 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
14088 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
14089 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
14090 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
14093 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
14094 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default keybindings, this means
14095 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
14096 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
14097 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
14098 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
14099 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
14100 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
14101 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
14103 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
14104 two features, called `auto-expire' and `total-expire', that can help you
14105 with this. In a nutshell, `auto-expire' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
14106 for you when you select an article. And `total-expire' means that Gnus
14107 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
14108 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
14109 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
14112 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
14113 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
14114 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
14115 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
14116 into its own group.)
14118 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
14119 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
14120 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
14121 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
14122 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
14123 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
14124 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring @pxref{Adaptive
14125 Scoring}. Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
14128 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
14129 Groups that match the regular expression
14130 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
14131 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
14132 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
14134 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
14135 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
14136 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
14137 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
14138 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
14140 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
14142 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
14143 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
14144 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
14147 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
14148 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
14149 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
14150 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
14151 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
14153 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
14154 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
14157 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
14158 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
14161 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
14162 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
14164 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
14165 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
14166 don't really mix very well.
14168 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
14169 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
14170 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
14171 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
14174 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
14175 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
14176 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
14177 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
14180 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
14182 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
14184 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
14186 ((string= group "mail.junk")
14188 ((string= group "important")
14194 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
14195 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
14197 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
14198 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
14199 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
14202 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
14203 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
14205 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
14206 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
14207 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
14208 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
14209 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
14210 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
14211 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
14212 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
14213 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
14214 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
14215 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
14216 from as its parameter) which should return a target -- either a group
14217 name or @code{delete}.
14219 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
14221 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
14224 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14225 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14226 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
14227 expire mail to groups according to the variable
14228 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
14231 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14232 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14233 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
14234 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
14235 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
14238 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
14239 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
14240 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
14241 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
14242 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
14243 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
14245 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
14246 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
14247 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
14248 easier for procmail users.
14250 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
14251 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
14252 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
14253 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
14254 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
14255 caution. Even more dangerous is the
14256 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
14257 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
14258 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
14259 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
14260 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
14261 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
14262 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
14265 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
14267 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
14268 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
14269 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
14270 auto-expire turned on.
14274 @subsection Washing Mail
14275 @cindex mail washing
14276 @cindex list server brain damage
14277 @cindex incoming mail treatment
14279 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
14280 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
14281 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
14282 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
14283 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
14284 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
14286 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
14287 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
14288 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
14291 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
14292 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
14293 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
14294 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
14297 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14298 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14299 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
14300 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
14301 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
14304 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14305 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14306 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
14307 Emacs running on MS machines.
14311 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14312 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14313 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
14314 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
14317 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14318 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14319 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
14320 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
14322 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
14323 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
14324 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
14325 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
14326 into a feature by documenting it.)
14328 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14329 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14330 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
14331 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
14332 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
14333 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
14334 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
14337 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
14338 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
14341 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
14342 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
14345 This can also be done non-destructively with
14346 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
14348 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
14349 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
14350 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
14352 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14353 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14355 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
14356 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
14357 @code{References} headers.
14361 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14362 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14363 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
14367 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
14368 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
14369 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
14376 @subsection Duplicates
14378 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
14379 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
14380 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
14381 @cindex duplicate mails
14382 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
14383 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
14384 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
14385 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
14386 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
14387 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
14388 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
14389 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
14390 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
14391 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
14392 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
14393 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
14394 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
14396 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
14397 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
14398 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
14399 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
14401 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
14404 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
14405 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
14409 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
14410 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
14411 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
14412 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
14413 (any mail "mail.misc")
14420 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14421 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
14426 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
14427 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
14428 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
14429 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
14430 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
14433 @node Not Reading Mail
14434 @subsection Not Reading Mail
14436 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
14437 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
14438 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
14440 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
14441 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
14442 mail, which should help.
14444 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14445 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14446 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14447 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14448 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14449 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
14450 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
14451 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
14452 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
14453 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
14454 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
14456 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
14457 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
14461 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
14462 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
14464 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
14465 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
14466 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
14468 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
14469 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
14470 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
14474 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
14475 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
14476 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
14477 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
14478 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
14479 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
14480 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
14484 @node Unix Mail Box
14485 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
14487 @cindex unix mail box
14489 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14490 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14491 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
14492 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
14493 which group it belongs in.
14495 Virtual server settings:
14498 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
14499 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14500 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
14503 @item nnmbox-active-file
14504 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14505 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
14506 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
14508 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
14509 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14510 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
14511 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
14516 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
14520 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14521 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14522 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
14523 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
14524 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
14526 Virtual server settings:
14529 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
14530 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14531 The name of the rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
14533 @item nnbabyl-active-file
14534 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14535 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
14536 @file{~/.rmail-active}
14538 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14539 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14540 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
14546 @subsubsection Mail Spool
14548 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
14550 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
14551 format. It should be used with some caution.
14553 @vindex nnml-directory
14554 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
14555 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
14556 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
14557 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
14559 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
14562 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
14563 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
14564 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
14565 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
14566 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
14567 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
14568 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
14569 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
14571 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
14572 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
14573 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
14574 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
14576 @cindex self contained nnml servers
14578 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
14579 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14580 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14581 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
14582 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
14583 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
14584 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
14585 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
14588 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
14589 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
14590 them next time it starts.
14592 Virtual server settings:
14595 @item nnml-directory
14596 @vindex nnml-directory
14597 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory. The
14598 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default value
14601 @item nnml-active-file
14602 @vindex nnml-active-file
14603 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
14604 @file{~/Mail/active}.
14606 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
14607 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
14608 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14609 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}.
14611 @item nnml-get-new-mail
14612 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14613 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
14616 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
14617 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
14618 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14619 default is @code{nil}.
14621 @item nnml-nov-file-name
14622 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
14623 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
14625 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14626 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14627 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
14629 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
14630 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
14631 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14632 default is @code{nil}.
14634 @item nnml-marks-file-name
14635 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
14636 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
14638 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
14639 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
14640 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
14645 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
14646 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
14647 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
14648 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
14649 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
14650 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
14651 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
14656 @subsubsection MH Spool
14658 @cindex mh-e mail spool
14660 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
14661 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks file.
14662 This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than @code{nnml},
14663 but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
14665 Virtual server settings:
14668 @item nnmh-directory
14669 @vindex nnmh-directory
14670 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
14671 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14674 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
14675 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14676 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
14680 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
14681 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
14682 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
14683 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
14684 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
14685 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
14686 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
14691 @subsubsection Maildir
14695 @code{nnmaildir} stores mail in the maildir format, with each maildir
14696 corresponding to a group in Gnus. This format is documented here:
14697 @uref{http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html} and here:
14698 @uref{http://www.qmail.org/man/man5/maildir.html}. nnmaildir also
14699 stores extra information in the @file{.nnmaildir/} directory within a
14702 Maildir format was designed to allow concurrent deliveries and
14703 reading, without needing locks. With other backends, you would have
14704 your mail delivered to a spool of some kind, and then you would
14705 configure Gnus to split mail from that spool into your groups. You
14706 can still do that with nnmaildir, but the more common configuration is
14707 to have your mail delivered directly to the maildirs that appear as
14710 nnmaildir is designed to be perfectly reliable: @kbd{C-g} will never
14711 corrupt its data in memory, and @code{SIGKILL} will never corrupt its
14712 data in the filesystem.
14714 nnmaildir stores article marks and NOV data in each maildir. So you
14715 can copy a whole maildir from one Gnus setup to another, and you will
14718 Virtual server settings:
14722 For each of your nnmaildir servers (it's very unlikely that you'd need
14723 more than one), you need to create a directory and populate it with
14724 maildirs or symlinks to maildirs (and nothing else; do not choose a
14725 directory already used for other purposes). Each maildir will be
14726 represented in Gnus as a newsgroup on that server; the filename of the
14727 symlink will be the name of the group. Any filenames in the directory
14728 starting with `.' are ignored. The directory is scanned when you
14729 first start Gnus, and each time you type @kbd{g} in the group buffer;
14730 if any maildirs have been removed or added, nnmaildir notices at these
14733 The value of the @code{directory} parameter should be a Lisp form
14734 which is processed by @code{eval} and @code{expand-file-name} to get
14735 the path of the directory for this server. The form is @code{eval}ed
14736 only when the server is opened; the resulting string is used until the
14737 server is closed. (If you don't know about forms and @code{eval},
14738 don't worry - a simple string will work.) This parameter is not
14739 optional; you must specify it. I don't recommend using
14740 @code{"~/Mail"} or a subdirectory of it; several other parts of Gnus
14741 use that directory by default for various things, and may get confused
14742 if nnmaildir uses it too. @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} is a typical value.
14744 @item target-prefix
14745 This should be a Lisp form which is processed by @code{eval} and
14746 @code{expand-file-name}. The form is @code{eval}ed only when the
14747 server is opened; the resulting string is used until the server is
14750 When you create a group on an nnmaildir server, the maildir is created
14751 with @code{target-prefix} prepended to its name, and a symlink
14752 pointing to that maildir is created, named with the plain group name.
14753 So if @code{directory} is @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} and
14754 @code{target-prefix} is @code{"../maildirs/"}, then when you create
14755 the group @code{foo}, nnmaildir will create
14756 @file{~/.nnmaildir/../maildirs/foo} as a maildir, and will create
14757 @file{~/.nnmaildir/foo} as a symlink pointing to
14758 @file{../maildirs/foo}.
14760 You can set @code{target-prefix} to a string without any slashes to
14761 create both maildirs and symlinks in the same @code{directory}; in
14762 this case, any maildirs found in @code{directory} whose names start
14763 with @code{target-prefix} will not be listed as groups (but the
14764 symlinks pointing to them will be).
14766 As a special case, if @code{target-prefix} is @code{""} (the default),
14767 then when you create a group, the maildir will be created in
14768 @code{directory} without a corresponding symlink. Beware that you
14769 cannot use @code{gnus-group-delete-group} on such groups without the
14770 @code{force} argument.
14772 @item directory-files
14773 This should be a function with the same interface as
14774 @code{directory-files} (such as @code{directory-files} itself). It is
14775 used to scan the server's @code{directory} for maildirs. This
14776 parameter is optional; the default is
14777 @code{nnheader-directory-files-safe} if
14778 @code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is @code{nil}, and
14779 @code{directory-files} otherwise.
14780 (@code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is checked only once when the
14781 server is opened; if you want to check it each time the directory is
14782 scanned, you'll have to provide your own function that does that.)
14785 If non-@code{nil}, then after scanning for new mail in the group
14786 maildirs themselves as usual, this server will also incorporate mail
14787 the conventional Gnus way, from @code{mail-sources} according to
14788 @code{nnmail-split-methods} or @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. The default
14789 value is @code{nil}.
14791 Do @emph{not} use the same maildir both in @code{mail-sources} and as
14792 an nnmaildir group. The results might happen to be useful, but that
14793 would be by chance, not by design, and the results might be different
14794 in the future. If your split rules create new groups, remember to
14795 supply a @code{create-directory} server parameter.
14798 @subsubsection Group parameters
14800 nnmaildir uses several group parameters. It's safe to ignore all
14801 this; the default behavior for nnmaildir is the same as the default
14802 behavior for other mail backends: articles are deleted after one week,
14803 etc. Except for the expiry parameters, all this functionality is
14804 unique to nnmaildir, so you can ignore it if you're just trying to
14805 duplicate the behavior you already have with another backend.
14807 If the value of any of these parameters is a vector, the first element
14808 is evaluated as a Lisp form and the result is used, rather than the
14809 original value. If the value is not a vector, the value itself is
14810 evaluated as a Lisp form. (This is why these parameters use names
14811 different from those of other, similar parameters supported by other
14812 backends: they have different, though similar, meanings.) (For
14813 numbers, strings, @code{nil}, and @code{t}, you can ignore the
14814 @code{eval} business again; for other values, remember to use an extra
14815 quote and wrap the value in a vector when appropriate.)
14819 An integer specifying the minimum age, in seconds, of an article before
14820 it will be expired, or the symbol @code{never} to specify that
14821 articles should never be expired. If this parameter is not set,
14822 nnmaildir falls back to the usual
14823 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) variables (overridable by
14824 the @code{expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) group parameters. If you
14825 wanted a value of 3 days, you could use something like @code{[(* 3 24
14826 60 60)]}; nnmaildir will evaluate the form and use the result. An
14827 article's age is measured starting from the article file's
14828 modification time. Normally, this is the same as the article's
14829 delivery time, but editing an article makes it younger. Moving an
14830 article (other than via expiry) may also make an article younger.
14833 If this is set to a string (a full Gnus group name, like
14834 @code{"backend+server.address.string:group.name"}), and if it is not
14835 the name of the same group that the parameter belongs to, then
14836 articles will be moved to the specified group during expiry before
14837 being deleted. @emph{If this is set to an nnmaildir group, the
14838 article will be just as old in the destination group as it was in the
14839 source group.} So be careful with @code{expire-age} in the
14840 destination group. If this is set to the name of the same group that
14841 the parameter belongs to, then the article is not expired at all. If
14842 you use the vector form, the first element is evaluated once for each
14843 article. So that form can refer to
14844 @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name}, etc., to decide where to put the
14845 article. @emph{If this parameter is not set, nnmaildir does not fall
14846 back to the @code{expiry-target} group parameter or the
14847 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} variable.}
14850 If this is set to @code{t}, nnmaildir will treat the articles in this
14851 maildir as read-only. This means: articles are not renamed from
14852 @file{new/} into @file{cur/}; articles are only found in @file{new/},
14853 not @file{cur/}; articles are never deleted; articles cannot be
14854 edited. @file{new/} is expected to be a symlink to the @file{new/}
14855 directory of another maildir - e.g., a system-wide mailbox containing
14856 a mailing list of common interest. Everything in the maildir outside
14857 @file{new/} is @emph{not} treated as read-only, so for a shared
14858 mailbox, you do still need to set up your own maildir (or have write
14859 permission to the shared mailbox); your maildir just won't contain
14860 extra copies of the articles.
14862 @item directory-files
14863 A function with the same interface as @code{directory-files}. It is
14864 used to scan the directories in the maildir corresponding to this
14865 group to find articles. The default is the function specified by the
14866 server's @code{directory-files} parameter.
14868 @item distrust-Lines:
14869 If non-@code{nil}, nnmaildir will always count the lines of an
14870 article, rather than use the @code{Lines:} header field. If
14871 @code{nil}, the header field will be used if present.
14874 A list of mark symbols, such as
14875 @code{['(read expire)]}. Whenever Gnus asks nnmaildir for
14876 article marks, nnmaildir will say that all articles have these
14877 marks, regardless of whether the marks stored in the filesystem
14878 say so. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will probably be
14879 removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
14880 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
14883 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(tick expire)]}. Whenever
14884 Gnus asks nnmaildir for article marks, nnmaildir will say that no
14885 articles have these marks, regardless of whether the marks stored in
14886 the filesystem say so. @code{never-marks} overrides
14887 @code{always-marks}. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will
14888 probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
14889 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
14891 @item nov-cache-size
14892 An integer specifying the size of the NOV memory cache. To speed
14893 things up, nnmaildir keeps NOV data in memory for a limited number of
14894 articles in each group. (This is probably not worthwhile, and will
14895 probably be removed in the future.) This parameter's value is noticed
14896 only the first time a group is seen after the server is opened - i.e.,
14897 when you first start Gnus, typically. The NOV cache is never resized
14898 until the server is closed and reopened. The default is an estimate
14899 of the number of articles that would be displayed in the summary
14900 buffer: a count of articles that are either marked with @code{tick} or
14901 not marked with @code{read}, plus a little extra.
14904 @subsubsection Article identification
14905 Articles are stored in the @file{cur/} subdirectory of each maildir.
14906 Each article file is named like @code{uniq:info}, where @code{uniq}
14907 contains no colons. nnmaildir ignores, but preserves, the
14908 @code{:info} part. (Other maildir readers typically use this part of
14909 the filename to store marks.) The @code{uniq} part uniquely
14910 identifies the article, and is used in various places in the
14911 @file{.nnmaildir/} subdirectory of the maildir to store information
14912 about the corresponding article. The full pathname of an article is
14913 available in the variable @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name} after you
14914 request the article in the summary buffer.
14916 @subsubsection NOV data
14917 An article identified by @code{uniq} has its NOV data (used to
14918 generate lines in the summary buffer) stored in
14919 @code{.nnmaildir/nov/uniq}. There is no
14920 @code{nnmaildir-generate-nov-databases} function. (There isn't much
14921 need for it - an article's NOV data is updated automatically when the
14922 article or @code{nnmail-extra-headers} has changed.) You can force
14923 nnmaildir to regenerate the NOV data for a single article simply by
14924 deleting the corresponding NOV file, but @emph{beware}: this will also
14925 cause nnmaildir to assign a new article number for this article, which
14926 may cause trouble with @code{seen} marks, the Agent, and the cache.
14928 @subsubsection Article marks
14929 An article identified by @code{uniq} is considered to have the mark
14930 @code{flag} when the file @file{.nnmaildir/marks/flag/uniq} exists.
14931 When Gnus asks nnmaildir for a group's marks, nnmaildir looks for such
14932 files and reports the set of marks it finds. When Gnus asks nnmaildir
14933 to store a new set of marks, nnmaildir creates and deletes the
14934 corresponding files as needed. (Actually, rather than create a new
14935 file for each mark, it just creates hard links to
14936 @file{.nnmaildir/markfile}, to save inodes.)
14938 You can invent new marks by creating a new directory in
14939 @file{.nnmaildir/marks/}. You can tar up a maildir and remove it from
14940 your server, untar it later, and keep your marks. You can add and
14941 remove marks yourself by creating and deleting mark files. If you do
14942 this while Gnus is running and your nnmaildir server is open, it's
14943 best to exit all summary buffers for nnmaildir groups and type @kbd{s}
14944 in the group buffer first, and to type @kbd{g} or @kbd{M-g} in the
14945 group buffer afterwards. Otherwise, Gnus might not pick up the
14946 changes, and might undo them.
14950 @subsubsection Mail Folders
14952 @cindex mbox folders
14953 @cindex mail folders
14955 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a separate
14956 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
14957 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
14960 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
14962 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
14963 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14964 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14965 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
14966 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
14967 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
14968 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder} directory.
14969 Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to backup, use
14970 @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the
14971 @code{nnfolder} directory).
14973 Virtual server settings:
14976 @item nnfolder-directory
14977 @vindex nnfolder-directory
14978 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
14979 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14982 @item nnfolder-active-file
14983 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
14984 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
14986 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14987 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14988 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14989 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}
14991 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
14992 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14993 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
14996 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14997 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14998 @cindex backup files
14999 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
15000 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
15001 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
15002 your @file{.emacs} file:
15005 (defun turn-off-backup ()
15006 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
15008 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
15011 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
15012 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
15013 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
15014 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
15015 extract some information from it before removing it.
15017 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
15018 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
15019 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
15020 default is @code{nil}.
15022 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
15023 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
15024 The extension for @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
15026 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
15027 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
15028 The directory where the @sc{nov} files should be stored. If nil,
15029 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
15031 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
15032 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
15033 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
15034 default is @code{nil}.
15036 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
15037 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
15038 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
15040 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
15041 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
15042 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If nil,
15043 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
15048 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
15049 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
15050 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
15051 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
15052 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
15053 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
15056 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
15057 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
15059 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
15060 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
15061 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
15062 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
15063 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
15065 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
15066 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
15067 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
15068 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
15069 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
15070 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
15071 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
15072 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
15075 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
15076 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
15077 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
15078 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
15083 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
15084 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
15085 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
15086 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
15087 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
15088 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
15089 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
15090 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
15091 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
15092 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
15093 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
15094 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
15095 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
15100 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
15101 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
15102 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
15103 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
15104 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
15105 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
15106 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
15107 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
15108 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
15109 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
15110 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
15111 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
15112 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
15113 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
15115 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
15116 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
15121 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
15122 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
15123 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
15124 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
15125 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
15126 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
15127 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
15128 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
15129 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
15130 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
15131 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
15132 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
15133 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
15134 provided by the active file and overviews.
15136 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
15137 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
15138 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
15139 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
15140 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
15143 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
15144 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
15149 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
15150 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
15151 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
15152 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
15153 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
15154 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
15155 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
15159 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
15160 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
15161 itself puts @emph{all} one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
15162 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
15163 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
15164 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
15165 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
15166 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
15167 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
15169 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
15170 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
15171 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
15172 friendly mail back end all over.
15176 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses
15177 incompatible group parameters, slightly different from those of other
15180 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
15181 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
15182 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
15183 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
15184 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
15185 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
15186 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to ReiserFS
15187 (@uref{http://www.namesys.com/}) or another non-block-structured
15190 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
15191 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
15192 This means you can skip Gnus's mail splitting if your mail is already
15193 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
15194 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
15195 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
15196 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
15197 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
15198 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
15199 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will not
15200 undergo treatment such as duplicate checking.
15202 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
15203 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
15204 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
15205 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
15206 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
15209 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
15210 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
15211 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
15212 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
15213 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
15214 would) to make it use less memory. This caching will probably be
15215 removed in the future.
15217 Startup is likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than with other
15218 back ends. Everything else is likely to be faster, depending in part
15219 on your file system.
15221 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
15222 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
15227 @node Browsing the Web
15228 @section Browsing the Web
15230 @cindex browsing the web
15234 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
15235 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
15236 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
15237 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
15238 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
15239 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
15240 even know what a news group is.
15242 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
15243 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
15244 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
15245 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
15246 you mad in the end.
15248 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
15251 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
15252 interfaces to these sources.
15256 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
15257 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
15258 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
15259 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
15260 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
15261 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
15264 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
15266 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
15267 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
15268 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
15269 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
15270 though, you should be ok.
15272 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
15273 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
15274 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
15275 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
15276 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
15278 @node Archiving Mail
15279 @subsection Archiving Mail
15280 @cindex archiving mail
15281 @cindex backup of mail
15283 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
15284 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
15285 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
15286 marks is fairly simple.
15288 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
15289 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
15292 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
15293 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
15294 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
15295 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
15296 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
15297 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
15298 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
15299 before you restore the data.
15301 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
15302 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
15303 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
15304 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
15305 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
15306 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
15307 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
15308 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
15309 is unnecessary in that case.
15312 @subsection Web Searches
15317 @cindex Usenet searches
15318 @cindex searching the Usenet
15320 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
15321 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
15322 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
15323 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
15324 searches without having to use a browser.
15326 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
15327 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
15328 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
15329 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
15330 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
15332 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
15333 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
15334 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
15335 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
15336 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
15337 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
15338 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
15339 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
15340 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
15341 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
15344 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
15345 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
15346 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
15347 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
15348 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
15349 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
15351 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
15352 to use @code{nnweb}.
15354 Virtual server variables:
15359 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
15360 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
15361 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
15364 @vindex nnweb-search
15365 The search string to feed to the search engine.
15367 @item nnweb-max-hits
15368 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
15369 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
15372 @item nnweb-type-definition
15373 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
15374 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
15375 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
15380 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
15384 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
15387 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
15390 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
15394 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
15401 @subsection Slashdot
15405 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
15406 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
15407 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
15409 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
15410 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
15413 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15414 '((nnslashdot "")))
15417 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
15418 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
15419 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
15420 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
15421 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
15424 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
15425 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
15427 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
15428 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
15429 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
15430 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
15431 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
15432 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
15435 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
15438 @item nnslashdot-threaded
15439 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
15440 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
15441 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
15442 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
15443 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
15444 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
15446 @item nnslashdot-login-name
15447 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
15448 The login name to use when posting.
15450 @item nnslashdot-password
15451 @vindex nnslashdot-password
15452 The password to use when posting.
15454 @item nnslashdot-directory
15455 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
15456 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
15457 @file{~/News/slashdot/}.
15459 @item nnslashdot-active-url
15460 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
15461 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
15462 news articles and comments. The default is
15463 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
15465 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
15466 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
15467 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
15469 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
15471 @item nnslashdot-article-url
15472 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
15473 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
15475 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
15477 @item nnslashdot-threshold
15478 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
15479 The score threshold. The default is -1.
15481 @item nnslashdot-group-number
15482 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
15483 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
15484 updated. The default is 0.
15491 @subsection Ultimate
15493 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
15495 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
15496 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
15497 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
15498 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
15500 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
15501 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
15502 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
15503 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
15504 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
15505 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
15506 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
15508 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
15511 @item nnultimate-directory
15512 @vindex nnultimate-directory
15513 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
15514 @file{~/News/ultimate/}.
15519 @subsection Web Archive
15521 @cindex Web Archive
15523 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
15524 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
15525 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
15526 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15529 @findex gnus-group-make-warchive-group
15530 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
15531 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
15532 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
15533 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
15534 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
15535 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
15536 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
15538 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
15541 @item nnwarchive-directory
15542 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
15543 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
15544 @file{~/News/warchive/}.
15546 @item nnwarchive-login
15547 @vindex nnwarchive-login
15548 The account name on the web server.
15550 @item nnwarchive-passwd
15551 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
15552 The password for your account on the web server.
15560 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
15561 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
15562 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15565 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
15566 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
15569 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
15572 @item nnrss-directory
15573 @vindex nnrss-directory
15574 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
15575 @file{~/News/rss/}.
15579 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
15580 the summary buffer.
15583 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
15584 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
15586 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
15588 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
15589 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
15592 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
15595 (require 'browse-url)
15597 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
15599 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
15602 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
15603 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
15606 (browse-url (cdr url))
15607 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
15608 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
15610 (eval-after-load "gnus"
15611 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
15612 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
15613 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
15616 @node Customizing w3
15617 @subsection Customizing w3
15623 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
15624 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
15625 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
15627 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
15628 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
15629 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
15632 (eval-after-load "w3"
15634 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
15635 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
15636 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
15637 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
15639 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
15642 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
15643 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
15652 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or @dots{}),
15653 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
15654 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
15655 specify the network address of the server.
15657 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
15658 POP can, it can hence be viewed as a POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
15659 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
15660 protocol -- however, @sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp}
15661 because news is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
15663 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a POP++, use an imap entry in
15664 @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the
15665 @sc{imap} server and store them on the local disk. This is not the
15666 usage described in this section--@xref{Mail Sources}.
15668 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
15669 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
15670 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
15671 usage explained in this section.
15673 A server configuration in @file{~/.gnus.el} with a few @sc{imap} servers
15674 might look something like the following. (Note that for TLS/SSL, you
15675 need external programs and libraries, see below.)
15678 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15679 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
15680 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
15682 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15683 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
15684 ; a UW server running on localhost
15686 (nnimap-server-port 143)
15687 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15688 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
15689 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
15690 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
15691 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
15692 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
15693 (nnimap-stream network))
15694 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
15696 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
15697 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
15698 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
15701 After defining the new server, you can subscribe to groups on the
15702 server using normal Gnus commands such as @kbd{U} in the Group Buffer
15703 (@pxref{Subscription Commands}) or via the Server Buffer
15704 (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
15706 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
15711 @item nnimap-address
15712 @vindex nnimap-address
15714 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
15715 server name if not specified.
15717 @item nnimap-server-port
15718 @vindex nnimap-server-port
15719 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for TLS/SSL.
15721 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
15724 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15725 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
15728 @item nnimap-list-pattern
15729 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
15730 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
15731 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
15732 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
15733 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
15734 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
15736 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
15737 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
15738 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
15741 Example server specification:
15744 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15745 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
15746 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
15749 @item nnimap-stream
15750 @vindex nnimap-stream
15751 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
15752 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
15753 of TLS/SSL. (@sc{imap} over TLS/SSL is being replaced by STARTTLS, which
15754 can be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
15756 Example server specification:
15759 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15760 (nnimap-stream ssl))
15763 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
15767 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
15768 @samp{gsasl} or @samp{imtest} program.
15770 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
15772 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
15773 TLS/SSL). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
15776 @dfn{tls:} Connect through TLS. Requires GNUTLS (the program
15777 @samp{gnutls-cli}).
15779 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Requires OpenSSL (the program
15780 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
15782 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
15784 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
15787 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
15788 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
15789 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
15790 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
15791 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
15792 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
15793 restrictions on @sc{imap} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
15794 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
15795 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
15798 For TLS connection, the @code{gnutls-cli} program from GNUTLS is
15799 needed. It is available from
15800 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/}.
15802 @vindex imap-gssapi-program
15803 This parameter specifies a list of command lines that invoke a GSSAPI
15804 authenticated IMAP stream in a subshell. They are tried sequentially
15805 until a connection is made, or the list has been exhausted. By
15806 default, @samp{gsasl} from GNU SASL, available from
15807 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gsasl/}, and the @samp{imtest}
15808 program from Cyrus IMAPD (see @code{imap-kerberos4-program}), are
15811 @vindex imap-ssl-program
15812 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
15813 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
15814 and nnimap support it too - although the most recent versions of
15815 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
15816 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
15817 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
15820 @vindex imap-shell-program
15821 @vindex imap-shell-host
15822 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
15823 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
15825 @item nnimap-authenticator
15826 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
15828 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
15829 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
15831 Example server specification:
15834 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15835 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
15838 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
15842 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
15843 external program @code{gsasl} or @code{imtest}.
15845 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
15848 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
15849 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
15851 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
15853 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
15855 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your email address as password.
15858 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
15860 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
15861 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
15862 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
15863 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
15864 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
15865 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
15868 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
15869 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
15870 running in circles yet?
15872 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
15873 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
15876 The possible options are:
15881 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as ``Deleted'' when
15884 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
15885 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
15886 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
15887 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
15889 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
15894 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
15895 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
15897 If non-nil (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as well),
15898 for other @sc{imap} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
15899 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
15900 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @sc{imap}
15901 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @sc{imap}
15904 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
15905 enable per-user persistant dormant flags, using something like:
15908 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
15909 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15910 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
15911 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15914 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
15915 as ticked for other users.
15917 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
15919 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
15921 This variable contain the @sc{imap} search command sent to server when
15922 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
15923 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
15924 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
15926 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
15927 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
15928 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
15929 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
15931 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
15932 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
15934 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
15935 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
15936 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
15942 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
15943 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
15944 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
15945 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
15946 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
15951 @node Splitting in IMAP
15952 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
15953 @cindex splitting imap mail
15955 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
15956 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
15957 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
15958 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
15959 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
15963 Here are the variables of interest:
15967 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
15968 @cindex splitting, crosspost
15970 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
15972 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
15973 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
15975 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
15977 @item nnimap-split-inbox
15978 @cindex splitting, inbox
15980 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
15982 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
15983 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
15987 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
15988 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
15991 No nnmail equivalent.
15993 @item nnimap-split-rule
15994 @cindex Splitting, rules
15995 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
15997 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
16000 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
16001 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
16002 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
16003 Neither did I, we need examples.
16006 (setq nnimap-split-rule
16008 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
16009 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
16010 ("INBOX.private" "")))
16013 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
16014 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
16015 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
16017 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
16018 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
16022 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
16025 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
16026 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
16028 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
16029 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
16030 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
16031 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
16033 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
16034 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
16035 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
16036 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
16037 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
16038 them every time you fetch new mail.)
16040 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
16041 end. The first rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have
16042 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.
16044 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
16045 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
16046 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
16048 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
16050 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
16051 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
16052 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
16055 (setq nnimap-split-rule
16056 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
16057 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
16058 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
16059 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
16060 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
16063 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
16064 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
16065 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
16066 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
16067 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
16068 group/function elements.
16070 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
16072 @item nnimap-split-predicate
16074 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
16076 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
16077 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
16079 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
16080 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
16081 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
16084 @item nnimap-split-fancy
16085 @cindex splitting, fancy
16086 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
16087 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
16089 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
16090 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
16091 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
16093 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
16094 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
16095 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
16096 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
16101 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
16102 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
16105 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
16107 @item nnimap-split-download-body
16108 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
16109 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
16111 Set to non-nil to download entire articles during splitting. This is
16112 generally not required, and will slow things down considerably. You
16113 may need it if you want to use an advanced splitting function that
16114 analyses the body to split the article.
16118 @node Expiring in IMAP
16119 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
16120 @cindex expiring imap mail
16122 Even though @code{nnimap} is not a proper @code{nnmail} derived back
16123 end, it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring
16124 Mail}). Unlike splitting in IMAP (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}) it do
16125 not clone the @code{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating
16126 @var{nnimap-expiry-wait}) but reuse the @code{nnmail} variables. What
16127 follows below are the variables used by the @code{nnimap} expiry
16130 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @sc{imap} server is
16131 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
16132 @code{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
16133 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
16134 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
16135 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
16136 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
16137 messages. Most do, fortunately.
16141 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
16142 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
16144 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
16145 number, the symbol @code{immediate} or @code{never}.
16147 @item nnmail-expiry-target
16149 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
16150 @code{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
16151 that if the destination is a IMAP group on the same server, the
16152 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
16156 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
16157 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
16158 @cindex editing imap acls
16159 @cindex Access Control Lists
16160 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
16162 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
16164 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
16165 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
16166 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
16169 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
16170 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
16171 editing window with detailed instructions.
16173 Some possible uses:
16177 Giving ``anyone'' the ``lrs'' rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
16178 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
16179 follow the list without subscribing to it.
16181 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
16182 ``anyone'' posting ("p") capabilities to have ``plussing'' work (that is,
16183 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
16187 @node Expunging mailboxes
16188 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
16192 @cindex Manual expunging
16194 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
16196 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
16197 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
16198 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
16200 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
16203 @node A note on namespaces
16204 @subsection A note on namespaces
16205 @cindex IMAP namespace
16208 The IMAP protocol has a concept called namespaces, described by the
16209 following text in the RFC:
16212 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
16214 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
16215 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
16216 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
16217 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
16219 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
16220 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
16221 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
16222 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
16223 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
16224 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
16227 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the IMAP
16228 implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace prefixes in a way
16229 that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
16231 Specifically, University of Washington's IMAP server uses mailbox
16232 names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only in the
16233 @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is created
16234 (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed without
16235 the namespace prefix, i.e. @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do not make it
16236 possible for the user to guarantee that user entered mailbox names
16237 will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands, you should
16238 simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in Gnus.
16240 See the UoW @sc{imapd} documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
16241 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
16242 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
16244 @node Other Sources
16245 @section Other Sources
16247 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
16248 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
16252 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
16253 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
16254 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
16255 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
16256 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
16260 @node Directory Groups
16261 @subsection Directory Groups
16263 @cindex directory groups
16265 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
16266 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
16269 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
16270 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
16271 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
16272 back end to read directories. Big deal.
16274 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
16275 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
16276 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
16277 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
16278 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
16280 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
16282 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
16283 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
16284 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
16285 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
16288 @node Anything Groups
16289 @subsection Anything Groups
16292 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
16293 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
16294 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
16297 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
16298 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
16299 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
16300 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
16301 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
16302 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
16303 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
16304 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
16305 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
16306 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
16309 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
16310 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
16311 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
16312 in the article buffer, just as usual.
16314 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
16315 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
16316 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
16317 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
16319 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
16320 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
16321 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
16322 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
16323 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
16324 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
16325 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
16326 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
16331 @item nneething-map-file-directory
16332 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
16333 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
16334 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
16336 @item nneething-exclude-files
16337 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
16338 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
16339 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
16341 @item nneething-include-files
16342 @vindex nneething-include-files
16343 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
16344 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
16346 @item nneething-map-file
16347 @vindex nneething-map-file
16348 Name of the map files.
16352 @node Document Groups
16353 @subsection Document Groups
16355 @cindex documentation group
16358 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
16359 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
16366 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
16371 The standard Unix mbox file.
16373 @cindex MMDF mail box
16375 The MMDF mail box format.
16378 Several news articles appended into a file.
16381 @cindex rnews batch files
16382 The rnews batch transport format.
16383 @cindex forwarded messages
16386 Forwarded articles.
16389 Netscape mail boxes.
16392 @sc{mime} multipart messages.
16394 @item standard-digest
16395 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
16398 A @sc{mime} digest of messages.
16400 @item lanl-gov-announce
16401 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
16403 @item rfc822-forward
16404 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
16407 The Outlook mail box.
16410 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
16413 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
16416 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
16419 An RFC934-forwarded message.
16425 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
16428 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
16434 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
16435 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
16436 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
16439 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
16440 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
16441 group. And that's it.
16443 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
16444 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
16445 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
16446 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
16447 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
16448 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
16449 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
16450 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
16451 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
16452 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
16454 Virtual server variables:
16457 @item nndoc-article-type
16458 @vindex nndoc-article-type
16459 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
16460 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
16461 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
16462 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
16463 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
16465 @item nndoc-post-type
16466 @vindex nndoc-post-type
16467 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
16468 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
16473 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
16477 @node Document Server Internals
16478 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
16480 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
16481 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
16482 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
16483 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
16485 First, here's an example document type definition:
16489 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
16490 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
16493 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
16494 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
16495 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
16496 types can be defined with very few settings:
16499 @item first-article
16500 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
16501 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
16504 @item article-begin
16505 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
16506 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
16508 @item head-begin-function
16509 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
16512 @item nndoc-head-begin
16513 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
16516 @item nndoc-head-end
16517 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
16518 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
16520 @item body-begin-function
16521 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
16525 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
16528 @item body-end-function
16529 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
16533 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
16536 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
16537 regexp will be totally ignored.
16541 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
16542 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
16543 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
16544 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
16545 something that's palatable for Gnus:
16548 @item prepare-body-function
16549 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
16550 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
16551 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
16553 @item article-transform-function
16554 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
16555 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
16556 body of the article.
16558 @item generate-head-function
16559 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
16560 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
16561 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
16562 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
16566 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
16571 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16572 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16573 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
16574 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
16575 (head-end . "^ ?$")
16576 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
16577 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
16578 (subtype digest guess))
16581 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
16582 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
16583 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
16584 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
16585 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
16587 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
16588 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first
16589 is the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says
16590 where in the document type definition alist to put this definition.
16591 The alist is traversed sequentially, and @code{nndoc-TYPE-type-p} is
16592 called for a given type @code{TYPE}. So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is
16593 called to see whether a document is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on.
16594 These type predicates should return @code{nil} if the document is not
16595 of the correct type; @code{t} if it is of the correct type; and a
16596 number if the document might be of the correct type. A high number
16597 means high probability; a low number means low probability with
16598 @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
16606 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
16607 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
16608 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
16610 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
16611 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
16612 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
16615 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
16616 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
16617 that interested in doing things properly.
16619 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
16620 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
16623 First some terminology:
16628 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
16629 get news and/or mail from.
16632 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
16633 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
16636 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
16640 @item message packets
16641 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
16642 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
16643 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16645 @item response packets
16646 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
16647 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
16648 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16658 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
16659 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
16660 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
16661 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
16664 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
16667 You put the packet in your home directory.
16670 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
16671 the native or secondary server.
16674 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
16675 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
16678 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
16682 You transfer this packet to the server.
16685 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
16688 You then repeat until you die.
16692 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
16693 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
16696 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
16697 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
16698 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
16702 @node SOUP Commands
16703 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
16705 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
16709 @kindex G s b (Group)
16710 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
16711 Pack all unread articles in the current group
16712 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
16713 process/prefix convention.
16716 @kindex G s w (Group)
16717 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
16718 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
16721 @kindex G s s (Group)
16722 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
16723 Send all replies from the replies packet
16724 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
16727 @kindex G s p (Group)
16728 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
16729 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
16732 @kindex G s r (Group)
16733 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
16734 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
16737 @kindex O s (Summary)
16738 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
16739 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
16740 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
16741 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16746 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
16751 @item gnus-soup-directory
16752 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
16753 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
16754 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
16756 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
16757 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
16758 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
16759 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
16761 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
16762 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
16763 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
16764 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
16766 @item gnus-soup-packer
16767 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
16768 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16769 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
16771 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
16772 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
16773 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16774 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16776 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
16777 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
16778 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
16780 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16781 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16782 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
16783 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
16789 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
16792 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
16793 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
16794 you can read them at leisure.
16796 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
16800 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
16801 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
16802 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
16803 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
16805 @item nnsoup-directory
16806 @vindex nnsoup-directory
16807 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
16808 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
16810 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
16811 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
16812 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
16813 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/}.
16815 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
16816 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
16817 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
16818 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
16819 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
16821 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
16822 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
16823 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
16824 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
16826 @item nnsoup-active-file
16827 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
16828 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
16829 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
16830 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
16831 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
16833 @item nnsoup-packer
16834 @vindex nnsoup-packer
16835 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
16836 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
16838 @item nnsoup-unpacker
16839 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
16840 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
16841 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16843 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
16844 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
16845 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
16848 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
16849 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
16850 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
16853 @item nnsoup-always-save
16854 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
16855 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
16861 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
16863 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
16864 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
16865 more for that to happen.
16867 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
16868 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
16869 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
16872 In specific, this is what it does:
16875 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
16876 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
16879 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
16880 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
16881 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
16884 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
16885 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
16886 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
16889 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
16890 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
16891 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
16893 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
16899 @item nngateway-address
16900 @vindex nngateway-address
16901 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
16903 @item nngateway-header-transformation
16904 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
16905 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
16906 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
16907 transformation should be called, and defaults to
16908 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
16909 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
16912 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
16913 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
16914 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
16917 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
16920 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
16923 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
16926 The following pre-defined functions exist:
16928 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16931 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16932 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16933 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
16935 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16937 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16938 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16939 @code{nngateway-address}.
16944 (setq gnus-post-method
16946 "mail2news@@replay.com"
16947 (nngateway-header-transformation
16948 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
16956 So, to use this, simply say something like:
16959 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
16964 @node Combined Groups
16965 @section Combined Groups
16967 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
16971 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
16972 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
16976 @node Virtual Groups
16977 @subsection Virtual Groups
16979 @cindex virtual groups
16980 @cindex merging groups
16982 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
16985 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
16986 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
16987 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
16989 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
16990 regexp to match component groups.
16992 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
16993 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
16994 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
16995 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
16996 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
16997 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
16998 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
16999 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
17001 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
17002 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
17005 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
17008 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
17009 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
17011 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
17012 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
17013 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
17014 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
17017 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
17020 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
17021 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
17022 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
17024 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
17025 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
17026 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
17027 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
17028 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
17030 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
17031 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
17032 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
17034 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
17035 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
17036 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
17037 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
17038 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
17039 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
17040 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
17041 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
17042 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
17043 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
17044 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
17046 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
17047 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
17048 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
17049 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
17050 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
17051 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
17052 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
17054 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
17055 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
17057 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
17058 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
17062 @node Kibozed Groups
17063 @subsection Kibozed Groups
17067 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
17068 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will do this for
17069 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
17070 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
17072 @kindex G k (Group)
17073 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
17076 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
17077 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
17078 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
17079 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
17081 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
17082 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
17083 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
17085 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
17086 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
17087 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
17088 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
17089 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
17090 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
17091 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
17092 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
17094 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
17095 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
17096 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
17097 Stranger things have happened.
17099 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
17100 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
17102 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
17103 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
17104 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
17105 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
17106 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
17107 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
17109 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
17110 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
17113 @node Gnus Unplugged
17114 @section Gnus Unplugged
17119 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
17121 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
17122 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
17123 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
17124 read news. Believe it or not.
17126 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
17127 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
17128 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
17129 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
17130 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
17132 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
17133 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
17134 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
17135 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
17136 reading news on a machine.
17138 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
17139 fact, you don't even have to configure anything.
17141 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
17144 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
17145 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
17146 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
17147 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
17148 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
17149 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
17150 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
17151 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
17152 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
17153 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
17154 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
17155 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
17160 @subsection Agent Basics
17162 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
17164 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
17165 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
17166 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
17167 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
17169 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
17170 connected to the net continuously.
17172 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
17173 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
17175 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
17180 @findex gnus-unplugged
17181 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
17182 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
17183 already fetched while in this mode.
17186 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
17187 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
17188 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
17189 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
17190 Source Specifiers}).
17193 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
17194 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
17195 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
17196 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
17197 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
17200 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
17201 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
17202 then you read the news offline.
17205 And then you go to step 2.
17208 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
17214 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
17215 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
17216 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
17217 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
17218 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
17219 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
17220 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} groups in @code{gnus-select-method} and
17221 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
17225 Decide on download policy. It's fairly simple once you decide whether
17226 you are going to use agent categories, topic parameters, and/or group
17227 parameters to implement your policy. If you're new to gnus, it
17228 is probably best to start with a category @xref{Agent Categories}.
17230 Both topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) and agent categories
17231 (@pxref{Agent Categories}) provide for setting a policy that applies
17232 to multiple groups. Which you use is entirely up to you. Topic
17233 parameters do override categories so, if you mix the two, you'll have
17234 to take that into account. If you have a few groups that deviate from
17235 your policy, you can use grou parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to
17239 Uhm@dots{} that's it.
17243 @node Agent Categories
17244 @subsection Agent Categories
17246 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
17247 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
17248 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
17249 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
17250 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
17251 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
17252 you're interested in the articles anyway.
17254 One of the more effective methods for controlling what is to be
17255 downloaded is to create a @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all)
17256 groups to this category. Groups that do not belong in any other
17257 category belong to the @code{default} category. Gnus has its own
17258 buffer for creating and managing categories.
17260 If you prefer, you can also use group parameters (@pxref{Group
17261 Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) for an
17262 alternative approach to controlling the agent. The only real
17263 difference is that categories are specific to the agent (so there is
17264 less to learn) while group and topic parameters include the kitchen
17267 Since you can set agent parameters in several different places we have
17268 a rule to decide which source to believe. This rule specifies that
17269 the parameter sources are checked in the following order: group
17270 parameters, topic parameters, agent category, and finally customizable
17271 variables. So you can mix all of these sources to produce a wide range
17272 of behavior, just don't blame me if you don't remember where you put
17276 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
17277 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
17278 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
17282 @node Category Syntax
17283 @subsubsection Category Syntax
17285 A category consists of a name, the list of groups belonging to the
17286 category, and a number of optional parameters that override the
17287 customizable variables. The complete list of agent parameters are
17291 @item gnus-agent-cat-name
17292 The name of the category.
17294 @item gnus-agent-cat-groups
17295 The list of groups that are in this category.
17297 @item gnus-agent-cat-predicate
17298 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
17299 are eligible for downloading; and
17301 @item gnus-agent-cat-score-file
17302 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
17303 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
17304 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
17306 @item gnus-agent-cat-enable-expiration
17307 a boolean indicating whether the agent should expire old articles in
17308 this group. Most groups should be expired to conserve disk space. In
17309 fact, its probably safe to say that the gnus.* hierarchy contains the
17310 only groups that should not be expired.
17312 @item gnus-agent-cat-days-until-old
17313 an integer indicating the number of days that the agent should wait
17314 before deciding that a read article is safe to expire.
17316 @item gnus-agent-cat-low-score
17317 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-low-score}.
17319 @item gnus-agent-cat-high-score
17320 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-high-score}.
17322 @item gnus-agent-cat-length-when-short
17323 an integer that overrides the value of
17324 @code{gnus-agent-short-article}.
17326 @item gnus-agent-cat-length-when-long
17327 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-long-article}.
17330 The name of a category can not be changed once the category has been
17333 Each category maintains a list of groups that are exclusive members of
17334 that category. The exclusivity rule is automatically enforced, add a
17335 group to a new category and it is automatically removed from its old
17338 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
17339 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
17340 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
17341 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
17343 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
17344 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
17345 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
17347 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
17348 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
17349 operators sprinkled in between.
17351 Perhaps some examples are in order.
17353 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
17354 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
17360 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
17361 short (for some value of ``short'').
17363 Here's a more complex predicate:
17372 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
17373 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
17376 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
17377 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
17378 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
17380 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
17381 you want to do, you can write your own.
17383 When evaluating each of these predicates, the named constant will be
17384 bound to the value determined by calling
17385 @code{gnus-agent-find-parameter} on the appropriate parameter. For
17386 example, gnus-agent-short-article will be bound to
17387 @code{(gnus-agent-find-parameter group 'agent-short-article)}. This
17388 means that you can specify a predicate in your category then tune that
17389 predicate to individual groups.
17393 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
17394 lines; default 100.
17397 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
17398 lines; default 200.
17401 True iff the article has a download score less than
17402 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
17405 True iff the article has a download score greater than
17406 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
17409 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
17410 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
17411 checksum and sees whether articles match.
17420 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
17421 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
17422 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
17425 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
17426 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
17427 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
17428 something along the lines of the following:
17431 (defun my-article-old-p ()
17432 "Say whether an article is old."
17433 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
17434 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
17437 with the predicate then defined as:
17440 (not my-article-old-p)
17443 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
17444 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
17448 (require 'gnus-agent)
17449 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
17450 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
17451 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
17454 and simply specify your predicate as:
17460 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
17461 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
17462 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
17463 just don't give a damn.
17465 The above predicates apply to @emph{all} the groups which belong to the
17466 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
17467 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
17468 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
17469 parameters like so:
17472 (agent-predicate . short)
17475 This is the group/topic parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
17476 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
17477 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
17479 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
17482 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
17485 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
17486 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
17487 predicate is assumed to be a list.
17490 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
17491 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
17492 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
17493 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
17494 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
17495 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
17497 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
17498 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
17499 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
17500 if it's to be specific to that group.
17502 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
17509 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
17510 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
17516 Category specification
17520 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
17526 Group/Topic Parameter specification
17529 (agent-score ("from"
17530 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
17535 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
17541 These score files must @emph{only} contain the permitted scoring
17542 keywords stated above.
17548 Category specification
17551 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
17557 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
17561 Group Parameter specification
17564 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
17567 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
17572 Use @code{normal} score files
17574 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
17575 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
17576 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
17577 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
17579 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
17580 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
17581 files for a group, @emph{filtering out} those sections that do not
17582 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
17586 Category Specification
17593 Group Parameter specification
17596 (agent-score . file)
17601 @node Category Buffer
17602 @subsubsection Category Buffer
17604 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
17605 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
17606 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
17608 The following commands are available in this buffer:
17612 @kindex q (Category)
17613 @findex gnus-category-exit
17614 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
17617 @kindex e (Category)
17618 @findex gnus-category-customize-category
17619 Use a customization buffer to set all of the selected category's
17620 parameters at one time (@code{gnus-category-customize-category}).
17623 @kindex k (Category)
17624 @findex gnus-category-kill
17625 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
17628 @kindex c (Category)
17629 @findex gnus-category-copy
17630 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
17633 @kindex a (Category)
17634 @findex gnus-category-add
17635 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
17638 @kindex p (Category)
17639 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
17640 Edit the predicate of the current category
17641 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
17644 @kindex g (Category)
17645 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
17646 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
17647 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
17650 @kindex s (Category)
17651 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
17652 Edit the download score rule of the current category
17653 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
17656 @kindex l (Category)
17657 @findex gnus-category-list
17658 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
17662 @node Category Variables
17663 @subsubsection Category Variables
17666 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
17667 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
17668 Hook run in category buffers.
17670 @item gnus-category-line-format
17671 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
17672 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
17673 Variables}). Valid elements are:
17677 The name of the category.
17680 The number of groups in the category.
17683 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
17684 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
17685 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
17687 @item gnus-agent-short-article
17688 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
17689 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
17691 @item gnus-agent-long-article
17692 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
17693 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
17695 @item gnus-agent-low-score
17696 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
17697 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
17700 @item gnus-agent-high-score
17701 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
17702 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
17705 @item gnus-agent-expire-days
17706 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
17707 The number of days that a @samp{read} article must stay in the agent's
17708 local disk before becoming eligible for expiration (While the name is
17709 the same, this doesn't mean expiring the article on the server. It
17710 just means deleting the local copy of the article). What is also
17711 important to understand is that the counter starts with the time the
17712 article was written to the local disk and not the time the article was
17716 @item gnus-agent-enable-expiration
17717 @vindex gnus-agent-enable-expiration
17718 Determines whether articles in a group are, by default, expired or
17719 retained indefinitely. The default is @code{ENABLE} which means that
17720 you'll have to disable expiration when desired. On the other hand,
17721 you could set this to @code{DISABLE}. In that case, you would then
17722 have to enable expiration in selected groups.
17727 @node Agent Commands
17728 @subsection Agent Commands
17729 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-plugged
17730 @kindex J j (Agent)
17732 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
17733 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
17734 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
17738 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
17739 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
17740 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
17746 @node Group Agent Commands
17747 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
17751 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
17752 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
17753 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
17754 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
17757 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
17758 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
17759 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
17762 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
17763 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
17764 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
17765 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
17768 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
17769 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
17770 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
17771 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
17774 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
17775 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
17776 Add the current group to an Agent category
17777 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
17778 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17781 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
17782 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
17783 Remove the current group from its category, if any
17784 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
17785 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17788 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
17789 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17790 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
17796 @node Summary Agent Commands
17797 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
17801 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
17802 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
17803 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
17806 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
17807 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
17808 Remove the downloading mark from the article
17809 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
17813 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
17814 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
17815 Toggle whether to download the article
17816 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The dowload mark is @samp{%} by
17820 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
17821 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
17822 Mark all articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}) that are neither cached, downloaded, nor downloadable.
17825 @kindex J S (Agent Summary)
17826 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
17827 Download all eligible (See @pxref{Agent Categories}) articles in this group.
17828 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
17831 @kindex J s (Agent Summary)
17832 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-series
17833 Download all processable articles in this group.
17834 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-series}).
17837 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
17838 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
17839 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
17840 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
17845 @node Server Agent Commands
17846 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
17850 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
17851 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
17852 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
17853 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
17856 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
17857 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
17858 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
17859 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
17864 @node Agent as Cache
17865 @subsection Agent as Cache
17867 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
17868 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
17869 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
17870 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
17871 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
17872 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
17873 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
17874 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
17875 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
17877 If you so desire, you can configure the agent (see @code{gnus-agent-cache}
17878 @pxref{Agent Variables}) to always download headers and articles while
17879 plugged. Gnus will almost certainly be slower, but it will be kept
17880 synchronized with the server. That last point probably won't make any
17881 sense if you are using a nntp or nnimap backend.
17884 @subsection Agent Expiry
17886 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
17887 @findex gnus-agent-expire
17888 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
17889 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire-group
17890 @findex gnus-agent-expire-group
17891 @cindex Agent expiry
17892 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
17895 The Agent backend, @code{nnagent}, doesn't handle expiry. Well, at
17896 least it doesn't handle it like other backends. Instead, there are
17897 special @code{gnus-agent-expire} and @code{gnus-agent-expire-group}
17898 commands that will expire all read articles that are older than
17899 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. They can be run whenever you feel
17900 that you're running out of space. Neither are particularly fast or
17901 efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to interrupt them (with
17902 @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started one of them.
17904 Note that other functions, e.g. @code{gnus-request-expire-articles},
17905 might run @code{gnus-agent-expire} for you to keep the agent
17906 synchronized with the group.
17908 The agent parameter @code{agent-enable-expiration} may be used to
17909 prevent expiration in selected groups.
17911 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
17912 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, the agent
17913 expiration commands will expire all articles---unread, read, ticked
17914 and dormant. If @code{nil} (which is the default), only read articles
17915 are eligible for expiry, and unread, ticked and dormant articles will
17916 be kept indefinitely.
17918 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
17919 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's are special
17920 commands, @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} and
17921 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group}, to fix possible problems.
17923 @node Agent Regeneration
17924 @subsection Agent Regeneration
17926 @cindex Agent Regeneration
17927 @cindex Gnus Agent Regeneration
17928 @cindex regeneration
17930 The local data structures used by @code{nnagent} may become corrupted
17931 due to certain exceptional conditions. When this happens,
17932 @code{nnagent} functionality may degrade or even fail. The solution
17933 to this problem is to repair the local data structures by removing all
17934 internal inconsistencies.
17936 For example, if your connection to your server is lost while
17937 downloaded articles into the agent, the local data structures will not
17938 know about articles successfully downloaded prior to the connection
17939 failure. Running @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} or
17940 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} will update the data structures
17941 such that you don't need to download these articles a second time.
17943 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
17944 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate
17945 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} will perform
17946 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} on every agentized group. While
17947 you can run @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} in any buffer, it is strongly
17948 recommended that you first close all summary buffers.
17950 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate-group
17951 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate-group
17952 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} uses the local copies
17953 of individual articles to repair the local NOV(header) database. It
17954 then updates the internal data structures that document which articles
17955 are stored locally. An optional argument will mark articles in the
17958 @node Agent and IMAP
17959 @subsection Agent and IMAP
17961 The Agent works with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
17962 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
17963 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
17964 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
17966 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
17967 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @file{.newsrc} as is the
17968 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
17969 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
17971 Gnus keeps track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
17972 Agent. When you plug back in, Gnus will check if you have any changed
17973 any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the server.
17974 The behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
17976 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17977 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
17978 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
17979 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
17980 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
17981 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
17983 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
17984 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
17985 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
17986 in the group buffer.
17988 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
17989 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
17994 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
17997 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
18001 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by ``pushing''
18002 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
18003 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
18004 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
18005 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
18006 removed from the server when you ``synchronize''. The queued flag
18007 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
18008 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
18011 @node Outgoing Messages
18012 @subsection Outgoing Messages
18014 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
18015 stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view
18016 them there after posting, and edit them at will.
18018 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
18019 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
18020 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
18021 messages in the draft group.
18025 @node Agent Variables
18026 @subsection Agent Variables
18029 @item gnus-agent-directory
18030 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
18031 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
18032 @file{~/News/agent/}.
18034 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
18035 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
18036 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
18037 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
18038 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
18041 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
18042 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
18043 Hook run when connecting to the network.
18045 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
18046 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
18047 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
18049 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
18050 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
18051 Hook run when finished fetching articles.
18053 @item gnus-agent-cache
18054 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
18055 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @sc{nov} and
18056 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
18057 The default is non-nil, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
18059 @item gnus-agent-go-online
18060 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
18061 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
18062 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
18063 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
18064 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
18065 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
18068 @item gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
18069 @vindex gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
18070 If @code{gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded} is non-@code{nil},
18071 mark articles as unread after downloading. This is usually a safe
18072 thing to do as the newly downloaded article has obviously not been
18073 read. The default is t.
18075 @item gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
18076 @vindex gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
18077 If @code{gnus-agent-consider-all-articles} is non-@code{nil}, the
18078 agent will fetch all missing headers. When @code{nil}, the agent will
18079 fetch only new headers. The default is @code{nil}.
18081 @item gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
18082 @vindex gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
18083 The agent fetches articles into a temporary buffer prior to parsing
18084 them into individual files. To avoid exceeding the max. buffer size,
18085 the agent alternates between fetching and parsing until all articles
18086 have been fetched. @code{gnus-agent-max-fetch-size} provides a size
18087 limit to control how often the cycling occurs. A large value improves
18088 performance. A small value minimizes the time lost should the
18089 connection be lost while fetching (You may need to run
18090 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} to update the group's state.
18091 However, all articles parsed prior to loosing the connection will be
18092 available while unplugged). The default is 10M so it is unusual to
18095 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
18096 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
18097 Perhaps not a Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
18098 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
18099 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
18100 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
18101 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
18102 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
18103 is only valid if the Agent is used.
18105 @item gnus-auto-goto-ignores
18106 @vindex gnus-auto-goto-ignores
18107 Another variable that isn't a Agent variable, yet so closely related
18108 that most will look for it here, this variable tells the summary
18109 buffer how to maneuver around undownloaded (only headers stored in the
18110 agent) and unfetched (neither article nor headers stored) articles.
18112 The legal values are @code{nil} (maneuver to any article),
18113 @code{undownloaded} (maneuvering while unplugged ignores articles that
18114 have not been fetched), @code{always-undownloaded} (maneuvering always
18115 ignores articles that have not been fetched), @code{unfetched}
18116 (maneuvering ignores articles whose headers have not been fetched).
18121 @node Example Setup
18122 @subsection Example Setup
18124 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
18125 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
18126 @file{~/.gnus.el} file to get started.
18129 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
18130 ;;; from your ISP's server.
18131 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
18133 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
18134 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
18135 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
18137 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
18138 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
18140 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
18141 ;;; (gnus-agentize) ; The obsolete setting.
18142 ;;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; Now the default.
18145 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
18146 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
18149 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
18150 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
18151 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
18152 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
18153 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
18156 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
18157 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
18158 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
18159 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
18160 back all the killed groups.)
18162 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
18163 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
18164 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
18167 @node Batching Agents
18168 @subsection Batching Agents
18169 @findex gnus-agent-batch
18171 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
18172 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
18173 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
18175 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
18176 following incantation:
18180 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f -l ~/.gnus.el gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
18184 @node Agent Caveats
18185 @subsection Agent Caveats
18187 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
18188 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
18192 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
18194 @strong{No}. If you want this behaviour, add
18195 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
18196 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
18198 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in
18199 the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
18201 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is @code{nil}.
18205 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
18206 articles; when it's plugged, it talks to your ISP and may also use the
18207 locally stored articles.
18214 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
18215 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
18216 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
18219 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
18220 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
18221 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
18222 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
18223 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
18225 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
18226 before generating the summary buffer.
18228 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
18229 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
18230 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
18232 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
18233 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
18234 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
18235 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
18238 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
18239 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
18240 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
18241 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
18242 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
18243 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
18244 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
18245 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
18246 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
18247 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
18248 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
18249 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
18250 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
18251 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
18252 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
18253 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
18254 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
18258 @node Summary Score Commands
18259 @section Summary Score Commands
18260 @cindex score commands
18262 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
18263 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
18264 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
18265 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
18266 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
18268 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
18269 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
18270 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
18271 score file the current one.
18273 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
18278 @kindex V s (Summary)
18279 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
18280 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
18283 @kindex V S (Summary)
18284 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
18285 Display the score of the current article
18286 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
18289 @kindex V t (Summary)
18290 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
18291 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
18292 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}). In the @code{*Score Trace*} buffer, you
18293 can use @kbd{q} to quit. @kbd{e} edits the corresponding score file.
18294 When point is on a string within the match element, @kbd{e} will try to
18295 bring you to this string in the score file.
18298 @kindex V w (Summary)
18299 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
18300 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
18303 @kindex V R (Summary)
18304 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
18305 Run the current summary through the scoring process
18306 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
18307 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
18308 effect you're having.
18311 @kindex V c (Summary)
18312 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
18313 Make a different score file the current
18314 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
18317 @kindex V e (Summary)
18318 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
18319 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
18320 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
18324 @kindex V f (Summary)
18325 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
18326 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
18327 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
18330 @kindex V F (Summary)
18331 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
18332 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
18333 after editing score files.
18336 @kindex V C (Summary)
18337 @findex gnus-score-customize
18338 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
18339 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
18343 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
18348 @kindex V m (Summary)
18349 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
18350 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
18351 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
18354 @kindex V x (Summary)
18355 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
18356 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
18357 expunge all articles below this score
18358 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
18361 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
18362 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
18365 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
18366 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
18370 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
18371 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
18373 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
18374 keys are available:
18378 Score on the author name.
18381 Score on the subject line.
18384 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
18387 Score on the @code{References} line.
18393 Score on the number of lines.
18396 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
18399 Score on an ``extra'' header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
18400 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
18403 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
18404 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
18405 @file{ADAPT} files.)
18414 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
18420 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
18421 what headers you are scoring on.
18433 Substring matching.
18436 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
18465 Greater than number.
18470 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
18471 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
18472 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
18477 Temporary score entry.
18480 Permanent score entry.
18483 Immediately scoring.
18487 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
18488 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
18489 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
18493 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
18494 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
18495 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
18496 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
18498 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
18499 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
18500 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
18501 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
18502 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
18504 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
18505 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
18506 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
18507 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
18508 current score file.
18510 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
18511 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
18512 pretend they are keymaps or not.
18515 @node Group Score Commands
18516 @section Group Score Commands
18517 @cindex group score commands
18519 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
18524 @kindex W f (Group)
18525 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
18526 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
18527 all the time. This command will flush the cache
18528 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
18532 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
18534 @findex gnus-batch-score
18535 @cindex batch scoring
18537 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
18541 @node Score Variables
18542 @section Score Variables
18543 @cindex score variables
18547 @item gnus-use-scoring
18548 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
18549 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
18550 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
18552 @item gnus-kill-killed
18553 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
18554 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
18555 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
18556 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
18557 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
18558 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
18559 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
18561 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
18562 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
18563 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
18564 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
18565 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
18567 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
18568 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
18569 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
18570 (@file{SCORE} by default.)
18572 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
18573 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
18574 @cindex score cache
18575 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
18576 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
18577 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely
18578 to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
18579 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
18580 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
18581 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
18584 @item gnus-save-score
18585 @vindex gnus-save-score
18586 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
18587 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
18588 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
18590 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
18591 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
18592 across group visits.
18594 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
18595 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
18596 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
18597 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
18598 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
18599 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
18600 manually entered data.
18602 @item gnus-summary-default-score
18603 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
18604 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
18606 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
18607 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
18608 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
18609 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
18610 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
18611 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
18613 @item gnus-score-over-mark
18614 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
18615 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
18616 default. Default is @samp{+}.
18618 @item gnus-score-below-mark
18619 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
18620 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
18621 default. Default is @samp{-}.
18623 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
18624 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
18625 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
18626 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
18628 Predefined functions available are:
18631 @item gnus-score-find-single
18632 @findex gnus-score-find-single
18633 Only apply the group's own score file.
18635 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
18636 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
18637 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
18638 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
18639 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
18640 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
18641 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
18642 then a regexp match is done.
18644 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
18645 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
18647 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
18648 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
18649 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
18650 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
18652 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
18653 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
18654 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
18655 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
18656 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
18660 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
18661 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
18662 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
18663 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
18664 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
18665 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
18666 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
18669 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
18670 overall score file, you could use the value
18672 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
18673 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
18676 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
18677 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
18678 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
18679 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
18680 are expired. It's 7 by default.
18682 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
18683 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
18684 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
18685 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
18686 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
18687 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
18688 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
18689 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
18691 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
18692 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
18693 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
18695 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
18696 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
18697 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
18698 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
18699 threading---according to the current value of
18700 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
18701 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
18702 simplified in this manner.
18707 @node Score File Format
18708 @section Score File Format
18709 @cindex score file format
18711 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
18712 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
18713 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
18715 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
18719 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
18721 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
18723 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
18725 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
18730 (mark-and-expunge -10)
18734 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
18735 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
18736 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
18737 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
18741 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
18742 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
18744 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
18745 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
18746 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
18748 Six keys are supported by this alist:
18753 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
18754 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
18755 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
18756 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
18757 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
18758 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
18759 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
18760 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
18761 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
18762 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
18763 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
18764 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
18765 to articles that matches these score entries.
18767 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
18768 score entry has one to four elements.
18772 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
18773 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
18777 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
18778 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
18779 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
18780 is successful. If this element is not present, the
18781 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
18782 instead. This is 1000 by default.
18785 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
18786 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
18787 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
18788 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
18789 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
18792 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
18793 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
18794 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
18795 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
18798 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
18799 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
18800 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
18801 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
18802 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
18803 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
18804 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
18805 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
18806 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
18807 instead, if you feel like.
18810 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
18811 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
18812 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
18813 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
18814 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin host,
18815 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks NNTP-Posting-Host in overviews:
18818 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s "NNTP-Posting-Host")
18822 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
18823 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
18825 These predicates are true if
18828 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
18831 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
18832 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
18839 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
18840 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
18841 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
18842 it's not. I think.)
18844 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
18845 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
18846 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
18847 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
18850 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
18851 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
18852 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
18853 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
18854 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
18855 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
18856 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
18860 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
18861 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
18862 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
18863 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
18864 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
18865 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
18866 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
18867 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
18870 @item Head, Body, All
18871 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
18875 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
18876 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
18877 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
18878 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
18879 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
18880 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
18881 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
18885 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
18886 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
18887 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
18888 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
18889 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
18890 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
18891 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
18892 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
18893 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
18894 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
18895 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
18899 @cindex Score File Atoms
18901 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18902 lower than this number will be marked as read.
18905 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18906 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
18908 @item mark-and-expunge
18909 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18910 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
18913 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
18914 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
18915 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
18916 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
18917 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
18920 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
18921 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
18924 @item exclude-files
18925 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
18926 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
18930 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
18931 ignored when handling global score files.
18934 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
18935 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
18936 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
18937 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
18940 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
18941 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
18942 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
18943 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
18945 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
18949 (mark-and-expunge -100)
18952 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
18953 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
18954 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
18955 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
18956 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
18958 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
18959 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
18960 scoring rules exist.
18963 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
18964 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
18965 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
18966 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
18967 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
18968 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
18969 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18970 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
18971 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
18972 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
18973 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
18977 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
18978 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
18979 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
18980 file for a number of groups.
18983 @cindex local variables
18984 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(@var{var}
18985 @var{value})} pairs. Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the
18986 current summary buffer, and set to the value specified. This is a
18987 convenient, if somewhat strange, way of setting variables in some
18988 groups if you don't like hooks much. Note that the @var{value} won't
18993 @node Score File Editing
18994 @section Score File Editing
18996 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
18997 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
18998 with a mode for that.
19000 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
19001 additional commands:
19006 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
19007 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
19008 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
19009 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
19012 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
19013 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
19014 Insert the current date in numerical format
19015 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
19016 you were wondering.
19019 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
19020 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
19021 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
19022 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
19023 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
19028 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
19030 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
19031 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
19033 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
19034 e} to begin editing score files.
19037 @node Adaptive Scoring
19038 @section Adaptive Scoring
19039 @cindex adaptive scoring
19041 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
19042 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
19043 stupidity, to be precise.
19045 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
19046 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
19047 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
19048 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
19049 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
19050 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
19051 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
19052 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
19053 variable to @code{(word line)}.
19055 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
19056 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
19057 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
19058 might look something like this:
19061 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
19062 '((gnus-unread-mark)
19063 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
19064 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
19065 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
19066 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
19067 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
19068 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
19069 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
19070 (gnus-ancient-mark)
19071 (gnus-low-score-mark)
19072 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
19075 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
19076 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
19077 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
19078 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
19079 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
19080 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
19083 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
19084 will be applied to each article.
19086 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
19087 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{e}) will have a
19088 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
19089 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
19091 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
19092 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
19093 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
19094 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
19096 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
19097 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
19098 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
19099 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
19101 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
19102 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
19103 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
19104 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
19105 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
19106 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
19108 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
19109 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
19110 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
19112 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
19113 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
19114 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
19116 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
19117 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
19118 let you use different rules in different groups.
19120 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
19121 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
19122 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
19125 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
19126 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
19127 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
19128 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
19129 the length of the match is less than
19130 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
19131 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
19134 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
19135 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
19136 headers. If you adapt on words, the
19137 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
19138 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
19141 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
19142 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
19143 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
19144 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
19145 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
19148 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
19149 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
19150 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
19151 score with 30 points.
19153 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
19154 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
19155 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
19156 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
19157 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
19159 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
19160 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
19161 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
19162 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
19163 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
19165 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
19166 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
19167 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
19168 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
19170 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
19171 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
19172 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
19173 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
19175 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
19176 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
19177 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
19178 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
19179 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
19181 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
19182 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
19183 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
19185 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
19186 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
19187 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
19188 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
19191 @node Home Score File
19192 @section Home Score File
19194 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
19195 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
19196 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
19197 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
19199 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
19200 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
19201 could perhaps use the same home score file.
19203 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
19204 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
19209 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
19213 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
19214 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
19218 A list. The elements in this list can be:
19222 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
19223 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
19226 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
19227 the home score file.
19230 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
19233 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
19238 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
19241 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19242 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
19245 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
19246 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
19248 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
19250 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19251 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
19254 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
19255 Other functions include
19258 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
19259 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
19260 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
19261 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
19265 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
19266 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
19267 their own home score files:
19270 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19271 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
19272 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
19273 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
19274 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
19277 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
19278 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
19279 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
19280 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
19281 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
19283 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
19284 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
19285 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
19286 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
19287 precedence over this variable.
19290 @node Followups To Yourself
19291 @section Followups To Yourself
19293 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
19294 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
19295 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
19296 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
19297 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
19298 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
19302 @item gnus-score-followup-article
19303 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
19304 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
19307 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
19308 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
19309 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
19313 @vindex message-sent-hook
19314 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
19315 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
19317 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
19321 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
19322 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
19326 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
19327 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
19330 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
19331 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
19336 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
19340 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
19341 is system-dependent.
19344 @node Scoring On Other Headers
19345 @section Scoring On Other Headers
19346 @cindex scoring on other headers
19348 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
19349 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
19350 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
19351 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
19352 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
19354 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
19355 mail groups, you have greater control. In the @pxref{To From
19356 Newsgroups} section of the manual, it's explained in greater detail what
19357 this mechanism does, but here's a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on
19358 how to allow scoring on the @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
19360 Put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
19363 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
19364 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
19367 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
19368 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
19369 time if you have much mail.
19371 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
19372 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
19378 @section Scoring Tips
19379 @cindex scoring tips
19385 @cindex scoring crossposts
19386 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
19387 the @code{Xref} header.
19389 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
19392 @item Multiple crossposts
19393 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
19394 more than, say, 3 groups:
19397 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
19401 @item Matching on the body
19402 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
19403 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
19404 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
19405 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
19406 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
19407 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
19408 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
19411 @item Marking as read
19412 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
19413 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
19414 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
19418 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
19420 @item Negated character classes
19421 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
19422 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
19423 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
19427 @node Reverse Scoring
19428 @section Reverse Scoring
19429 @cindex reverse scoring
19431 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
19432 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
19433 like this in your score file:
19437 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
19442 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
19443 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
19446 @node Global Score Files
19447 @section Global Score Files
19448 @cindex global score files
19450 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
19451 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
19452 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
19454 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
19455 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
19456 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
19458 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
19459 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
19460 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
19461 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
19462 files are applicable to which group.
19464 To use the score file
19465 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
19466 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
19470 (setq gnus-global-score-files
19471 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
19472 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
19475 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
19477 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
19478 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
19479 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
19480 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
19482 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
19483 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
19485 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
19486 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
19487 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
19488 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
19489 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
19490 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
19492 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
19498 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
19500 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
19502 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
19504 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
19505 lowered out of existence.
19507 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
19508 articles completely.
19511 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
19512 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
19513 old articles for a long time.
19516 @dots{} I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
19517 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
19518 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
19519 holding our breath yet?
19523 @section Kill Files
19526 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
19527 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
19528 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
19530 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
19531 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
19532 files into score files.
19534 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
19535 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
19536 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
19537 that isn't a very good idea.
19539 Normal kill files look like this:
19542 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19543 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
19547 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
19548 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
19550 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
19551 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
19554 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
19559 @kindex M-k (Summary)
19560 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
19561 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
19564 @kindex M-K (Summary)
19565 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
19566 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
19569 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
19574 @kindex M-k (Group)
19575 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
19576 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
19579 @kindex M-K (Group)
19580 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
19581 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
19584 Kill file variables:
19587 @item gnus-kill-file-name
19588 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
19589 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
19590 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
19591 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
19592 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
19593 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
19595 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
19596 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
19597 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
19598 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
19601 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
19602 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
19603 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
19604 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
19605 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
19606 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
19607 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
19608 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
19609 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
19611 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
19612 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
19613 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
19618 @node Converting Kill Files
19619 @section Converting Kill Files
19621 @cindex converting kill files
19623 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
19624 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
19625 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
19628 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
19629 You can fetch it from
19630 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
19632 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
19633 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
19634 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
19642 GroupLens (@uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/}) is a
19643 collaborative filtering system that helps you work together with other
19644 people to find the quality news articles out of the huge volume of
19645 news articles generated every day.
19647 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
19648 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
19649 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
19650 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
19651 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
19652 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
19653 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
19654 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
19657 @sc{Note:} Unfortunately the GroupLens system seems to have shut down,
19658 so this section is mostly of historical interest.
19661 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
19662 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
19663 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
19664 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
19668 @node Using GroupLens
19669 @subsection Using GroupLens
19671 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
19673 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
19674 better bit in town at the moment.
19676 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
19680 @item gnus-use-grouplens
19681 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
19682 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
19683 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
19685 @item grouplens-pseudonym
19686 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
19687 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
19688 with the Better Bit Bureau.
19690 @item grouplens-newsgroups
19691 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
19692 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
19696 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
19697 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
19698 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
19699 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
19700 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
19701 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
19704 @node Rating Articles
19705 @subsection Rating Articles
19707 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
19708 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
19709 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
19710 yourself is, ``on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
19713 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
19718 @kindex r (GroupLens)
19719 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
19720 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
19723 @kindex k (GroupLens)
19724 @findex grouplens-score-thread
19725 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
19726 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
19727 threads in rec.humor.
19731 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
19732 the score of the article you're reading.
19737 @kindex n (GroupLens)
19738 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
19739 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
19742 @kindex , (GroupLens)
19743 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
19744 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
19748 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
19749 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
19752 @node Displaying Predictions
19753 @subsection Displaying Predictions
19755 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
19756 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
19757 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
19758 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
19759 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
19761 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
19762 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
19763 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
19764 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
19765 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
19766 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
19767 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
19768 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
19769 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
19770 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
19771 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
19772 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
19773 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
19775 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
19776 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
19777 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
19778 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
19780 The following are valid values for that variable.
19783 @item prediction-spot
19784 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
19787 @item confidence-interval
19788 A numeric confidence interval.
19790 @item prediction-bar
19791 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
19793 @item confidence-bar
19794 Numerical confidence.
19796 @item confidence-spot
19797 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
19799 @item prediction-num
19800 Plain-old numeric value.
19802 @item confidence-plus-minus
19803 Prediction +/- confidence.
19808 @node GroupLens Variables
19809 @subsection GroupLens Variables
19813 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
19814 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
19815 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
19816 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
19819 @item grouplens-bbb-host
19820 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
19823 @item grouplens-bbb-port
19824 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
19826 @item grouplens-score-offset
19827 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
19828 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
19831 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
19832 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
19833 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
19838 @node Advanced Scoring
19839 @section Advanced Scoring
19841 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
19842 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
19843 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
19844 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
19845 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
19847 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
19851 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
19852 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
19853 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
19857 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
19858 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
19860 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
19861 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
19862 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
19863 non-@code{nil} value.
19865 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
19866 operator, and various match operators.
19873 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19874 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
19875 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
19880 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19881 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
19882 then this operator will return @code{false}.
19887 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
19888 logical negation of the value of its argument.
19892 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
19893 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
19894 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
19895 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
19896 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
19897 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
19898 the ancestry you want to go.
19900 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
19901 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
19902 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
19903 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
19904 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
19907 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
19908 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
19910 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
19911 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
19914 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
19915 when he's talking about Gnus:
19919 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19920 ("subject" "Gnus"))
19926 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
19930 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19937 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
19938 really don't want to read what he's written:
19942 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19943 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
19947 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
19948 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
19949 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
19956 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
19957 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
19958 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
19959 ("body" "white.*socks"))
19963 The possibilities are endless.
19966 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
19967 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
19969 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
19970 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
19971 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
19972 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
19973 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
19974 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
19975 @samp{subject}) first.
19977 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
19978 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
19989 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
19990 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
19996 ("subject" "Gnus")))
20003 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
20004 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
20009 @section Score Decays
20010 @cindex score decays
20013 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
20014 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
20015 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
20016 use them in any sensible way.
20018 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
20019 @findex gnus-decay-score
20020 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
20021 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
20022 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
20023 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
20024 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
20025 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
20026 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
20027 definition of that function:
20030 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
20032 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
20033 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
20036 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
20038 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
20040 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
20043 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
20044 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
20045 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
20046 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
20050 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
20053 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
20056 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
20060 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
20061 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
20062 the new score, which should be an integer.
20064 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
20065 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
20070 @include message.texi
20071 @chapter Emacs MIME
20072 @include emacs-mime.texi
20074 @include sieve.texi
20076 @c @include pgg.texi
20084 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
20085 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
20086 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
20087 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
20088 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
20089 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
20090 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
20091 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
20092 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
20093 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
20094 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
20095 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
20096 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
20097 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
20098 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
20099 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
20100 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
20101 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
20102 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
20106 @node Process/Prefix
20107 @section Process/Prefix
20108 @cindex process/prefix convention
20110 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
20111 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
20113 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
20114 command to be performed on.
20118 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
20119 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
20120 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
20121 with the current one.
20123 @vindex transient-mark-mode
20124 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
20125 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
20127 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
20128 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
20131 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
20132 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
20134 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
20137 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
20138 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
20139 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
20140 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
20142 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
20143 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
20144 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
20145 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
20146 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
20147 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
20148 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
20149 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
20151 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
20152 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
20153 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
20154 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
20155 expirable, you could say @kbd{M P b M-& E}.
20159 @section Interactive
20160 @cindex interaction
20164 @item gnus-novice-user
20165 @vindex gnus-novice-user
20166 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
20167 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
20168 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
20169 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
20172 @item gnus-expert-user
20173 @vindex gnus-expert-user
20174 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
20175 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
20176 matter how strange.
20178 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
20179 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
20180 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
20181 is @code{t} by default.
20183 @item gnus-interactive-exit
20184 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
20185 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20190 @node Symbolic Prefixes
20191 @section Symbolic Prefixes
20192 @cindex symbolic prefixes
20194 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
20195 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
20196 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
20197 rule of 900 to the current article.
20199 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
20200 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
20201 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
20202 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
20203 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
20204 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
20205 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
20207 @kindex M-i (Summary)
20208 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
20209 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
20210 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
20211 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
20212 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
20213 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
20214 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
20215 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
20217 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
20218 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
20219 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
20221 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
20225 @node Formatting Variables
20226 @section Formatting Variables
20227 @cindex formatting variables
20229 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
20230 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
20231 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
20232 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
20233 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
20236 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
20237 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
20238 lots of percentages everywhere.
20241 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
20242 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
20243 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
20244 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
20245 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
20246 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
20247 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
20248 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
20251 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
20252 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
20253 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
20254 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
20255 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
20256 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
20257 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
20258 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
20260 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
20261 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
20263 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
20264 @findex gnus-update-format
20265 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
20266 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
20267 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
20268 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
20272 @node Formatting Basics
20273 @subsection Formatting Basics
20275 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
20276 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
20277 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
20279 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
20280 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
20281 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
20282 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
20283 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
20286 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
20287 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
20288 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
20289 less than 4 characters wide.
20291 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
20292 @samp{%&user-date;}.
20295 @node Mode Line Formatting
20296 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
20298 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
20299 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
20300 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
20301 with the following two differences:
20306 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
20309 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
20310 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
20311 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
20312 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
20313 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
20314 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
20315 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
20320 @node Advanced Formatting
20321 @subsection Advanced Formatting
20323 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
20324 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
20325 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
20326 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
20328 These are the valid modifiers:
20333 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
20337 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
20342 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
20345 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
20350 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
20353 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
20356 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
20359 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
20365 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
20370 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
20371 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
20372 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
20373 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
20374 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
20375 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
20376 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
20378 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
20379 last operation, padding.
20381 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
20382 If @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} is set to @code{nil} (@code{t} by
20383 default) with your strong personality, and use a lots of these advanced
20384 thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets quite slow. This can be helped
20385 enormously by running @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with
20386 the look of your lines.
20387 @xref{Compilation}.
20390 @node User-Defined Specs
20391 @subsection User-Defined Specs
20393 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
20394 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
20395 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
20396 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
20397 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
20398 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
20399 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
20400 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
20401 should protect against that.
20403 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
20404 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
20406 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
20407 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
20408 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
20409 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
20413 @node Formatting Fonts
20414 @subsection Formatting Fonts
20416 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
20417 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
20418 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
20419 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
20422 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
20423 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
20424 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
20425 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
20426 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
20427 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
20429 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
20430 special @code{balloon-help} property set to
20431 @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get
20432 @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*}
20433 variables should be either strings or symbols naming functions that
20434 return a string. When the mouse passes over text with this property
20435 set, a balloon window will appear and display the string. Please
20436 refer to @ref{Tooltips, ,Tooltips, emacs, The Emacs Manual},
20437 (in GNU Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in
20438 XEmacs) for more information on this. (For technical reasons, the
20439 guillemets have been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this
20442 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
20445 ;; Create three face types.
20446 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
20447 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
20449 ;; We want the article count to be in
20450 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
20451 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
20452 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
20454 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
20455 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
20457 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
20458 (setq gnus-group-line-format
20459 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
20462 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
20463 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
20465 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
20466 mode-line variables.
20468 @node Positioning Point
20469 @subsection Positioning Point
20471 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
20472 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
20473 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
20475 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
20477 @findex gnus-goto-colon
20478 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
20479 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
20481 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
20482 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
20483 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
20488 @subsection Tabulation
20490 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
20491 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
20492 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
20493 about lining up the following text afterwards.
20495 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs--@samp{%=}. There are two
20496 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
20498 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
20499 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
20500 This is the soft tabulator.
20502 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
20503 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
20504 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
20507 @node Wide Characters
20508 @subsection Wide Characters
20510 Proportional fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
20511 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
20512 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
20514 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
20515 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
20516 these countries, that's not true.
20518 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
20519 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
20520 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
20521 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
20525 @node Window Layout
20526 @section Window Layout
20527 @cindex window layout
20529 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
20531 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
20532 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
20533 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
20534 @code{t} by default.
20536 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
20537 glitches. Use at your own peril.
20539 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
20540 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
20541 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
20544 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
20545 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
20546 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
20550 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
20551 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
20552 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
20553 possible names is listed below.
20555 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
20556 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
20559 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
20563 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
20564 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
20565 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
20566 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
20567 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
20568 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
20569 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
20570 size spec per split.
20572 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
20573 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
20574 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
20575 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
20576 present) gets focus.
20578 Here's a more complicated example:
20581 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
20582 (summary 0.25 point)
20583 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
20587 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
20588 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
20589 occupy, not a percentage.
20591 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
20592 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
20593 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
20594 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
20595 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
20598 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
20601 (article (horizontal 1.0
20606 (summary 0.25 point)
20611 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
20612 @code{horizontal} thingie?
20614 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
20615 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
20616 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
20617 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
20618 the screen is to be given to this strip.
20620 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
20621 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
20622 lines from the splits.
20624 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
20628 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
20629 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
20630 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
20631 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
20632 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
20633 size = number | frame-params
20634 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
20637 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
20638 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
20639 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
20640 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
20642 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
20643 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
20644 @cindex window height
20645 @cindex window width
20646 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
20647 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
20648 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
20649 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
20650 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
20651 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
20653 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
20654 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
20655 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
20656 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
20658 @findex gnus-configure-frame
20659 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
20660 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
20661 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
20662 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
20663 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
20664 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
20665 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
20666 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
20667 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
20668 configuration list.
20671 (gnus-configure-frame
20675 (article 0.3 point))
20683 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
20684 @code{frame} split:
20687 (gnus-configure-frame
20690 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
20692 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
20693 (user-position . t)
20694 (left . -1) (top . 1))
20699 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
20700 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
20701 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
20702 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
20703 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
20704 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
20705 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
20706 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
20708 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
20709 be found in its default value.
20711 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
20712 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
20713 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
20717 (message (horizontal 1.0
20718 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
20720 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
20725 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
20726 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
20727 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
20732 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
20733 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
20734 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
20735 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
20736 (name . "Message"))
20737 (message 1.0 point))))
20740 @findex gnus-add-configuration
20741 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
20742 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
20743 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
20744 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
20747 (gnus-add-configuration
20748 '(article (vertical 1.0
20750 (summary .25 point)
20754 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
20755 @file{~/.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
20756 Gnus has been loaded.
20758 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
20759 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
20760 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
20761 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
20762 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
20764 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
20765 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
20766 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
20769 @subsection Example Window Configurations
20773 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
20774 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
20789 (gnus-add-configuration
20792 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20794 (summary 0.16 point)
20797 (gnus-add-configuration
20800 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20801 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
20807 @node Faces and Fonts
20808 @section Faces and Fonts
20813 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
20814 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
20815 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
20820 @section Compilation
20821 @cindex compilation
20822 @cindex byte-compilation
20824 @findex gnus-compile
20826 Remember all those line format specification variables?
20827 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
20828 on. By default, T-gnus will use the byte-compiled codes of these
20829 variables and we can keep a slow-down to a minimum. However, if you set
20830 @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} to @code{nil} (@code{t} by default),
20831 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
20832 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
20833 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
20836 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
20837 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
20838 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
20839 you'll get top speed again. Note that T-gnus will not save these
20840 compiled specs in the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
20843 @item gnus-compile-user-specs
20844 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
20845 If it is non-nil, the user-defined format specs will be byte-compiled
20846 automatically. The default value of this variable is @code{t}. It has
20847 an effect on the values of @code{gnus-*-line-format-spec}.
20852 @section Mode Lines
20855 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
20856 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
20857 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
20858 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
20859 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
20860 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
20861 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
20864 @cindex display-time
20866 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
20867 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
20868 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
20869 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
20870 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
20871 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
20872 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
20873 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
20876 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
20878 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
20879 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
20881 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
20882 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
20883 (length display-time-string)))))
20886 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
20887 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
20888 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
20889 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
20890 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
20893 @node Highlighting and Menus
20894 @section Highlighting and Menus
20896 @cindex highlighting
20899 @vindex gnus-visual
20900 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
20901 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
20902 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
20905 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
20906 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
20909 @item group-highlight
20910 Do highlights in the group buffer.
20911 @item summary-highlight
20912 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
20913 @item article-highlight
20914 Do highlights in the article buffer.
20916 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
20918 Create menus in the group buffer.
20920 Create menus in the summary buffers.
20922 Create menus in the article buffer.
20924 Create menus in the browse buffer.
20926 Create menus in the server buffer.
20928 Create menus in the score buffers.
20930 Create menus in all buffers.
20933 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
20934 buffers, you could say something like:
20937 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
20940 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
20943 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
20946 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
20947 in all Gnus buffers.
20949 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
20952 @item gnus-mouse-face
20953 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
20954 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
20955 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
20959 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
20963 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
20964 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
20965 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
20967 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
20968 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
20969 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
20971 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
20972 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
20973 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
20975 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
20976 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
20977 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
20979 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
20980 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
20981 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
20983 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
20984 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
20985 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
20996 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
20997 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
20998 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
20999 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
21000 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
21004 @vindex gnus-carpal
21005 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
21006 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
21007 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
21012 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
21013 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
21014 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
21016 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
21017 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
21018 Face used on buttons.
21020 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
21021 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
21022 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
21024 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
21025 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
21026 Buttons in the group buffer.
21028 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
21029 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
21030 Buttons in the summary buffer.
21032 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
21033 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
21034 Buttons in the server buffer.
21036 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
21037 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
21038 Buttons in the browse buffer.
21041 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
21042 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
21043 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
21051 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
21052 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
21053 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
21054 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
21055 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
21057 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
21058 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
21059 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
21061 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
21062 been idle for thirty minutes:
21065 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
21068 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
21072 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
21075 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
21076 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
21077 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
21079 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
21080 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
21081 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
21082 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
21084 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
21085 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
21086 @var{idle} minutes.
21088 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
21089 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
21092 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
21093 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
21094 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
21096 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
21097 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
21098 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
21099 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
21101 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
21102 your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21104 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
21106 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
21109 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
21110 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
21111 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
21112 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
21113 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
21114 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
21115 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
21116 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
21117 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
21118 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
21119 @file{~/.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
21121 @findex gnus-demon-init
21122 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
21123 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
21124 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
21125 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
21126 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
21128 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
21129 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
21130 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
21139 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
21140 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
21142 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
21143 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
21144 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
21145 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
21148 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
21149 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
21150 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
21151 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
21153 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
21154 this will make spam disappear.
21156 There are some variables to customize, of course:
21159 @item gnus-use-nocem
21160 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
21161 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
21164 @item gnus-nocem-groups
21165 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
21166 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
21167 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
21168 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
21170 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
21171 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
21172 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
21173 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
21174 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
21175 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
21177 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
21178 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
21180 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
21181 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
21182 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
21183 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
21184 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
21185 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
21186 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
21187 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
21188 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
21189 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
21191 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
21192 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
21195 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
21198 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
21199 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
21202 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
21205 The specs are applied left-to-right.
21208 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
21209 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
21211 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
21212 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
21213 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
21214 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
21216 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
21217 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
21220 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
21222 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
21230 This might be dangerous, though.
21232 @item gnus-nocem-directory
21233 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
21234 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
21235 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
21237 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
21238 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
21239 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
21240 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
21241 might then see old spam.
21243 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
21244 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
21245 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
21246 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
21247 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
21250 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
21251 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
21252 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
21253 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
21257 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
21258 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
21259 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
21260 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
21267 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
21268 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
21269 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
21271 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
21272 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
21273 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
21274 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
21275 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
21276 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
21277 @code{undo} function.
21279 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
21280 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
21281 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
21282 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
21283 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
21284 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
21285 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
21286 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
21287 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
21288 never be totally undoable.
21290 @findex gnus-undo-mode
21291 @vindex gnus-use-undo
21293 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
21294 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
21295 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
21296 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
21300 @node Predicate Specifiers
21301 @section Predicate Specifiers
21302 @cindex predicate specifiers
21304 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
21305 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
21306 to type all that much.
21308 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
21313 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
21314 gnus-article-unread-p)
21317 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
21318 functions all take one parameter.
21320 @findex gnus-make-predicate
21321 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
21322 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
21323 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
21328 @section Moderation
21331 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
21332 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
21333 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
21336 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
21340 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
21343 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
21345 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
21350 You split your incoming mail by matching on
21351 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
21352 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
21355 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
21356 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
21359 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
21360 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
21364 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
21367 (setq gnus-moderated-list
21368 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
21372 @node Image Enhancements
21373 @section Image Enhancements
21375 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21, is able to display pictures and stuff, so
21376 Gnus has taken advantage of that.
21379 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
21380 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
21381 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
21382 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
21395 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
21396 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
21397 over your shoulder as you read news.
21399 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
21408 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
21409 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
21410 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
21411 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
21412 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
21413 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
21414 @code{GIF} formats.
21417 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
21418 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases,
21419 point your Web browser at
21420 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
21422 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
21423 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
21425 To enable displaying picons, simply make sure that
21426 @code{gnus-picon-databases} points to the directory containing the
21429 The following variables offer control over where things are located.
21433 @item gnus-picon-databases
21434 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
21435 The location of the picons database. This is a list of directories
21436 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
21437 subdirectories. Defaults to @code{("/usr/lib/picon"
21438 "/usr/local/faces")}.
21440 @item gnus-picon-news-directories
21441 @vindex gnus-picon-news-directories
21442 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
21443 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
21445 @item gnus-picon-user-directories
21446 @vindex gnus-picon-user-directories
21447 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for user
21448 faces. @code{("users" "usenix" "local" "misc")} is the default.
21450 @item gnus-picon-domain-directories
21451 @vindex gnus-picon-domain-directories
21452 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
21453 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
21454 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
21456 @item gnus-picon-file-types
21457 @vindex gnus-picon-file-types
21458 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
21459 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your Emacs.
21464 @subsection Smileys
21469 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
21474 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
21475 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
21477 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
21478 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21481 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
21484 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{8-)}, @samp{:-(} and
21485 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
21486 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
21487 text and maps that to file names.
21489 @vindex smiley-regexp-alist
21490 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist}
21491 variable. The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched;
21492 the second element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by
21493 the picture; and the third element is the name of the file to be
21496 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
21501 @item smiley-data-directory
21502 @vindex smiley-data-directory
21503 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
21505 @item gnus-smiley-file-types
21506 @vindex gnus-smiley-file-types
21507 List of suffixes on smiley file names to try.
21516 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
21517 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
21518 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
21522 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
21523 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
21524 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
21525 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
21533 Decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
21534 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
21535 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
21536 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
21538 The variable that controls this is the
21539 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
21540 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
21541 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
21542 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
21543 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
21545 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
21546 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
21547 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
21548 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
21551 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
21552 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
21553 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
21554 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
21555 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
21556 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
21557 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
21558 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
21560 (Note: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
21563 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
21564 easier insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages.
21566 @findex gnus-random-x-face
21567 @vindex gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command
21568 @vindex gnus-x-face-directory
21569 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
21570 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
21571 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
21572 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
21573 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
21574 header data as a string.
21576 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
21577 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
21578 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
21579 randomly generated data.
21581 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
21582 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command
21583 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
21584 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
21585 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
21587 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
21588 like the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21591 (setq message-required-news-headers
21592 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21593 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
21596 Using the last function would be something like this:
21599 (setq message-required-news-headers
21600 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21601 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
21602 (gnus-x-face-from-file
21603 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
21608 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
21611 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21612 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21613 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
21614 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
21615 unusual directory structure.
21617 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21618 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21619 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
21620 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
21622 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21623 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21624 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
21625 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
21626 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
21627 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
21629 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21630 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21631 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
21636 @subsubsection Toolbar
21640 @item gnus-use-toolbar
21641 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
21642 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
21643 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
21644 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
21646 @item gnus-group-toolbar
21647 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
21648 The toolbar in the group buffer.
21650 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
21651 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
21652 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
21654 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21655 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21656 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
21667 @node Fuzzy Matching
21668 @section Fuzzy Matching
21669 @cindex fuzzy matching
21671 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
21672 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
21674 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
21675 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
21676 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
21678 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
21679 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
21680 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
21681 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
21682 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
21685 @node Thwarting Email Spam
21686 @section Thwarting Email Spam
21690 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21692 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
21693 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
21694 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
21695 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
21696 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
21697 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
21698 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
21699 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
21702 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
21703 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
21704 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
21705 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
21706 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
21707 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
21709 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
21712 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
21713 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
21714 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
21715 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
21716 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
21717 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
21720 @node The problem of spam
21721 @subsection The problem of spam
21723 @cindex spam filtering approaches
21724 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
21726 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21728 First, some background on spam.
21730 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
21731 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it exists
21732 because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail, so only
21733 a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to make it
21734 worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most common
21735 spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for further
21736 spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers}, but terms like
21737 @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, and @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
21739 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
21740 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
21741 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
21742 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
21743 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
21744 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
21745 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
21746 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
21747 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
21750 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering. If you get 200
21751 spam messages per day from @samp{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you
21752 block @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about
21753 @samp{VIAGRA}, you discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the
21754 message. This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate
21755 e-mail. For instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest
21756 has been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it
21757 @strong{contained} words that were common in spam messages.
21758 Nevertheless, in isolated cases, with great care, direct filtering of
21759 mail can be useful.
21761 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
21762 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
21763 @code{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @samp{X} in
21764 China, Ghana, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
21765 @code{N} systems enter @samp{X} or the spam e-mail from @samp{X} into
21766 a database. The criteria for spam detection vary - it may be the
21767 number of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When
21768 a user of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a
21769 message is spam, he consults one of those @code{N} systems.
21771 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
21772 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
21773 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
21774 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
21775 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
21776 sending spam, and their web sites have been shut down for some time
21777 because of the incident.
21779 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
21780 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
21781 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
21782 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
21783 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
21784 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
21785 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
21786 to store the database of spam analyses.
21788 @node Anti-Spam Basics
21789 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
21793 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21795 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
21796 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
21798 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
21799 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
21800 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
21801 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
21802 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
21803 part of the mail address.)
21806 (setq message-default-news-headers
21807 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
21810 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
21811 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21816 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
21817 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
21818 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
21824 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
21825 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
21826 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
21827 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
21829 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @sc{smtp} server
21830 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
21831 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
21832 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
21833 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
21834 your fancy split rule in this way:
21839 (to "larsi" "misc")
21843 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
21844 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
21845 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
21846 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
21847 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
21849 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
21850 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
21851 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
21852 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
21853 cosmic balance somewhat.
21855 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
21856 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
21857 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
21858 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
21863 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
21864 @cindex SpamAssassin
21865 @cindex Vipul's Razor
21868 The days where the hints in the previous section was sufficient in
21869 avoiding spam is coming to an end. There are many tools out there
21870 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
21871 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
21872 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
21873 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
21874 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
21876 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
21877 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
21878 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
21879 Specifiers}) follows.
21883 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
21886 :postscript "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
21889 Once you managed to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
21890 the mail contain e.g. a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
21891 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
21894 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
21898 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21901 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
21902 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
21906 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
21907 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
21908 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
21909 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
21912 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
21914 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
21916 (let ((buf (or (get-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
21917 (get-buffer " *nnml move*"))))
21919 (progn (message "Oops, cannot find message buffer") nil)
21921 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
21922 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
21926 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
21927 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
21928 spam. And here is the nifty function:
21931 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
21932 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
21934 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
21935 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
21936 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
21940 @subsection Hashcash
21943 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
21944 costly for each message they send. This has the obvious drawback that
21945 you cannot rely on that everyone in the world uses this technique,
21946 since it is not part of the Internet standards, but it may be useful
21947 in smaller communities.
21949 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
21950 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
21951 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
21952 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
21953 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
21954 instead requires that everyone you communicate with supports the
21955 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
21956 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
21957 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
21958 one of them separately.
21961 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
21962 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
21963 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:}
21964 header. For more details, and for the external application
21965 @code{hashcash} you need to install to use this feature, see
21966 @uref{http://www.cypherspace.org/~adam/hashcash/}. Even more
21967 information can be found at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
21969 If you wish to call hashcash for each message you send, say something
21973 (require 'hashcash)
21974 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'mail-add-payment)
21977 The @code{hashcash.el} library can be found at
21978 @uref{http://users.actrix.gen.nz/mycroft/hashcash.el}, or in the Gnus
21979 development contrib directory.
21981 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
21985 @item hashcash-default-payment
21986 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
21987 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
21988 should consist of. By default this is 0, meaning nothing will be
21989 done. Suggested useful values include 17 to 29.
21991 @item hashcash-payment-alist
21992 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
21993 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
21994 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(@var{addr}
21995 @var{amount})} cells, where @var{addr} is the receiver (email address
21996 or newsgroup) and @var{amount} is the number of bits in the collision
21997 that is needed. It can also contain @samp{(@var{addr} @var{string}
21998 @var{amount})} cells, where the @var{string} is the string to use
21999 (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
22003 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed.
22007 Currently there is no built in functionality in Gnus to verify
22008 hashcash cookies, it is expected that this is performed by your hand
22009 customized mail filtering scripts. Improvements in this area would be
22010 a useful contribution, however.
22012 @node Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
22013 @subsection Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
22014 @cindex spam filtering
22017 The idea behind @code{spam.el} is to have a control center for spam detection
22018 and filtering in Gnus. To that end, @code{spam.el} does two things: it
22019 filters incoming mail, and it analyzes mail known to be spam or ham.
22020 @emph{Ham} is the name used throughout @code{spam.el} to indicate
22023 So, what happens when you load @code{spam.el}? First of all, you get
22024 the following keyboard commands:
22034 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
22035 @code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}.
22037 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{$} mark.
22038 Whenever you see a spam article, make sure to mark its summary line
22039 with @kbd{M-d} before leaving the group. This is done automatically
22040 for unread articles in @emph{spam} groups.
22046 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
22047 @code{spam-bogofilter-score}.
22049 You must have Bogofilter installed for that command to work properly.
22055 Also, when you load @code{spam.el}, you will be able to customize its
22056 variables. Try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{spam} variable
22059 The concepts of ham processors and spam processors are very important.
22060 Ham processors and spam processors for a group can be set with the
22061 @code{spam-process} group parameter, or the
22062 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. Ham processors take
22063 mail known to be non-spam (@emph{ham}) and process it in some way so
22064 that later similar mail will also be considered non-spam. Spam
22065 processors take mail known to be spam and process it so similar spam
22066 will be detected later.
22068 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
22069 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
22070 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
22071 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
22072 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
22073 by customizing the corresponding variable
22074 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
22075 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
22076 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
22077 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
22078 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
22079 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
22080 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
22083 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
22084 they get the @samp{$} mark when you enter the group. You must review
22085 these messages from time to time and remove the @samp{$} mark for
22086 every message that is not spam after all. To remove the @samp{$}
22087 mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to ``unread'' the article, or @kbd{d} for
22088 declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a group, all
22089 spam-marked (@samp{$}) articles are sent to a spam processor which
22090 will study them as spam samples.
22092 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
22093 @code{spam-ham-marks} gets overridden below, marks @samp{R} and
22094 @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
22095 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
22096 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
22097 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
22098 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
22099 should then adjust the @code{spam-ham-marks} variable.
22101 @defvar spam-ham-marks
22102 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
22103 consider ham. By default, the list contains the deleted, read,
22104 killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks.
22107 @defvar spam-spam-marks
22108 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
22109 consider spam. By default, the list contains only the spam mark.
22112 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
22113 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
22114 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
22115 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
22116 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
22117 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{$},
22120 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
22121 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
22122 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
22123 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
22124 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
22125 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
22126 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
22127 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with
22128 @code{customize-variable gnus-ham-process-destinations}). The ultimate
22129 location is a group name. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
22130 parameter is not set, spam articles are only expired.
22132 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
22133 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
22135 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
22136 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
22137 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
22138 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
22139 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
22140 customize this variable with @code{customize-variable
22141 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). The ultimate location is a group
22142 name. If the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set,
22143 the spam articles are only expired.
22145 To use the @code{spam.el} facilities for incoming mail filtering, you
22146 must add the following to your fancy split list
22147 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}:
22153 Note that the fancy split may be called @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
22154 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on whether you use the nnmail or
22155 nnimap back ends to retrieve your mail.
22157 The @code{spam-split} function will process incoming mail and send the
22158 mail considered to be spam into the group name given by the variable
22159 @code{spam-split-group}. By default that group name is @samp{spam},
22160 but you can customize it.
22162 @emph{Note for IMAP users}
22164 The boolean variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body} needs to be
22165 set, if you want to split based on the whole message instead of just
22166 the headers. By default, the nnimap backend will only retrieve the
22167 message headers. If you use spam-check-bogofilter, spam-check-ifile,
22168 or spam-check-stat (the splitters that can benefit from the full
22169 message body), you should set this variable. It is not set by default
22170 because it will slow IMAP down.
22172 @xref{Splitting in IMAP}.
22174 @emph{TODO: Currently, spam.el only supports insertion of articles
22175 into a backend. There is no way to tell spam.el that an article is no
22176 longer spam or ham.}
22178 @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
22179 statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
22182 The following are the methods you can use to control the behavior of
22183 @code{spam-split} and their corresponding spam and ham processors:
22186 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
22187 * BBDB Whitelists::
22189 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
22191 * ifile spam filtering::
22192 * spam-stat spam filtering::
22193 * Extending the spam elisp package::
22196 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
22197 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
22198 @cindex spam filtering
22199 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
22200 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
22203 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
22205 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
22206 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
22207 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
22208 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
22213 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
22215 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
22216 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
22217 whitelist will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
22218 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the whitelist, their
22219 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
22223 @defvar spam-use-whitelist-exclusive
22225 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists as an
22226 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
22227 unless the sender is in the whitelist. Use with care.
22231 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
22233 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22234 customizing the group parameters or the
22235 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22236 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
22237 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
22241 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
22243 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22244 customizing the group parameters or the
22245 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22246 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
22247 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
22248 whitelist. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
22249 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22253 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
22254 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
22255 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
22256 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
22257 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
22259 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
22260 legitimate. All messages from whitelisted addresses are considered
22261 non-spam. Also see @ref{BBDB Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the
22262 Emacs regular expression syntax.
22264 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
22265 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
22266 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
22267 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
22268 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
22269 @file{blacklist} respectively.
22271 @node BBDB Whitelists
22272 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
22273 @cindex spam filtering
22274 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
22275 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
22278 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
22280 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
22281 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted
22282 addresses, without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded
22283 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Messages whose senders are
22284 not in the BBDB will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
22285 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the BBDB, their
22286 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
22290 @defvar spam-use-BBDB-exclusive
22292 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use the BBDB as an
22293 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
22294 unless the sender is in the BBDB. Use with care. Only sender
22295 addresses in the BBDB will be allowed through; all others will be
22296 classified as spammers.
22300 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
22302 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22303 customizing the group parameters or the
22304 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22305 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
22306 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
22307 BBDB. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
22308 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22313 @subsubsection Blackholes
22314 @cindex spam filtering
22315 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
22318 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
22320 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
22321 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
22322 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
22323 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
22324 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
22325 contains outdated servers.
22327 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
22328 @code{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
22329 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to nil. It is not recommended at this
22330 time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to nil despite the possible
22331 performance improvements, because some users may be unable to use it,
22332 but you can try it and see if it works for you.
22336 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
22338 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
22342 @defvar spam-blackhole-good-server-regex
22344 A regular expression for IPs that should not be checked against the
22345 blackhole server list. When set to nil, it has no effect.
22349 @defvar spam-use-dig
22351 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
22352 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
22356 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
22357 ham processor for blackholes.
22359 @node Regular Expressions Header Matching
22360 @subsubsection Regular Expressions Header Matching
22361 @cindex spam filtering
22362 @cindex regular expressions header matching, spam filtering
22365 @defvar spam-use-regex-headers
22367 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus check the
22368 message headers against lists of regular expressions when you set this
22369 option. The variables @code{spam-regex-headers-spam} and
22370 @code{spam-regex-headers-ham} hold the list of regular expressions.
22371 Gnus will check against the message headers to determine if the
22372 message is spam or ham, respectively.
22376 @defvar spam-regex-headers-spam
22378 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
22379 the message, positively identify it as spam.
22383 @defvar spam-regex-headers-ham
22385 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
22386 the message, positively identify it as ham.
22390 Regular expression header checks are done only on incoming mail.
22391 There is no specific spam or ham processor for regular expressions.
22394 @subsubsection Bogofilter
22395 @cindex spam filtering
22396 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
22399 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
22401 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
22404 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{$} mark for spam
22405 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
22406 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
22407 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
22408 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
22409 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
22411 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on an internal
22412 threshold, set at compilation time. That threshold can't be
22415 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
22416 processing will be turned off.
22418 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
22422 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
22424 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
22425 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
22426 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
22427 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
22428 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
22429 installation documents for details.
22431 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
22435 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
22436 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22437 customizing the group parameters or the
22438 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22439 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
22440 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
22443 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
22444 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22445 customizing the group parameters or the
22446 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22447 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
22448 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
22449 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
22450 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22453 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
22455 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
22456 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
22457 database directory.
22461 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to ifile in intent and
22462 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
22463 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
22464 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
22465 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
22466 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
22468 @node ifile spam filtering
22469 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
22470 @cindex spam filtering
22471 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
22474 @defvar spam-use-ifile
22476 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use ifile, a
22477 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
22481 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
22483 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
22484 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
22485 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
22489 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
22491 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
22492 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
22493 the default value of @samp{spam}.
22496 @defvar spam-ifile-database-path
22498 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
22499 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
22503 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
22504 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
22505 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
22506 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
22509 @node spam-stat spam filtering
22510 @subsubsection spam-stat spam filtering
22511 @cindex spam filtering
22512 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
22516 @xref{Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat}.
22518 @defvar spam-use-stat
22520 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use
22521 spam-stat.el, an Emacs Lisp statistical analyzer.
22525 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
22526 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22527 customizing the group parameters or the
22528 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22529 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
22530 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
22533 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
22534 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22535 customizing the group parameters or the
22536 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22537 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
22538 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
22539 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
22540 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22543 This enables spam.el to cooperate with spam-stat.el. spam-stat.el
22544 provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database, which unlike ifile or
22545 Bogofilter does not require external programs. A spam and a ham
22546 processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for @code{spam-split}
22549 @node Extending the spam elisp package
22550 @subsubsection Extending the spam elisp package
22551 @cindex spam filtering
22552 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
22553 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
22555 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
22556 incoming mail, provide the following:
22564 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
22565 "True if blackbox should be used.")
22570 (spam-use-blackbox . spam-check-blackbox)
22572 to @code{spam-list-of-checks}.
22577 Write the @code{spam-check-blackbox} function. It should return
22578 @samp{nil} or @code{spam-split-group}. See the existing
22579 @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can do.
22581 Make sure to add @code{spam-use-blackbox} to
22582 @code{spam-list-of-statistical-checks} if Blackbox is a statistical
22583 mail analyzer that needs the full message body to operate.
22587 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
22594 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
22595 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
22598 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
22599 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
22600 Only applicable to spam groups.")
22602 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
22603 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
22604 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
22612 (defun spam-blackbox-register-spam-routine ()
22613 (spam-generic-register-routine
22614 ;; the spam function
22616 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
22617 (when (stringp from)
22618 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer from))))
22619 ;; the ham function
22622 (defun spam-blackbox-register-ham-routine ()
22623 (spam-generic-register-routine
22624 ;; the spam function
22626 ;; the ham function
22628 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
22629 (when (stringp from)
22630 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender from))))))
22633 Write the @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender} and
22634 @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer} functions. You can add
22635 more complex code than fetching the message sender, but keep in mind
22636 that retrieving the whole message takes significantly longer than the
22637 sender through @code{spam-fetch-field-from-fast}, because the message
22638 senders are kept in memory by Gnus.
22643 @node Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
22644 @subsection Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
22645 @cindex Paul Graham
22646 @cindex Graham, Paul
22647 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
22648 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
22649 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
22651 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
22652 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
22653 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
22654 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
22655 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
22656 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
22657 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
22658 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
22659 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
22662 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
22663 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
22664 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
22665 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
22666 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
22667 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
22668 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
22669 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
22671 Gnus supports this kind of filtering. But it needs some setting up.
22672 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
22673 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
22674 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
22675 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
22678 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
22679 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
22680 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
22683 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22684 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22686 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
22687 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
22688 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
22689 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
22690 need several hundred emails in both collections.
22692 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
22693 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
22694 per mail. Use the following:
22696 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
22697 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
22698 is treated as one spam mail.
22701 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
22702 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
22703 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
22706 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
22707 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds
22708 the the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
22709 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
22710 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds the the group
22711 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
22713 When you are using IMAP, you won't have the mails available locally,
22714 so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent to cache
22715 the articles. Then you can use directories such as
22716 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
22717 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
22720 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics -- the
22721 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
22722 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
22723 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
22726 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
22727 reset the dictionary.
22729 @defun spam-stat-reset
22730 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
22733 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
22734 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
22735 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
22736 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
22737 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
22738 only non-spam mails.
22740 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
22741 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
22742 to update the dictionary incrementally.
22745 @defun spam-stat-save
22746 Save the dictionary.
22749 @defvar spam-stat-file
22750 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
22751 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
22754 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
22755 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
22757 In order to use @code{spam-stat} to split your mail, you need to add the
22758 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
22761 (require 'spam-stat)
22765 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
22768 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
22769 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
22770 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
22771 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
22773 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
22774 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
22775 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
22776 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
22779 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22780 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22784 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
22785 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
22788 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
22789 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
22790 expression are considered potential spam.
22793 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22794 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22795 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22799 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
22800 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
22801 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
22802 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
22803 mails, when creating the dictionary!
22806 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22807 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22808 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22812 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
22813 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
22814 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
22815 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
22816 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
22820 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22821 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
22822 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22823 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22828 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22829 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22831 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
22833 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
22834 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
22835 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22838 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
22839 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
22840 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22843 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
22844 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
22845 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
22846 already been processed as non-spam.
22849 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
22850 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
22851 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
22852 been processed as spam.
22855 @defun spam-stat-save
22856 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
22857 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22860 @defun spam-stat-load
22861 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
22862 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22865 @defun spam-stat-score-word
22866 Return the spam score for a word.
22869 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
22870 Return the spam score for a buffer.
22873 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
22874 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
22875 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
22878 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
22879 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
22882 (require 'spam-stat)
22886 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
22889 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22890 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22891 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22892 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22893 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22894 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22895 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22896 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22897 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22898 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22899 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22900 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22901 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22902 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22905 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
22908 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22909 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22910 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22911 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
22912 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22913 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22916 @node Various Various
22917 @section Various Various
22923 @item gnus-home-directory
22924 @vindex gnus-home-directory
22925 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
22926 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
22928 @item gnus-directory
22929 @vindex gnus-directory
22930 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
22931 this variable, which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment
22932 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
22934 Note that gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
22935 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
22936 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
22937 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
22939 @item gnus-default-directory
22940 @vindex gnus-default-directory
22941 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
22942 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
22943 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
22944 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
22945 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
22946 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
22949 @vindex gnus-verbose
22950 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
22951 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
22952 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
22953 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
22954 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
22956 @item gnus-verbose-backends
22957 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
22958 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
22959 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
22961 @item nnheader-max-head-length
22962 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
22963 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
22964 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
22965 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
22966 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
22967 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
22968 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
22969 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
22970 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
22972 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
22973 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
22974 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
22975 read when doing the operation described above.
22977 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22978 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22980 @cindex invalid characters in file names
22981 @cindex characters in file names
22982 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
22983 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
22984 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
22987 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22991 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
22992 Windows (phooey) systems.
22994 @item gnus-hidden-properties
22995 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
22996 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
22997 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
22998 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
23000 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
23001 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
23002 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
23003 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
23004 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
23006 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
23007 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
23008 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
23010 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
23011 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
23013 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
23014 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
23015 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
23016 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
23019 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
23027 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
23028 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
23030 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
23032 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
23038 Not because of victories @*
23041 but for the common sunshine,@*
23043 the largess of the spring.
23047 but for the day's work done@*
23048 as well as I was able;@*
23049 not for a seat upon the dais@*
23050 but at the common table.@*
23055 @chapter Appendices
23058 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
23059 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
23060 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
23061 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
23062 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
23063 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
23064 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
23065 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
23066 * Frequently Asked Questions::
23073 @cindex Installing under XEmacs
23075 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
23076 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
23077 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{w3}, @samp{mh-e},
23078 @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{rmail}, @samp{eterm}, @samp{mail-lib},
23079 @samp{xemacs-base}, @samp{sh-script} and @samp{fsf-compat}. The
23080 @samp{misc-games} package is required for Morse decoding.
23087 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
23088 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
23090 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
23091 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
23092 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
23093 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
23094 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
23096 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
23097 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
23098 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
23099 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
23100 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
23101 appropriate name, don't you think?)
23103 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
23104 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
23105 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
23106 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
23109 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
23110 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
23111 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
23112 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
23113 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
23114 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
23115 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
23116 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
23117 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
23121 @node Gnus Versions
23122 @subsection Gnus Versions
23124 @cindex September Gnus
23126 @cindex Quassia Gnus
23127 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
23130 @cindex Gnus versions
23132 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
23133 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
23134 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
23136 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
23137 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
23139 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
23140 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
23142 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
23143 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
23145 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
23146 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
23149 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
23151 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
23152 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
23153 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
23154 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
23155 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
23156 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
23159 @node Other Gnus Versions
23160 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
23163 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
23164 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
23165 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
23166 @sc{mime} capabilities.
23168 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
23169 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
23170 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
23171 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
23178 What's the point of Gnus?
23180 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
23181 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
23182 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
23183 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
23184 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
23185 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
23186 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
23187 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
23188 keep track of millions of people who post?
23190 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
23191 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
23192 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
23193 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
23194 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
23195 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
23196 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
23197 every one of you to explore and invent.
23199 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
23200 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
23203 @node Compatibility
23204 @subsection Compatibility
23206 @cindex compatibility
23207 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
23208 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
23209 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
23214 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
23218 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
23221 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
23224 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
23225 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
23226 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
23227 important variables have their values copied into their global
23228 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
23229 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
23231 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
23232 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
23233 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
23234 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
23235 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
23239 @cindex highlighting
23240 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
23241 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
23242 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
23243 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
23244 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
23245 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
23248 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
23249 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
23250 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
23251 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
23253 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
23254 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
23255 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
23256 to stop doing it the old way.
23258 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
23260 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
23262 @cindex reporting bugs
23264 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
23265 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
23266 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
23268 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
23269 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
23270 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
23271 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
23276 @subsection Conformity
23278 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
23279 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
23287 There are no known breaches of this standard.
23291 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
23293 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
23294 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
23295 We do have some breaches to this one.
23301 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
23302 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
23303 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
23304 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
23305 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
23310 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
23311 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
23312 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
23313 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
23315 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
23317 All the various @sc{mime} RFCs are supported.
23319 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
23320 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
23322 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
23325 RFC 1991 is the original PGP message specification, published as a
23326 Information RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now called Open PGP, and
23327 put on the Standards Track. Both document a non-@sc{mime} aware PGP
23328 format. Gnus supports both encoding (signing and encryption) and
23329 decoding (verification and decryption).
23331 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
23332 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
23333 1991) describes the @sc{mime}-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
23334 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
23336 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
23337 RFC 2633 describes the @sc{s/mime} format.
23339 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
23340 RFC 1730 is @sc{imap} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060 (@sc{imap} 4
23341 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5 authentication for @sc{imap}. RFC
23342 2086 describes access control lists (ACLs) for @sc{imap}. RFC 2359
23343 describes a @sc{imap} protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper
23344 TLS integration (STARTTLS) with @sc{imap}. RFC 1731 describes the
23345 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @sc{imap}.
23349 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
23350 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
23355 @subsection Emacsen
23361 Gnus should work on :
23369 XEmacs 21.1.1 and up.
23373 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
23374 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
23375 Emacs versions. However, T-gnus does support ``Mule 2.3 based on Emacs
23376 19.34'' and possibly the versions of XEmacs prior to 21.1.1, e.g. 20.4.
23377 See the file ``README'' in the T-gnus distribution for more details.
23379 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
23380 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
23381 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
23385 @node Gnus Development
23386 @subsection Gnus Development
23388 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
23389 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
23390 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
23391 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
23392 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
23393 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
23394 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
23395 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
23397 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
23398 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
23399 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
23400 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
23401 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
23404 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
23405 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
23406 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
23407 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
23408 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
23410 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
23411 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
23412 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
23413 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
23414 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
23415 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
23416 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
23417 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
23418 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
23419 can't be assumed to do so.
23424 @subsection Contributors
23425 @cindex contributors
23427 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
23428 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
23429 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
23430 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
23431 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
23432 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
23433 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
23434 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
23435 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
23436 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
23438 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for@dots{} oops,
23444 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
23447 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
23448 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
23449 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
23450 functionality and stuff.
23453 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
23454 well as numerous other things).
23457 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
23460 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
23463 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
23466 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
23469 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
23470 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
23473 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
23476 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
23477 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
23480 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
23483 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
23486 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
23489 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
23492 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
23493 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
23496 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
23499 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
23502 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
23505 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
23509 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
23512 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
23515 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
23518 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
23519 well as autoconf support.
23523 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
23524 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
23526 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
23541 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
23543 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka
23547 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
23557 Alexei V. Barantsev,
23572 Massimo Campostrini,
23577 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
23578 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
23582 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
23585 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
23591 Michael Welsh Duggan,
23596 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
23600 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
23608 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
23610 Michelangelo Grigni,
23614 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
23616 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c Hayashi
23618 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
23625 François Felix Ingrand,
23626 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c Ichikawa
23627 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
23629 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
23639 Peter Skov Knudsen,
23640 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
23642 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
23643 Thor Kristoffersen,
23646 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
23664 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
23665 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
23672 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
23677 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
23681 John McClary Prevost,
23687 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
23692 Christian von Roques,
23695 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
23702 Philippe Schnoebelen,
23704 Randal L. Schwartz,
23718 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
23723 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
23743 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
23744 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
23745 (550kB and counting).
23747 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
23750 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
23751 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
23755 @subsection New Features
23756 @cindex new features
23759 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
23760 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
23761 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
23762 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
23763 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
23766 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
23767 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
23768 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
23771 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
23773 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
23778 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
23779 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
23782 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
23783 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
23786 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
23789 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
23790 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
23791 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
23794 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
23795 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
23796 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
23797 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
23800 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
23801 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23804 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
23805 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
23806 (@pxref{The Active File}).
23809 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
23810 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
23813 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
23814 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
23815 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
23818 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
23819 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
23820 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
23823 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{~/.gnus.el}) to avoid
23824 cluttering up the @file{.emacs} file.
23827 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
23828 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
23831 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
23832 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
23835 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
23836 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23839 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
23840 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
23843 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
23844 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
23847 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
23850 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
23851 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
23854 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
23855 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
23858 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
23859 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
23862 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
23865 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
23866 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23869 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
23873 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
23877 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
23878 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
23881 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
23887 @node September Gnus
23888 @subsubsection September Gnus
23892 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
23896 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
23901 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
23902 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
23906 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
23907 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
23911 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
23915 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
23916 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
23919 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
23923 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
23926 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
23929 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
23932 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
23936 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
23937 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
23940 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
23944 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
23948 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
23952 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
23956 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
23959 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
23960 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
23963 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
23967 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
23968 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
23971 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
23974 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
23975 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
23976 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23979 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
23983 The Gnus cache is much faster.
23986 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
23990 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
23991 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
23994 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
23995 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
23998 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
23999 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
24002 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
24003 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
24004 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
24007 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
24008 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
24011 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
24014 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
24017 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
24020 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
24023 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
24024 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
24027 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
24031 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
24034 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
24039 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
24042 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
24046 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
24049 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
24053 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
24056 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
24059 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
24060 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
24063 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
24064 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
24068 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
24069 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
24072 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
24076 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
24077 buffer to allow easier treatment.
24080 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
24083 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
24087 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
24091 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
24092 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
24095 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
24099 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
24100 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
24103 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
24104 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
24107 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
24111 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
24114 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
24117 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
24123 @subsubsection Red Gnus
24125 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
24129 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
24136 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
24139 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
24140 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
24143 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
24144 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
24148 Article washing status can be displayed in the
24149 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
24152 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
24155 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
24156 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
24159 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
24163 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
24164 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
24168 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
24169 Server Internals}).
24172 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
24176 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
24179 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
24180 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
24183 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
24184 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
24185 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
24188 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
24189 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
24192 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
24193 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
24196 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
24200 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
24201 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
24204 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
24205 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
24208 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
24212 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
24215 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
24219 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
24220 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
24223 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
24224 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
24227 A new command for reading collections of documents
24228 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
24229 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
24232 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
24236 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
24237 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
24240 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
24241 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
24242 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
24245 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
24246 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
24250 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
24254 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
24258 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
24263 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
24267 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
24271 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
24272 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
24275 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
24281 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
24283 New features in Gnus 5.6:
24288 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
24289 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
24290 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
24293 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
24294 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
24295 group, which is created automatically.
24298 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
24302 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
24305 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
24306 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
24309 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
24313 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
24316 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
24317 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
24320 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
24323 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section ``Symbolic
24324 Prefixes'' in the Gnus manual for details.
24327 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
24328 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the @file{all.SCORE} file.
24331 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
24332 control over simplification.
24335 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
24338 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
24342 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
24345 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
24348 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
24349 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
24350 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
24353 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
24354 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
24357 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
24361 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
24362 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
24365 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
24366 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
24369 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
24373 A history of where mails have been split is available.
24376 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
24379 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
24380 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
24383 A new function for citing in Message has been
24384 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
24387 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
24390 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
24394 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
24395 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
24398 The ``lapsed date'' article header can be kept continually
24399 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
24402 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
24405 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
24409 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
24410 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
24412 New features in Gnus 5.8:
24417 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
24418 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
24420 If you used procmail like in
24423 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
24424 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
24425 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
24426 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
24429 this now has changed to
24433 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
24437 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
24438 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
24441 Gnus is now a @sc{mime}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
24442 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
24445 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
24446 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
24449 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
24450 called to position point.
24453 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
24454 summary buffers and @sc{nov} files.
24457 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
24458 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
24461 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
24462 subtly different manner.
24465 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
24466 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
24467 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
24470 Gnus can now read @sc{imap} mail via @code{nnimap}.
24478 @section The Manual
24482 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
24483 either @code{texi2dvi}
24485 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
24486 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
24488 to get what you hold in your hands now.
24490 The following conventions have been used:
24495 This is a @samp{string}
24498 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
24501 This is a @file{file}
24504 This is a @code{symbol}
24508 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
24512 (setq flargnoze "yes")
24515 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
24518 (setq flumphel 'yes)
24521 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
24522 ever get them confused.
24526 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
24527 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
24528 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
24529 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
24530 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
24531 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
24532 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
24538 @node On Writing Manuals
24539 @section On Writing Manuals
24541 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
24542 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
24543 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
24544 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
24545 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
24546 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
24549 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
24550 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
24551 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
24554 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
24555 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
24560 @section Terminology
24562 @cindex terminology
24567 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
24568 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
24569 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
24570 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
24571 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
24575 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
24576 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
24577 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
24578 not posting, and replying is not following up.
24582 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
24586 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
24591 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
24592 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
24593 commonly fetched via the protocol NNTP, whereas mail messages could be
24594 read from a file on the local disk. The internal architecture of Gnus
24595 thus comprises a `front end' and a number of `back ends'. Internally,
24596 when you enter a group (by hitting @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke
24597 a function in the front end in Gnus. The front end then `talks' to a
24598 back end and says things like ``Give me the list of articles in the foo
24599 group'' or ``Show me article number 4711''.
24601 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back end
24602 accesses news via NNTP, the @code{nnimap} back end accesses mail via
24603 IMAP) or a file format and directory layout (the @code{nnspool} back end
24604 accesses news via the common `spool directory' format, the @code{nnml}
24605 back end access mail via a file format and directory layout that's
24608 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
24609 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
24610 access the articles.
24612 However, sometimes the term `back end' is also used where `server'
24613 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term `select
24614 method' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
24619 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
24620 default, way of getting news.
24624 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
24625 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
24630 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
24631 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
24635 A message that has been posted as news.
24638 @cindex mail message
24639 A message that has been mailed.
24643 A mail message or news article
24647 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
24652 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
24657 A line from the head of an article.
24661 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
24662 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
24666 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
24667 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
24668 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
24669 normal @sc{head} format.
24673 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
24674 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
24675 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
24676 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
24677 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
24678 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
24680 @item killed groups
24681 @cindex killed groups
24682 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
24683 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
24685 @item zombie groups
24686 @cindex zombie groups
24687 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
24690 @cindex active file
24691 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
24692 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
24693 is rather large, as you might surmise.
24696 @cindex bogus groups
24697 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
24698 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
24699 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
24702 @cindex activating groups
24703 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
24704 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
24705 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
24709 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
24711 @item select method
24712 @cindex select method
24713 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
24716 @item virtual server
24717 @cindex virtual server
24718 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
24719 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
24720 whole is a virtual server.
24724 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
24725 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
24728 @item ephemeral groups
24729 @cindex ephemeral groups
24730 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
24731 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
24732 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
24735 @cindex solid groups
24736 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
24737 group buffer are solid groups.
24739 @item sparse articles
24740 @cindex sparse articles
24741 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
24742 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
24746 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
24747 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
24751 @cindex thread root
24752 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
24753 articles in the thread.
24757 An article that has responses.
24761 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
24765 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
24766 specified by RFC 1153.
24772 @node Customization
24773 @section Customization
24774 @cindex general customization
24776 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
24777 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
24778 for some quite common situations.
24781 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
24782 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
24783 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
24784 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
24788 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
24789 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
24791 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
24792 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
24793 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
24797 @item gnus-read-active-file
24798 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
24799 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
24800 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24801 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
24802 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
24804 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
24805 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
24806 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
24807 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
24811 @node Slow Terminal Connection
24812 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
24814 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
24815 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
24816 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
24820 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
24821 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
24822 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
24823 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
24824 horizontal and vertical recentering.
24826 @item gnus-visible-headers
24827 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
24828 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
24829 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
24830 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
24832 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
24834 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
24835 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
24836 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
24839 @item gnus-use-full-window
24840 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
24841 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
24842 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
24843 want to read them anyway.
24845 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
24846 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
24850 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
24851 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
24852 lines, which might save some time.
24856 @node Little Disk Space
24857 @subsection Little Disk Space
24860 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
24861 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
24865 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
24866 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
24867 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24868 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24871 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
24872 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
24873 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24874 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24877 @item gnus-save-killed-list
24878 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
24879 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
24880 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
24881 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
24887 @subsection Slow Machine
24888 @cindex slow machine
24890 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
24891 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
24893 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24894 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
24896 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
24897 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
24898 summary buffer faster.
24902 @node Troubleshooting
24903 @section Troubleshooting
24904 @cindex troubleshooting
24906 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
24914 Make sure your computer is switched on.
24917 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
24918 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
24922 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
24923 like @samp{T-gnus 6.15.* (based on Oort Gnus v0.*; for SEMI 1.1*, FLIM
24924 1.1*)} you have the right files loaded. If, on the other hand, you get
24925 something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp flee}, you have some old
24926 @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
24929 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
24933 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
24934 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
24935 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
24936 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
24937 something like that.
24940 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
24943 @cindex reporting bugs
24945 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
24947 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
24948 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
24949 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
24950 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
24952 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
24953 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
24954 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
24955 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
24958 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
24959 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
24960 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
24961 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
24962 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
24963 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
24965 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
24966 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
24967 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
24971 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
24972 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
24975 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
24976 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
24977 edebug. Debugging lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
24978 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
24979 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
24980 you discover some weird behaviour when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
24981 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
24982 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
24983 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
24984 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
24985 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
24986 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
24987 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
24988 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
24993 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate a elisp error but
24994 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
24995 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press @kbd{C-g} when things are
24996 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
24997 helps isolating the real problem areas). A fancier approach is to use
24998 the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is (or should be) fully
24999 documented elsewhere, but to get you started there are a few steps
25000 that need to be followed. First, instrument the part of Gnus you are
25001 interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package RET
25002 gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package RET message}. Then perform
25003 the operation that is slow and press @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will
25004 then see which operations that takes time, and can debug them further.
25005 If the entire operation takes much longer than the time spent in the
25006 slowest function in the profiler output, you probably profiled the
25007 wrong part of Gnus. To reset profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x
25008 elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove
25009 profiling, but given the complexities and dynamic code generation in
25010 Gnus, it might not always work perfectly.
25012 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
25013 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
25015 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
25016 @cindex ding mailing list
25017 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@email{ding@@gnus.org}.
25018 Write to @email{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
25022 @node Gnus Reference Guide
25023 @section Gnus Reference Guide
25025 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
25026 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
25027 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
25028 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
25031 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
25032 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
25033 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
25034 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
25035 and general methods of operation.
25038 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
25039 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
25040 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
25041 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
25042 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
25043 * Group Info:: The group info format.
25044 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
25045 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
25046 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
25050 @node Gnus Utility Functions
25051 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
25052 @cindex Gnus utility functions
25053 @cindex utility functions
25055 @cindex internal variables
25057 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
25058 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
25059 Below is a list of the most common ones.
25063 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
25064 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
25065 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
25067 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
25068 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
25069 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
25071 @item gnus-group-real-name
25072 @findex gnus-group-real-name
25073 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
25076 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
25077 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
25078 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
25079 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
25081 @item gnus-get-info
25082 @findex gnus-get-info
25083 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
25085 @item gnus-group-unread
25086 @findex gnus-group-unread
25087 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
25091 @findex gnus-active
25092 The active entry for @var{group}.
25094 @item gnus-set-active
25095 @findex gnus-set-active
25096 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
25098 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
25099 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
25100 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
25103 @item gnus-continuum-version
25104 @findex gnus-continuum-version
25105 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
25106 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
25109 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
25110 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
25111 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
25113 @item gnus-news-group-p
25114 @findex gnus-news-group-p
25115 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
25117 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
25118 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
25119 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
25121 @item gnus-server-to-method
25122 @findex gnus-server-to-method
25123 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
25125 @item gnus-server-equal
25126 @findex gnus-server-equal
25127 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
25129 @item gnus-group-native-p
25130 @findex gnus-group-native-p
25131 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
25133 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
25134 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
25135 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
25137 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
25138 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
25139 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
25141 @item group-group-find-parameter
25142 @findex group-group-find-parameter
25143 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
25144 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
25146 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
25147 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
25148 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
25150 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
25151 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
25152 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
25154 @item gnus-check-backend-function
25155 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
25156 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
25157 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
25160 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
25164 @item gnus-read-method
25165 @findex gnus-read-method
25166 Prompts the user for a select method.
25171 @node Back End Interface
25172 @subsection Back End Interface
25174 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
25175 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
25176 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
25177 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
25178 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
25179 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
25181 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
25182 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
25183 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
25184 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
25185 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
25186 been opened, the function should fail.
25188 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
25189 name. Take this example:
25193 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
25194 (nntp-port-number 4324))
25197 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
25198 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
25200 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
25201 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
25202 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
25204 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
25205 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
25206 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
25208 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
25209 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
25210 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
25211 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
25212 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
25213 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
25216 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
25217 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
25218 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
25219 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
25222 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
25223 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
25224 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
25225 possible for later articles to `re-use' older article numbers without
25226 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
25227 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
25228 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
25229 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
25230 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
25231 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
25233 The previous paragraph already mentions all the `hard' restrictions that
25234 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
25235 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
25236 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
25237 the `no-reuse' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
25238 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
25239 of numbers as long as possible.
25241 Note that by convention, backends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
25242 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
25243 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
25245 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
25248 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
25251 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
25252 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
25253 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
25254 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
25255 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
25256 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
25260 @node Required Back End Functions
25261 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
25265 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
25267 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
25268 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
25269 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
25270 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
25272 The result data should either be HEADs or @sc{nov} lines, and the result
25273 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
25274 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
25275 of HEADs and @sc{nov} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
25277 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching ``extra
25278 headers'', in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
25279 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
25280 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
25281 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
25282 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
25283 number, do maximum fetches.
25285 Here's an example HEAD:
25288 221 1056 Article retrieved.
25289 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
25290 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
25291 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
25292 Subject: Re: Something very droll
25293 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
25294 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
25296 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
25297 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
25298 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
25302 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
25303 these in the data buffer.
25305 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
25309 head = error / valid-head
25310 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
25311 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
25312 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
25313 header = <text> eol
25317 (The version of BNF used here is the one used in RFC822.)
25319 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
25320 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
25324 nov-buffer = *nov-line
25325 nov-line = field 7*8[ <TAB> field ] eol
25326 field = <text except TAB>
25329 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
25333 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
25335 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
25336 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
25338 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
25339 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
25340 server. In fact, it should do so.
25342 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
25343 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
25346 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
25348 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
25349 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
25352 There should be no data returned.
25355 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
25357 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
25358 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
25359 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
25360 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
25362 There should be no data returned.
25365 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
25367 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
25368 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
25369 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
25370 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
25372 There should be no data returned.
25375 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
25377 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
25379 There should be no data returned.
25382 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
25384 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
25385 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
25386 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
25387 it would be nice if that were possible.
25389 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
25390 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
25391 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
25392 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
25393 into its article buffer.
25395 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
25396 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
25397 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
25398 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
25399 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
25400 on successful article retrieval.
25403 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
25405 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
25406 making @var{group} the current group.
25408 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
25411 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
25414 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
25417 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
25418 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
25419 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
25420 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
25421 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
25422 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
25423 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
25424 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
25425 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
25429 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
25430 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
25431 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
25435 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
25437 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
25438 a no-op on most back ends.
25440 There should be no data returned.
25443 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
25445 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
25448 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
25451 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
25452 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
25455 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
25456 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
25457 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
25458 and the highest as 0.
25461 active-file = *active-line
25462 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
25464 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
25467 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
25468 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
25469 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
25472 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
25474 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
25475 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
25476 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
25477 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
25478 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
25479 clear if the posting could not be completed.
25481 There should be no result data from this function.
25486 @node Optional Back End Functions
25487 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
25491 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
25493 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
25494 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
25495 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
25497 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
25498 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
25499 former is in the same format as the data from
25500 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
25501 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
25504 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
25508 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
25510 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
25511 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all the
25512 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
25513 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
25514 should return a non-nil value.
25516 There should be no result data from this function.
25519 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
25521 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
25522 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
25523 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
25524 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
25525 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
25526 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
25527 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
25528 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
25530 There should be no result data from this function.
25533 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
25535 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
25536 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
25537 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
25538 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
25539 propagate the mark information to the server.
25541 @var{action} is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
25544 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
25547 @var{range} is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.
25548 @var{action} is @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove
25549 marks (preserving all marks not mentioned). @var{mark} is a list of
25550 marks; where each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are
25551 @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
25552 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
25553 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
25554 possible, not limit itself to these.
25556 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
25557 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
25558 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
25559 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
25561 An example action list:
25564 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
25565 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
25566 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
25569 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
25570 mark on (currently not used for anything).
25572 There should be no result data from this function.
25574 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
25576 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
25577 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
25578 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
25579 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
25580 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
25582 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
25583 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
25584 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
25587 There should be no result data from this function.
25590 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
25592 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
25593 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
25594 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query the
25595 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
25596 to be heeded---if the back end decides that it is too much work just
25597 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
25598 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
25600 There should be no result data from this function.
25603 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
25605 The result data from this function should be a description of
25609 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
25611 description = <text>
25614 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
25616 The result data from this function should be the description of all
25617 groups available on the server.
25620 description-buffer = *description-line
25624 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
25626 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
25627 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
25628 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
25629 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
25630 in the active buffer format.
25632 It is okay for this function to return `too many' groups; some back ends
25633 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
25634 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
25635 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
25636 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
25637 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
25638 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
25641 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
25643 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
25645 There should be no return data.
25648 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
25650 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
25651 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
25652 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
25653 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
25654 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
25657 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
25660 There should be no result data returned.
25663 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM &optional LAST)
25665 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
25666 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
25668 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
25669 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
25670 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
25671 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
25672 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
25673 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
25675 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
25676 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
25679 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
25680 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
25682 The group should exist before the backend is asked to accept the
25683 article for that group.
25685 There should be no data returned.
25688 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
25690 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
25691 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
25692 this function in short order.
25694 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
25695 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
25697 There should be no data returned.
25700 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
25702 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
25703 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
25705 There should be no data returned.
25708 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
25710 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
25711 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
25712 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
25714 There should be no data returned.
25717 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
25719 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
25720 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
25722 There should be no data returned.
25727 @node Error Messaging
25728 @subsubsection Error Messaging
25730 @findex nnheader-report
25731 @findex nnheader-get-report
25732 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
25733 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
25734 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
25735 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
25736 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
25737 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
25740 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
25742 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
25745 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
25746 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
25747 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
25748 takes one argument---the server symbol.
25750 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
25751 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
25752 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
25755 @node Writing New Back Ends
25756 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
25758 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
25759 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
25760 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
25761 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
25762 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
25765 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
25766 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
25767 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
25769 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
25770 package called @code{nnoo}.
25772 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
25773 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
25779 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
25780 parameters. For instance:
25783 (nnoo-declare nndir
25787 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
25788 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
25791 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
25792 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
25793 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
25795 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
25796 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
25797 a function in those back ends.
25800 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25801 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25802 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25805 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
25806 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
25807 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
25809 @item nnoo-define-basics
25810 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
25814 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25818 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
25819 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
25820 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
25822 @item nnoo-map-functions
25823 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
25824 functions from the parent back ends.
25827 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25828 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25829 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
25832 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
25833 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
25834 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
25835 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
25838 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
25839 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
25840 haven't already been defined.
25846 nnmh-request-newgroups)
25850 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
25851 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
25852 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
25857 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
25860 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
25861 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
25865 (require 'nnheader)
25869 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
25871 (nnoo-declare nndir
25874 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25875 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25876 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25878 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
25879 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
25882 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
25884 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
25885 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
25886 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
25888 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
25889 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
25891 ;;; Interface functions.
25893 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25895 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
25896 (setq nndir-directory
25897 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
25899 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
25900 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
25901 (push `(nndir-current-group
25902 ,(file-name-nondirectory
25903 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25905 (push `(nndir-top-directory
25906 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25908 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
25910 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25911 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25912 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25913 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
25914 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
25918 nnmh-status-message
25920 nnmh-request-newgroups))
25926 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25927 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25929 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
25930 @findex gnus-declare-backend
25931 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
25932 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
25933 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
25935 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
25936 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
25941 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
25944 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
25946 The abilities can be:
25950 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
25952 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
25954 This back end supports both mail and news.
25956 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
25959 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
25960 articles and groups.
25962 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
25963 true for almost all back ends.
25964 @item prompt-address
25965 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
25966 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
25967 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
25971 @node Mail-like Back Ends
25972 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
25974 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
25975 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
25976 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
25977 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
25980 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
25981 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
25982 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
25985 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
25986 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
25989 This function takes four parameters.
25993 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
25996 @item exit-function
25997 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
25999 @item temp-directory
26000 Where the temporary files should be stored.
26003 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
26004 performed for one group only.
26007 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
26008 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
26009 find the article number assigned to this article.
26011 The function also uses the following variables:
26012 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
26013 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
26014 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
26015 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
26019 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
26020 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
26024 @node Score File Syntax
26025 @subsection Score File Syntax
26027 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
26028 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
26029 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
26031 Here's a typical score file:
26035 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
26042 BNF definition of a score file:
26045 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
26046 element = rule / atom
26047 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
26048 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
26049 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
26050 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
26052 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
26053 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
26054 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
26055 date-header = "date"
26056 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
26057 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
26058 score = "nil" / <integer>
26059 date = "nil" / <natural number>
26060 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
26061 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
26062 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
26063 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
26064 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
26065 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
26066 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
26067 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
26068 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
26069 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
26070 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
26071 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
26072 exclude-files / read-only / touched
26073 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
26074 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
26075 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
26076 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
26077 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
26078 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
26079 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
26080 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
26081 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
26082 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
26083 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
26084 eval = "eval" space <form>
26085 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
26088 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
26091 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
26092 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
26093 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
26094 one looong line, then that's ok.
26096 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
26097 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
26101 @subsection Headers
26103 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
26104 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
26105 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
26106 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
26108 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
26109 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
26110 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
26111 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
26112 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
26113 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
26114 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
26116 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
26117 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
26118 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
26119 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
26120 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
26122 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
26123 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
26129 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
26130 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
26132 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
26133 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
26134 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
26135 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
26137 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
26141 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
26144 is transformed into
26147 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
26150 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
26151 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
26154 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
26157 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
26158 is slightly tricky:
26161 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
26167 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
26170 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
26176 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
26183 and is equal to the previous range.
26185 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
26186 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
26187 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
26191 range = simple-range / normal-range
26192 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
26193 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
26194 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
26195 number *[ " " contents ]
26198 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
26199 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
26200 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
26201 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
26202 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
26207 @subsection Group Info
26209 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
26210 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
26211 describes the group.
26213 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
26214 second is a more complex one:
26217 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
26219 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
26220 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
26222 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
26225 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
26226 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
26227 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
26228 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
26229 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
26230 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
26231 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
26232 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
26233 this section is about.
26235 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
26236 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
26237 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
26239 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
26242 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
26243 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
26244 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
26245 group = quote <string> quote
26246 ralevel = rank / level
26247 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
26248 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
26249 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
26251 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
26252 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
26253 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
26254 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
26257 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
26258 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
26261 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
26262 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
26265 @item gnus-info-group
26266 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
26267 @findex gnus-info-group
26268 @findex gnus-info-set-group
26269 Get/set the group name.
26271 @item gnus-info-rank
26272 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
26273 @findex gnus-info-rank
26274 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
26275 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
26277 @item gnus-info-level
26278 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
26279 @findex gnus-info-level
26280 @findex gnus-info-set-level
26281 Get/set the group level.
26283 @item gnus-info-score
26284 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
26285 @findex gnus-info-score
26286 @findex gnus-info-set-score
26287 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
26289 @item gnus-info-read
26290 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
26291 @findex gnus-info-read
26292 @findex gnus-info-set-read
26293 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
26295 @item gnus-info-marks
26296 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
26297 @findex gnus-info-marks
26298 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
26299 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
26301 @item gnus-info-method
26302 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
26303 @findex gnus-info-method
26304 @findex gnus-info-set-method
26305 Get/set the group select method.
26307 @item gnus-info-params
26308 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
26309 @findex gnus-info-params
26310 @findex gnus-info-set-params
26311 Get/set the group parameters.
26314 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
26315 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
26317 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
26318 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
26319 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
26320 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
26323 @node Extended Interactive
26324 @subsection Extended Interactive
26325 @cindex interactive
26326 @findex gnus-interactive
26328 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
26329 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
26330 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
26333 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
26334 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
26339 The best thing to do would have been to implement
26340 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
26341 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
26342 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
26343 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
26344 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
26345 @code{interactive}.
26347 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
26352 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
26353 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
26357 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
26358 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
26359 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
26362 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
26366 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
26370 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
26376 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
26377 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
26381 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
26382 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
26383 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
26385 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
26386 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
26387 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
26388 Gnus, that's very useful.
26390 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
26391 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
26392 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
26393 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
26394 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
26395 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
26396 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
26397 following function:
26400 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
26404 (,function ,@@args))
26408 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
26409 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
26410 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
26413 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
26414 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
26415 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
26417 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
26418 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
26419 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
26422 @node Various File Formats
26423 @subsection Various File Formats
26426 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
26427 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
26431 @node Active File Format
26432 @subsubsection Active File Format
26434 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
26435 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
26438 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
26441 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
26442 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
26443 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
26444 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
26445 no.general 1000 900 y
26448 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
26451 active = *group-line
26452 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
26453 group = <non-white-space string>
26455 high-number = <non-negative integer>
26456 low-number = <positive integer>
26457 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
26460 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
26461 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
26464 @node Newsgroups File Format
26465 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
26467 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
26468 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
26469 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
26472 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
26473 Here's the definition:
26477 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
26478 group = <non-white-space string>
26480 description = <string>
26485 @node Emacs for Heathens
26486 @section Emacs for Heathens
26488 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
26489 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
26490 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
26491 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
26492 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
26493 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
26494 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
26498 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
26499 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
26504 @subsection Keystrokes
26508 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
26511 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
26514 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
26515 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
26516 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
26517 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
26518 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
26519 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
26521 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
26522 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
26523 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
26524 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
26525 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
26526 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
26527 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
26529 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
26530 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
26531 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
26532 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
26533 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
26534 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
26535 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
26537 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
26538 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
26539 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
26540 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
26541 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
26547 @subsection Emacs Lisp
26549 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
26550 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
26551 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
26552 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
26554 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
26555 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
26556 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
26557 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
26558 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
26559 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
26560 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
26563 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
26564 write the following:
26567 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
26570 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
26571 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
26572 you can go and fill your @file{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
26575 If you have put that thing in your @file{.emacs} file, it will be read
26576 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
26577 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
26578 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
26579 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
26581 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
26582 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
26583 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
26587 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
26591 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
26594 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
26595 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
26598 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
26601 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
26602 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
26605 @include gnus-faq.texi
26625 @c Local Variables:
26627 @c coding: iso-8859-1
26629 % LocalWords: BNF mucho detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
26630 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
26631 % LocalWords: nnmbox newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
26632 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
26633 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref