4 @settitle T-gnus 6.16 Manual
10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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286 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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295 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
297 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
300 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
301 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
302 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
303 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
304 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
305 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
306 License'' in the Emacs manual.
308 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
309 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
310 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
312 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
313 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
314 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
315 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
323 This file documents gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
325 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
326 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
328 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
329 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
330 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
331 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
332 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
333 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
334 License'' in the Emacs manual.
336 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
337 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
338 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
340 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
341 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
342 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
343 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
349 @title T-gnus 6.16 Manual
351 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
354 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
355 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
357 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
359 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
360 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
361 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
362 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
363 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
364 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
365 License'' in the Emacs manual.
367 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
368 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
369 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
371 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
372 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
373 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
374 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
383 @top The gnus Newsreader
387 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using T-gnus. The news
388 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@acronym{NNTP}, local
389 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
392 T-gnus provides @acronym{MIME} features based on @acronym{SEMI} API. So
393 T-gnus supports your right to read strange messages including big images
394 or other various kinds of formats. T-gnus also supports
395 internationalization/localization and multiscript features based on MULE
396 API. So T-gnus does not discriminate various language communities. Oh,
397 if you are a Klingon, please wait Unicode Next Generation.
399 This manual corresponds to T-gnus 6.16.
410 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
411 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
413 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
414 being accused of plagiarism:
416 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
417 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
418 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
419 can even read news with it!
421 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
422 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
423 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend gnus to make it behave
424 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
425 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
431 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
432 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
433 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
434 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
435 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
436 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
437 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
438 * Various:: General purpose settings.
439 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
440 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, @acronym{FAQ}, History, Internals.
441 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
442 * Key Index:: Key Index.
444 Other related manuals
446 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
447 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
448 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
449 * PGG:(pgg). @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
452 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
456 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
457 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
458 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
459 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
460 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
461 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
462 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
463 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
464 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
465 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
466 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
470 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
471 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
472 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
476 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
477 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
478 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
479 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
480 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
481 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
482 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
483 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
484 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
485 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
486 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
487 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
488 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
489 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
490 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
491 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
492 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
496 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
497 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
498 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
502 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
503 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
504 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
505 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
506 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
510 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
511 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
512 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
513 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
514 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
518 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
519 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
520 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
521 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
522 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
523 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
524 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
525 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
526 * Threading:: How threads are made.
527 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
528 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
529 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
530 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
531 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
532 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
533 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
534 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
535 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
536 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
537 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
538 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
539 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
540 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
541 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
542 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
543 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
544 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
545 or reselecting the current group.
546 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
547 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
548 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
549 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
551 Summary Buffer Format
553 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
554 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
555 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
556 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
560 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
561 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
563 Reply, Followup and Post
565 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
566 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
567 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
568 * Canceling and Superseding::
572 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
573 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
574 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
576 * Generic Marking Commands::
577 * Setting Process Marks::
581 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
582 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
583 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
587 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
588 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
590 Customizing Threading
592 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
593 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
594 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
595 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
599 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
600 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
601 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
602 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
603 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
604 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
608 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
609 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
610 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
614 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
615 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
616 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
617 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
618 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
619 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
620 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
621 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
622 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
623 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
624 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
626 Alternative Approaches
628 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
629 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
631 Various Summary Stuff
633 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
634 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
635 * Summary Generation Commands::
636 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
640 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
641 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
642 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
643 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
644 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
648 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
649 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
650 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
651 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
652 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
653 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
654 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
655 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
659 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
660 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
661 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
662 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
663 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @acronym{IMAP} client.
664 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
665 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
666 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
670 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
671 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
672 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
673 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
674 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
675 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
676 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
680 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
681 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
685 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
686 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
687 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
691 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
692 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
693 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
694 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
695 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
696 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
697 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
698 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
699 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
700 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
701 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
702 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
703 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
707 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
708 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
709 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
711 Choosing a Mail Back End
713 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
714 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the Rmail Babyl format.
715 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
716 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
717 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
718 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
719 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
724 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
725 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
726 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
727 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
728 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
729 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
733 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
734 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
735 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
736 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
737 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use @acronym{IMAP} namespace in Gnus.
741 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
742 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
743 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
744 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
745 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
749 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
753 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
754 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
755 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
759 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
760 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
764 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
765 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
766 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
767 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
768 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
769 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
770 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
771 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
772 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
773 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
774 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
775 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
776 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
780 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
781 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
782 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
786 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
787 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
788 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
792 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
793 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
794 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
795 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
796 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
797 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
798 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
799 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
800 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
801 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
802 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
803 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
804 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
805 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
806 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
807 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
808 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
812 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
813 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
814 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
815 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
819 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
820 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
821 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
825 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
826 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
827 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
828 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
829 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
830 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
831 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
832 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
833 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
834 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
835 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
836 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
837 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
838 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
839 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
840 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
841 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
842 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
843 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
847 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
848 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
849 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
850 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
851 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
852 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
853 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
854 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
858 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
859 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
860 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
861 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
865 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
866 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
867 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
868 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
869 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
870 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
874 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
875 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
876 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
877 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
878 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
879 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
880 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
881 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
882 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ.
886 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
887 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
888 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
889 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
890 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
891 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
892 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
893 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
894 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
898 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
899 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
900 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
901 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
902 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
903 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10.
907 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
908 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
909 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
910 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
914 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
915 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
916 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
917 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
918 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
919 * Group Info:: The group info format.
920 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
921 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
922 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
926 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
927 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
928 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
929 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
930 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
931 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
935 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
936 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
940 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
941 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
947 @chapter Starting gnus
952 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting gnus
953 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
956 @findex gnus-other-frame
957 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
958 If you want to start gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
959 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
961 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
962 variables in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file. This file is similar to
963 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
965 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
966 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
969 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
970 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
971 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
972 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
973 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
974 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
975 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
976 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
977 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
978 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
979 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
983 @node Finding the News
984 @section Finding the News
987 @vindex gnus-select-method
989 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where gnus should look for
990 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
991 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
992 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
995 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @acronym{NNTP} server is where
996 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
999 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
1002 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
1005 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
1008 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1009 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1010 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1012 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1014 @cindex @acronym{NNTP} server
1015 If this variable is not set, gnus will take a look at the
1016 @env{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1017 gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1018 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter.
1019 If that fails as well, gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs
1020 as an @acronym{NNTP} server. That's a long shot, though.
1022 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1023 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1024 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1025 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1027 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1028 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1029 You can also make gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1030 @acronym{NNTP} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1031 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), gnus will let you choose between the servers
1032 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1033 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1034 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1035 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1038 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1040 However, if you use one @acronym{NNTP} server regularly and are just
1041 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1042 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1043 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1044 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1045 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1047 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1049 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1050 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1051 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1052 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1053 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1054 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1057 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1058 you would typically set this variable to
1061 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1065 @node The First Time
1066 @section The First Time
1067 @cindex first time usage
1069 If no startup files exist, gnus will try to determine what groups should
1070 be subscribed by default.
1072 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1073 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, gnus
1074 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1075 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1078 Since she hasn't, gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1079 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1080 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1082 You'll also be subscribed to the gnus documentation group, which should
1083 help you with most common problems.
1085 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, gnus will just
1086 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1090 @node The Server is Down
1091 @section The Server is Down
1092 @cindex server errors
1094 If the default server is down, gnus will understandably have some
1095 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1096 the news groups, you may want to start gnus anyway.
1098 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1099 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1100 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1101 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1102 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1103 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1104 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1106 @findex gnus-no-server
1107 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1109 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1110 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1111 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start gnus. That might come in handy
1112 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1113 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1114 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1115 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1119 @section Slave Gnusae
1122 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one gnus at the
1123 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1124 are using the two different gnusae to read from two different servers),
1125 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1127 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1128 @file{.newsrc} file.
1130 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the gnus
1131 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1132 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1133 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1134 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1135 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1136 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1139 Anyway, you start one gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1140 however you do it). Each subsequent slave gnusae should be started with
1141 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1142 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1143 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master gnus
1144 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1145 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1146 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1148 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1149 information in the normal (i.e., master) @file{.newsrc} file.
1151 If the @file{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1152 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1153 file. If you answer ``yes'', the unsaved changes to the master will be
1154 incorporated into the slave. If you answer ``no'', the slave may see some
1155 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1157 @node Fetching a Group
1158 @section Fetching a Group
1159 @cindex fetching a group
1161 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1162 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1163 group and I don't care whether gnus has been started or not''. This is
1164 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1165 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1166 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1172 @cindex subscription
1174 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1175 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1176 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1177 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1178 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1179 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1180 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1181 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1182 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1185 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1186 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1187 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1191 @node Checking New Groups
1192 @subsection Checking New Groups
1194 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1195 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1196 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1197 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, gnus will ask the
1198 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1199 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1200 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1201 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1202 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1203 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1205 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1206 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1207 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1208 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1209 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1210 work. I could write a function to make gnus guess whether the server
1211 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1212 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1213 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1214 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1215 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1217 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, gnus will
1218 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1219 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1220 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1221 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1222 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1225 @node Subscription Methods
1226 @subsection Subscription Methods
1228 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1229 What gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1230 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1232 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1233 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1235 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1239 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1240 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1241 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1242 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1243 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1245 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1246 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1247 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1248 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1250 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1251 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1252 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1254 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1255 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1256 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1257 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1258 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1259 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1260 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1261 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1262 up. Or something like that.
1264 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1265 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1266 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that gnus will ask
1267 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1268 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1270 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1271 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1272 Kill all new groups.
1274 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1275 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1276 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1277 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1278 topic parameter that looks like
1284 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1287 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1292 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1293 A closely related variable is
1294 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1295 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will ask you in a
1296 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1297 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1300 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1301 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1302 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1303 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1306 @node Filtering New Groups
1307 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1309 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1310 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1311 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1314 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1317 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1318 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1319 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1320 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1321 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1322 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1323 subscribing these groups.
1324 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1325 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1327 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1328 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1329 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1330 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1331 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1332 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1333 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1334 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1336 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1337 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1338 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1339 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1340 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1341 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1342 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1343 that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1344 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1345 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1348 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1349 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1352 @node Changing Servers
1353 @section Changing Servers
1354 @cindex changing servers
1356 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another.
1357 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1358 very flaky and you want to use another.
1360 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1361 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1365 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1366 @acronym{NNTP} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1367 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1368 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1371 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1372 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1373 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1374 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1376 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1377 @findex gnus-change-server
1378 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1379 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1380 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1381 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1382 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1384 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1385 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1386 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1387 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1388 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1390 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1391 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1392 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1393 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1394 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1395 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1397 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1398 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1399 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1400 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1402 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1403 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1404 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1405 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1406 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1407 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1408 cache for all groups).
1412 @section Startup Files
1413 @cindex startup files
1418 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1419 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1421 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1422 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1423 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1424 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1425 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1426 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1427 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1429 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1430 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1431 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1432 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1433 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1434 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1436 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1437 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1438 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1439 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1440 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from gnus faster.
1441 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1442 gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1443 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes gnus ignore the
1444 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1445 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1447 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1448 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1449 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1450 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1451 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1452 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1453 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1454 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1455 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1456 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1457 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1458 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1460 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1461 @vindex gnus-backup-startup-file
1462 @vindex version-control
1463 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1464 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1465 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1466 If you want version control for this file, set
1467 @code{gnus-backup-startup-file}. It respects the same values as the
1468 @code{version-control} variable.
1470 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1471 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1472 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1473 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1474 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1475 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1476 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1477 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1478 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1479 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1482 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1483 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1485 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1486 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1489 @vindex gnus-init-file
1490 @vindex gnus-site-init-file
1491 When gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1492 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1493 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1494 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1495 @file{site-init} files with gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1496 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1497 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1498 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1499 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1505 @cindex dribble file
1508 Whenever you do something that changes the gnus data (reading articles,
1509 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1510 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1511 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1512 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1515 If gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1516 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1519 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1520 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, gnus won't create and
1521 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1523 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1524 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1525 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, gnus will dribble
1526 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1527 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1528 file permissions as the @file{.newsrc} file.
1530 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1531 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1532 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1535 @node The Active File
1536 @section The Active File
1538 @cindex ignored groups
1540 When gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1541 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1542 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1544 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1545 Before examining the active file, gnus deletes all lines that match the
1546 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1547 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make gnus
1548 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1549 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1550 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1553 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1554 @c if you set it to anything else.
1556 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1558 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1559 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent gnus from
1560 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1562 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1563 you actually subscribe to.
1565 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1566 variable to @code{nil} will probably make gnus slower, not faster. At
1567 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow gnus down
1568 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1570 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1571 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1572 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1573 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1574 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1575 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1577 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1578 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1579 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1582 If this variable is @code{nil}, gnus will ask for group info in total
1583 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1584 @acronym{NNTP} server, gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1585 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1586 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1587 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1589 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1590 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1592 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1593 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1595 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1596 secondary select methods.
1599 @node Startup Variables
1600 @section Startup Variables
1604 @item gnus-load-hook
1605 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1606 A hook run while gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1607 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1608 times you start gnus.
1610 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1611 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1612 A hook run after starting up gnus successfully.
1614 @item gnus-startup-hook
1615 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1616 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1618 @item gnus-started-hook
1619 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1620 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1623 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1624 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1625 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1626 generating the group buffer.
1628 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1629 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1630 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1631 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1632 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1633 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1634 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1635 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1637 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1638 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1639 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1640 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1641 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1642 @file{~/.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @file{.emacs} instead.
1644 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1645 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1646 Message displayed by gnus when no groups are available.
1648 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1649 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1650 If non-@code{nil}, play the gnus jingle at startup.
1652 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1653 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1654 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1655 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1661 @chapter Group Buffer
1662 @cindex group buffer
1664 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1666 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1667 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1668 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1669 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1670 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1671 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1672 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1673 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1674 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1675 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1676 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1677 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1678 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1679 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1680 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1681 @c human rights at 9...
1684 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1685 is the first buffer shown when gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1686 long as gnus is active.
1690 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1691 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1692 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1693 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1694 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1695 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1696 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1697 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1703 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1704 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1705 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1706 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1707 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1708 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1709 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1710 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1711 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1712 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1713 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1714 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1715 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1716 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1717 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1718 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1719 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1723 @node Group Buffer Format
1724 @section Group Buffer Format
1727 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1728 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
1729 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1733 @node Group Line Specification
1734 @subsection Group Line Specification
1735 @cindex group buffer format
1737 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1738 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1740 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1743 25: news.announce.newusers
1744 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1749 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1750 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1751 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1752 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1754 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1755 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1756 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1757 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1758 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1759 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1761 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1763 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1764 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1765 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1766 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1767 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1769 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1770 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1771 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1773 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1778 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1781 Whether the group is subscribed.
1784 Level of subscribedness.
1787 Number of unread articles.
1790 Number of dormant articles.
1793 Number of ticked articles.
1796 Number of read articles.
1799 Number of unseen articles.
1802 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1803 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1805 Gnus uses this estimation because the @acronym{NNTP} protocol provides
1806 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1807 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1808 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1809 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1810 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1811 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1812 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1815 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1818 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1827 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1828 comment element in the group parameters.
1831 Newsgroup description. You need to read the group descriptions
1832 before these will appear, and to do that, you either have to set
1833 @code{gnus-read-active-file} or use the group buffer @kbd{M-d}
1837 @samp{m} if moderated.
1840 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1846 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1852 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1856 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1859 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1860 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1861 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1862 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1863 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1866 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1868 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1872 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1875 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1879 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1880 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1881 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1882 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1883 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1884 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1889 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1890 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1891 group, or a bogus native group.
1894 @node Group Mode Line Specification
1895 @subsection Group Mode Line Specification
1896 @cindex group mode line
1898 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1899 The mode line can be changed by setting
1900 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1901 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1905 The native news server.
1907 The native select method.
1911 @node Group Highlighting
1912 @subsection Group Highlighting
1913 @cindex highlighting
1914 @cindex group highlighting
1916 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1917 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1918 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1919 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1920 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1922 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1926 (cond (window-system
1927 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1928 (defface my-group-face-1
1929 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1930 (defface my-group-face-2
1931 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t)))
1932 "Second group face")
1933 (defface my-group-face-3
1934 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1935 (defface my-group-face-4
1936 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1937 (defface my-group-face-5
1938 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1940 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1941 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1942 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1943 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1944 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1945 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1948 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1950 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1957 The number of unread articles in the group.
1961 Whether the group is a mail group.
1963 The level of the group.
1965 The score of the group.
1967 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1969 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather,
1970 @var{max-number} minus @var{min-number} plus one.
1972 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1973 topic being inserted.
1976 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1977 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal gnus
1978 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1980 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1981 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1982 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1983 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1984 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1987 @node Group Maneuvering
1988 @section Group Maneuvering
1989 @cindex group movement
1991 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1992 expected, hopefully.
1998 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1999 Go to the next group that has unread articles
2000 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
2006 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
2007 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
2008 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
2012 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2013 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2017 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2018 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2022 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2023 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2024 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2028 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2029 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2030 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2033 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2039 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2040 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2041 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2046 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2047 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2048 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2052 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2053 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2054 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2057 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2058 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2059 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2060 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2064 @node Selecting a Group
2065 @section Selecting a Group
2066 @cindex group selection
2071 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2072 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2073 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2074 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2075 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2076 this command, gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2077 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{n}, @var{n}
2078 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{n} is
2079 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{n} newest articles, if @var{n} is
2080 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{n})} oldest articles.
2082 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2083 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2084 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2086 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2087 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2092 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2093 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2094 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2095 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2096 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2100 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2101 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2102 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2103 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2104 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2105 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2106 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2107 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2108 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2109 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2112 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2113 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2114 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2115 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2116 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2119 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2120 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2121 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2122 doing any processing of its contents
2123 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2124 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2125 manner will have no permanent effects.
2129 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2130 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should
2131 consider to be a big group. If it is @code{nil}, no groups are
2132 considered big. The default value is 200. If the group has more
2133 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, gnus will query the user
2134 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many
2135 articles should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a
2136 negative number (@var{-n}), the @var{n} oldest articles will be
2137 fetched. If it is positive, the @var{n} articles that have arrived
2138 most recently will be fetched.
2140 @vindex gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup
2141 @code{gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup} is the same as
2142 @code{gnus-large-newsgroup}, but is only used for ephemeral
2145 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2146 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2147 @vindex gnus-auto-select-subject
2148 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2149 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2150 Which article this is is controlled by the
2151 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2157 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2160 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2163 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2165 @item unseen-or-unread
2166 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2167 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2171 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2175 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2176 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2178 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2179 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2180 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2181 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2185 @node Subscription Commands
2186 @section Subscription Commands
2187 @cindex subscription
2195 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2196 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2197 Toggle subscription to the current group
2198 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2204 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2205 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2206 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2207 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2213 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2214 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2215 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2221 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2222 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2225 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2226 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2227 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2228 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2229 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2235 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2236 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2240 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2241 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2244 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2245 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2246 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2247 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2248 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2249 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2250 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2251 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2252 @file{.newsrc} file.
2256 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2266 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2267 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2268 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2269 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2270 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2271 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2276 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2277 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2278 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2282 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2283 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2284 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2286 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2287 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2288 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2289 If you have switched from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another, all your marks
2290 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2291 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2298 @section Group Levels
2302 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2303 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2304 can ask gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2305 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2306 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2308 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2314 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2315 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2316 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2317 prompted for a level.
2320 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2321 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2322 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2323 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2324 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2325 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2326 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2327 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2328 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2329 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2330 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2331 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2332 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2333 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2334 reasons of efficiency.
2336 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2337 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2339 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2340 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2341 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2342 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2343 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2344 groups are hidden, in a way.
2346 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2347 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2348 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2349 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2350 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2351 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2353 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2354 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2355 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2356 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2357 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2358 list of killed groups.)
2360 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2361 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2362 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2364 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2365 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2366 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2367 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2368 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2369 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2370 relevant valid ranges.
2372 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2373 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2374 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2375 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2376 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2377 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2380 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2381 one with the best level.
2383 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2384 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2385 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2388 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2389 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2390 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2391 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2394 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2395 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2396 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2397 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2399 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2400 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2401 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2402 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2403 to 5. The default is 6.
2407 @section Group Score
2412 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2413 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2414 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2417 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2418 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2419 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2420 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2421 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2422 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2423 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2424 least significant part.))
2426 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2427 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2428 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2429 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2430 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2431 action after each summary exit, you can add
2432 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2433 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2434 slow things down somewhat.
2437 @node Marking Groups
2438 @section Marking Groups
2439 @cindex marking groups
2441 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2442 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2443 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2444 bidding on those groups.
2446 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2447 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2448 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2456 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2457 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2463 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2464 Remove the mark from the current group
2465 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2469 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2470 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2474 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2475 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2479 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2480 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2484 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2485 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2486 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2489 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2491 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2492 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2493 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2494 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2495 the command to be executed.
2498 @node Foreign Groups
2499 @section Foreign Groups
2500 @cindex foreign groups
2502 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2503 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2504 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2505 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2512 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2513 @cindex making groups
2514 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2515 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2516 to subscribe to @acronym{NNTP} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2520 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2521 @cindex renaming groups
2522 Rename the current group to something else
2523 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2524 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2530 @findex gnus-group-customize
2531 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2535 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2536 @cindex renaming groups
2537 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2538 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2542 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2543 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2544 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2548 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2549 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2550 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2554 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2556 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2557 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2562 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2563 Make the gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2567 @cindex (ding) archive
2568 @cindex archive group
2569 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2570 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2571 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2572 Make a gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2573 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2574 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2575 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2579 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2581 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2582 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2583 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2584 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2588 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2590 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2591 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2592 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2596 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2597 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2599 Make a group based on some file or other
2600 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2601 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2602 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2603 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2604 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2605 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2606 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2607 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2608 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2612 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2613 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2614 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2615 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2619 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2623 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2624 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2625 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2626 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2627 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2628 @xref{Web Searches}.
2630 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2631 to a particular group by using a match string like
2632 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2635 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2636 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2637 This function will delete the current group
2638 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2639 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2640 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2641 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2642 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2646 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2647 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2648 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2652 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2653 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2654 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2657 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2660 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2661 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2662 gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2663 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2664 groups from different @acronym{NNTP} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2665 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2669 @node Group Parameters
2670 @section Group Parameters
2671 @cindex group parameters
2673 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2674 Here's an example group parameter list:
2677 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2681 We see that each element consists of a ``dotted pair''---the thing before
2682 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2683 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2684 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2686 Some parameters have correspondent customizable variables, each of which
2687 is an alist of regexps and values.
2689 The following group parameters can be used:
2694 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2697 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2700 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2701 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2702 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2703 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2704 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2706 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2707 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2708 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2709 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2710 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2711 list address instead.
2713 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2717 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2720 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2723 It is totally ignored
2724 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2725 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2727 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2728 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2729 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2730 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2731 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2733 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2734 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2735 sending the message.
2737 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2738 @cindex mail list groups
2739 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2740 entering summary buffer.
2742 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2747 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2748 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2749 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2750 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2751 headers for your posts to these lists. Look here @pxref{Mailing
2752 Lists, , Mailing Lists, message, The Message Manual} for a complete
2753 treatment of available MFT support.
2755 See also @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses}, the function that
2756 directly uses this group parameter.
2760 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2761 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2762 of whether it has any unread articles.
2764 @item broken-reply-to
2765 @cindex broken-reply-to
2766 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2767 headers in this group are to be ignored, and for the header to be hidden
2768 if @code{reply-to} is part of @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}. This
2769 can be useful if you're reading a mailing list group where the listserv
2770 has inserted @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv
2771 itself. That is broken behavior. So there!
2775 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2776 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2780 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, gnus
2781 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2782 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2787 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2788 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2789 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2790 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2791 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2792 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2793 (@pxref{Archived Messages}). CAVEAT:: It yields an error putting
2794 @code{(gcc-self . t)} in groups of a @code{nntp} server or so, because
2795 a @code{nntp} server doesn't accept articles.
2799 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2800 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2801 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2803 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2806 @cindex total-expire
2807 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2808 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2809 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2810 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2813 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2817 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2818 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2819 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2820 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2821 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2822 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2823 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2826 @cindex score file group parameter
2827 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2828 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2829 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2832 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2833 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2834 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2835 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2838 @cindex admin-address
2839 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2840 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2841 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2842 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2846 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2847 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2851 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2854 Display the last @var{integer} articles in the group. This is the same as
2855 entering the group with @kbd{C-u @var{integer}}.
2858 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2862 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2864 Here are some examples:
2868 Display only unread articles.
2871 Display everything except expirable articles.
2873 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2874 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2878 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2879 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2880 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2881 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2882 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2886 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2887 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2888 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2892 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2893 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2894 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2898 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2899 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2900 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2902 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2904 @item ignored-charsets
2905 @cindex ignored-charset
2906 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2907 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2908 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2910 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2913 @cindex posting-style
2914 You can store additional posting style information for this group
2915 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2916 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2917 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2918 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2920 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2921 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2922 like this in the group parameters:
2927 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
2928 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2933 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2934 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2938 An item like @code{(banner . @var{regexp})} causes any part of an article
2939 that matches the regular expression @var{regexp} to be stripped. Instead of
2940 @var{regexp}, you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2941 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2942 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2946 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2947 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2948 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2949 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
2951 For example, if the INBOX.list.sieve group has the @code{(sieve
2952 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
2953 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
2954 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
2957 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
2958 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
2962 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, , Top, sieve,
2965 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2966 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2967 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2968 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2969 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2970 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2971 @code{eval}ed there.
2973 Note that this feature sets the variable locally to the summary buffer.
2974 But some variables are evaluated in the article buffer, or in the
2975 message buffer (of a reply or followup or otherwise newly created
2976 message). As a workaround, it might help to add the variable in
2977 question to @code{gnus-newsgroup-variables}. @xref{Various Summary
2978 Stuff}. So if you want to set @code{message-from-style} via the group
2979 parameters, then you may need the following statement elsewhere in your
2980 @file{~/.gnus} file:
2982 (add-to-list 'gnus-newsgroup-variables 'message-from-style)
2985 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
2986 A use for this feature is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
2987 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
2989 nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps
2991 has the tag @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this
2992 tag can be removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for
2993 the group by putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")}
2994 into the group parameters for the group.
2996 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2997 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2998 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2999 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
3000 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
3004 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
3005 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
3006 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
3007 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
3008 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
3010 @vindex gnus-parameters
3011 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
3012 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
3016 (setq gnus-parameters
3018 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3019 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
3020 (gnus-summary-line-format
3021 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
3025 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
3029 (gnus-use-scoring t))
3033 (broken-reply-to . t))))
3036 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
3037 the @code{to-group} example shows.
3040 @node Listing Groups
3041 @section Listing Groups
3042 @cindex group listing
3044 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3052 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3053 List all groups that have unread articles
3054 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3055 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3056 only lists groups of level five (i.e.,
3057 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3064 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3065 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3066 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3067 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3068 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3069 unsubscribed groups).
3073 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3074 List all unread groups on a specific level
3075 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3076 with no unread articles.
3080 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3081 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3082 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3083 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3088 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3089 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3093 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3094 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3095 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3099 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3100 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3104 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3105 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3106 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3107 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3108 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3109 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3110 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3111 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3115 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3116 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3117 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3121 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3122 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3123 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3127 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3128 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3132 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3133 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3137 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3138 List groups limited within the current selection
3139 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3143 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3144 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3148 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3149 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3153 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3154 @cindex visible group parameter
3155 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3156 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3157 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3158 get the same effect.
3160 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3161 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3162 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3163 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3164 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3167 @node Sorting Groups
3168 @section Sorting Groups
3169 @cindex sorting groups
3171 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3172 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3173 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3174 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3175 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3176 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3181 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3182 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3183 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3185 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3186 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3187 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3189 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3190 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3191 Sort by group level.
3193 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3194 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3195 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3197 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3198 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3199 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3200 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3202 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3203 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3204 Sort by number of unread articles.
3206 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3207 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3208 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3210 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3211 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3212 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3217 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3218 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3222 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3223 some sorting criteria:
3227 @kindex G S a (Group)
3228 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3229 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3230 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3233 @kindex G S u (Group)
3234 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3235 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3236 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3239 @kindex G S l (Group)
3240 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3241 Sort the group buffer by group level
3242 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3245 @kindex G S v (Group)
3246 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3247 Sort the group buffer by group score
3248 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3251 @kindex G S r (Group)
3252 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3253 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3254 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3257 @kindex G S m (Group)
3258 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3259 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name@*
3260 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3263 @kindex G S n (Group)
3264 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3265 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3266 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3270 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3271 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3273 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3274 commands will sort in reverse order.
3276 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3280 @kindex G P a (Group)
3281 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3282 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3283 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3286 @kindex G P u (Group)
3287 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3288 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3289 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3292 @kindex G P l (Group)
3293 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3294 Sort the groups by group level
3295 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3298 @kindex G P v (Group)
3299 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3300 Sort the groups by group score
3301 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3304 @kindex G P r (Group)
3305 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3306 Sort the groups by group rank
3307 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3310 @kindex G P m (Group)
3311 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3312 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name@*
3313 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3316 @kindex G P n (Group)
3317 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3318 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3319 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3322 @kindex G P s (Group)
3323 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3324 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3328 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3332 @node Group Maintenance
3333 @section Group Maintenance
3334 @cindex bogus groups
3339 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3340 Find bogus groups and delete them
3341 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3345 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3346 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3347 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3348 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3349 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3353 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3354 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3355 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3356 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3357 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3358 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3361 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3362 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3363 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3364 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3369 @node Browse Foreign Server
3370 @section Browse Foreign Server
3371 @cindex foreign servers
3372 @cindex browsing servers
3377 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3378 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3379 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3380 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3383 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3384 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3385 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3386 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3388 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3393 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3394 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3398 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3399 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3402 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3403 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3404 Enter the current group and display the first article
3405 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3408 @kindex RET (Browse)
3409 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3410 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3414 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3415 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3416 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3422 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3423 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3427 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3428 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3432 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3433 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3434 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3439 @section Exiting gnus
3440 @cindex exiting gnus
3442 Yes, gnus is ex(c)iting.
3447 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3448 Suspend gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit gnus,
3449 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3450 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3454 @findex gnus-group-exit
3455 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3456 Quit gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3460 @findex gnus-group-quit
3461 Quit gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3462 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3465 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3466 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3467 @vindex gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook
3468 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend gnus and
3469 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit gnus, while
3470 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3476 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3477 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3478 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3484 @section Group Topics
3487 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3488 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3489 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3490 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3491 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3492 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3496 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3497 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3508 2: alt.religion.emacs
3511 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3513 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3514 13: comp.sources.unix
3517 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3519 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3520 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3521 is a toggling command.)
3523 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3524 dum@dots{} Nice tune, that@dots{} la la la@dots{} What, you're back?
3525 Yes, and now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed
3526 under @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
3529 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3530 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3531 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
3534 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3538 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3539 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3540 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3541 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3542 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3546 @node Topic Commands
3547 @subsection Topic Commands
3548 @cindex topic commands
3550 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3551 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3552 definitions slightly.
3554 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3555 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3556 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3557 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3558 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3559 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3561 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3568 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3569 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3570 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3574 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3576 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3577 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3578 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3579 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3582 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3583 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3584 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3585 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3589 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3590 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3591 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3592 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3598 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3599 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3600 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3604 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3605 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3606 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3609 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3610 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the `cut' part of cut and paste. Then,
3611 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the `Gnus'
3612 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the `paste' part of cut and
3613 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3615 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3616 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3620 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3621 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3628 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3630 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3631 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3632 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3633 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3634 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3635 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3639 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3645 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3646 Move the current group to some other topic
3647 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3648 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3652 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3653 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3657 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3658 Copy the current group to some other topic
3659 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3660 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3664 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3665 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3666 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3670 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3671 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3672 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3676 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3677 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3678 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3679 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3680 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3681 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3682 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3685 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3686 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3690 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3691 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3692 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3696 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3697 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3698 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3702 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3703 Toggle hiding empty topics
3704 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3708 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3709 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3710 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3711 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3714 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3715 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3716 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3717 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3718 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3721 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3722 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3723 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3724 expiry process (if any)
3725 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3729 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3730 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3733 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3734 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3735 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3739 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3740 List all groups that gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3741 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3744 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3745 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3746 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3749 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3750 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3751 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3755 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3756 @cindex group parameters
3757 @cindex topic parameters
3759 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3760 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3765 @node Topic Variables
3766 @subsection Topic Variables
3767 @cindex topic variables
3769 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3770 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3772 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3773 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3774 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3787 Number of groups in the topic.
3789 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3791 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3794 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3795 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3796 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3799 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3800 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3802 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3803 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3804 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3808 @subsection Topic Sorting
3809 @cindex topic sorting
3811 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3817 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3818 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3819 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3820 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3823 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3824 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3825 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3826 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3829 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3830 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3831 Sort the current topic by group level
3832 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3835 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3836 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3837 Sort the current topic by group score
3838 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3841 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3842 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3843 Sort the current topic by group rank
3844 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3847 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3848 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3849 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3850 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3853 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3854 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3855 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3856 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3860 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
3861 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
3862 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
3863 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
3867 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
3868 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
3872 @node Topic Topology
3873 @subsection Topic Topology
3874 @cindex topic topology
3877 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3884 2: alt.religion.emacs
3887 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3889 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3890 13: comp.sources.unix
3894 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3895 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3896 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3901 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3902 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3906 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3907 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3908 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3909 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3910 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3911 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3913 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3914 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3915 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3918 @node Topic Parameters
3919 @subsection Topic Parameters
3920 @cindex topic parameters
3922 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3923 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3924 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3926 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3931 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3932 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3933 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3936 @item subscribe-level
3937 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
3938 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
3939 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
3943 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3944 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3945 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3946 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3952 2: alt.religion.emacs
3956 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3958 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3959 13: comp.sources.unix
3963 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3964 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3965 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3966 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3967 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3968 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3970 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3971 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3972 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3973 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3974 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3976 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3977 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3978 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3979 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3980 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3981 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3982 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3983 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3986 @node Misc Group Stuff
3987 @section Misc Group Stuff
3990 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3991 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3992 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3993 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3994 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
4001 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
4002 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
4003 @xref{Server Buffer}.
4007 @findex gnus-group-post-news
4008 Start composing a message (a news by default)
4009 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
4010 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
4011 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
4012 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
4013 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4017 @findex gnus-group-mail
4018 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
4019 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
4020 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
4021 @xref{Composing Messages}.
4025 @findex gnus-group-news
4026 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
4027 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
4028 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4030 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
4031 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
4032 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
4033 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
4034 for this to work though.
4038 Variables for the group buffer:
4042 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
4043 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
4044 is called after the group buffer has been
4047 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4048 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4049 is called after the group buffer is
4050 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4053 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4054 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4055 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4056 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4058 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4059 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4060 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4061 whether they are empty or not.
4063 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4064 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4065 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
4066 non-@acronym{ASCII} group names.
4070 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4071 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4074 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4075 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4076 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4077 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
4078 is used to show non-@acronym{ASCII} group names. @code{((".*"
4079 utf-8))} is the default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the
4080 default is @code{nil}.
4084 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4085 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
4090 @node Scanning New Messages
4091 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4092 @cindex new messages
4093 @cindex scanning new news
4099 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4100 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4101 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4102 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4103 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4104 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4109 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4110 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4111 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4112 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4113 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4114 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4115 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4117 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4118 @cindex activating groups
4120 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4121 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4126 @findex gnus-group-restart
4127 Restart gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4128 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4129 gnus variables, and then starts gnus all over again.
4133 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4134 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4136 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4137 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4141 @node Group Information
4142 @subsection Group Information
4143 @cindex group information
4144 @cindex information on groups
4151 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4152 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4155 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} for the current group
4156 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the @acronym{FAQ}
4157 from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on
4158 a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
4159 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4160 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be
4161 used for fetching the file.
4163 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, gnus will attempt to go
4164 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4168 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4169 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4171 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4172 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4175 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4176 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4177 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4181 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4182 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4183 @cindex control message
4184 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4185 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4186 group if given a prefix argument.
4188 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-@code{nil},
4189 Gnus will open the control messages in a browser using
4190 @code{browse-url}. Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp}
4191 and displayed in an ephemeral group.
4193 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4194 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode} (@pxref{Compressed
4195 Files, ,Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Manual}).
4199 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4201 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4202 @cindex describing groups
4203 @cindex group description
4204 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4205 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4206 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4210 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4211 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4212 prefix, force gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4219 @findex gnus-version
4220 Display current gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4224 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4225 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4228 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4231 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4232 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4236 @node Group Timestamp
4237 @subsection Group Timestamp
4239 @cindex group timestamps
4241 It can be convenient to let gnus keep track of when you last read a
4242 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4243 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4246 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4249 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4251 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4252 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4255 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4256 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4259 This will result in lines looking like:
4262 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4263 0: custom 19961002T012713
4266 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4267 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4271 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4272 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4275 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4276 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4280 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4281 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4282 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4283 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4285 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4291 @subsection File Commands
4292 @cindex file commands
4298 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4299 @vindex gnus-init-file
4300 @cindex reading init file
4301 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4302 @file{~/.gnus.el}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4306 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4307 @cindex saving .newsrc
4308 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4309 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4310 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4313 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4314 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4315 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4320 @node Sieve Commands
4321 @subsection Sieve Commands
4322 @cindex group sieve commands
4324 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4325 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4326 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4327 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4328 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4330 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4331 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4332 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4333 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4334 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4335 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4336 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4337 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4338 regenerate the Sieve script.
4340 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4341 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4342 is generated. If it is non-@code{nil} (the default) articles is
4343 placed in all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article
4344 is only placed in the group with the first matching rule. For
4345 example, the group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4346 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4347 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is @code{nil}. (When
4348 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-@code{nil}, it looks the same
4349 except that the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4352 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4353 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4358 @xref{Top, ,Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4364 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4365 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4366 @cindex generating sieve script
4367 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4368 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4372 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4373 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4374 @cindex updating sieve script
4375 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4376 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4377 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4382 @node Summary Buffer
4383 @chapter Summary Buffer
4384 @cindex summary buffer
4386 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4387 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4389 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4390 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4392 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4395 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4396 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4397 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4398 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4399 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4400 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4401 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4402 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4403 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4404 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4405 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4406 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4407 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4408 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4409 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4410 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4411 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4412 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4413 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4414 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4415 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4416 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4417 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4418 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4419 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4420 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4421 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4422 or reselecting the current group.
4423 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4424 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4425 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4426 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4430 @node Summary Buffer Format
4431 @section Summary Buffer Format
4432 @cindex summary buffer format
4436 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4437 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4438 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4444 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4445 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4446 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4447 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4450 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4451 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4452 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4453 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4454 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4455 @code{From} header. Three pre-defined functions exist:
4456 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4457 fast, and too simplistic solution;
4458 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works nicely, but is
4459 slower; and @code{std11-extract-address-components}, which works very
4460 nicely, but is slower. The default function will return the wrong
4461 answer in 5% of the cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the
4462 other function instead:
4465 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4466 'mail-extract-address-components)
4469 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4470 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4471 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4472 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4475 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4476 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4478 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4479 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4480 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4481 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4482 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4484 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4485 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4486 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4487 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4488 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4489 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4491 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4493 The following format specification characters and extended format
4494 specification(s) are understood:
4500 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4501 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4503 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4504 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4505 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4507 Full @code{From} header.
4509 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4511 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4514 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4515 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4516 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4517 may be more thorough.
4519 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4522 Number of lines in the article.
4524 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4525 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4527 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4528 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4530 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4532 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4533 lines. A thread could be drawn like this:
4546 You can customize the appearance with the following options. Note
4547 that it is possible to make the thread display look really neat by
4548 replacing the default @acronym{ASCII} characters with graphic
4549 line-drawing glyphs.
4551 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4552 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4553 Used for the root of a thread. If @code{nil}, use subject
4554 instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4556 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4557 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4558 Used for the false root of a thread (@pxref{Loose Threads}). If
4559 @code{nil}, use subject instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4561 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4562 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4563 Used for a thread with just one message. If @code{nil}, use subject
4564 instead. The default is @samp{}.
4566 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4567 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4568 Used for drawing a vertical line. The default is @samp{| }.
4570 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4571 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4572 Used for indenting. The default is @samp{ }.
4574 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4575 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4576 Used for a leaf with brothers. The default is @samp{+-> }.
4578 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4579 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4580 Used for a leaf without brothers. The default is @samp{\-> }
4585 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4586 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4588 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4589 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4591 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4592 for adopted articles.
4594 One space for each thread level.
4596 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4598 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4601 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4602 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4603 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4606 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4608 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4609 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4610 default level. If the difference between
4611 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4612 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4620 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4622 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4628 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4629 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4631 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4632 article has any children.
4638 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4639 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4641 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4642 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4643 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4644 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4645 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4646 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4649 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4650 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4651 There can only be one such area.
4653 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4654 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, gnus will
4655 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4656 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4657 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4658 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4660 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4661 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4663 This restriction may disappear in later versions of gnus.
4666 @node To From Newsgroups
4667 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4671 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4672 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4673 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4674 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4675 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4679 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4680 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4681 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4685 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4686 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4689 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4690 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4693 @findex gnus-extra-header
4694 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4695 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4696 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4699 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4703 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4704 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4705 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4706 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4707 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4708 headers are used instead.
4712 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4713 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4714 to include extra headers when generating overview (@acronym{NOV}) files.
4715 If you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after
4716 changing this variable, by entering the server buffer using @kbd{^},
4717 and then @kbd{g} on the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause
4720 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4721 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4722 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4723 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4725 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4729 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4731 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4732 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4733 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4734 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4738 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4741 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
4742 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
4745 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4746 the @acronym{NOV} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4747 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
4753 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4754 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4757 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4758 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4760 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4761 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4762 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4763 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4765 Here are the elements you can play with:
4771 Unprefixed group name.
4773 Current article number.
4775 Current article score.
4779 Number of unread articles in this group.
4781 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4784 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4785 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4786 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4787 and no unselected ones.
4789 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4790 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4792 Subject of the current article.
4794 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4796 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4798 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4800 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4802 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4804 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4808 @node Summary Highlighting
4809 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4813 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4814 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4815 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4816 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4817 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4819 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4820 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4821 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4822 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4824 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4825 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4826 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4827 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4829 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4830 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4831 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4832 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4833 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4834 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4837 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4838 ((> score default) . bold))
4840 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4841 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4845 @node Summary Maneuvering
4846 @section Summary Maneuvering
4847 @cindex summary movement
4849 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4850 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4852 None of these commands select articles.
4857 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4858 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4859 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4860 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4861 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4865 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4866 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4867 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4868 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4869 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4872 @kindex G g (Summary)
4873 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4874 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4875 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4878 If gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4879 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4880 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4881 to the group buffer.
4883 Variables related to summary movement:
4887 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4888 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4889 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4890 no more unread articles after the current one, gnus will offer to go to
4891 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4892 empty, gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4893 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, gnus will select the
4894 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
4895 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
4896 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
4897 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
4898 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
4899 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
4900 @pxref{Group Levels}.
4902 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4903 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4904 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4905 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4906 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4907 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4908 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4910 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4912 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4913 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4914 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4915 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4916 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4918 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4919 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4920 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4921 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4922 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4923 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4924 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4925 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4928 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4929 the given number of lines from the top.
4934 @node Choosing Articles
4935 @section Choosing Articles
4936 @cindex selecting articles
4939 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4940 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4944 @node Choosing Commands
4945 @subsection Choosing Commands
4947 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4948 and they all select and display an article.
4950 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4951 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4955 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4956 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4957 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4958 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4960 If you have an article window open already and you press @kbd{SPACE}
4961 again, the article will be scrolled. This lets you conveniently
4962 @kbd{SPACE} through an entire newsgroup. @pxref{Paging the Article}.
4967 @kindex G n (Summary)
4968 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4969 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4970 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4975 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4976 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4977 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4982 @kindex G N (Summary)
4983 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4984 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4989 @kindex G P (Summary)
4990 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4991 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4994 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4995 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4996 Go to the next article with the same subject
4997 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
5000 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
5001 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
5002 Go to the previous article with the same subject
5003 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
5007 @kindex G f (Summary)
5009 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
5010 Go to the first unread article
5011 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
5015 @kindex G b (Summary)
5017 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
5018 Go to the unread article with the highest score
5019 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
5020 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
5025 @kindex G l (Summary)
5026 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
5027 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
5030 @kindex G o (Summary)
5031 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
5033 @cindex article history
5034 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
5035 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
5036 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
5037 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
5038 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
5039 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
5044 @kindex G j (Summary)
5045 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
5046 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
5047 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
5052 @node Choosing Variables
5053 @subsection Choosing Variables
5055 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
5058 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5059 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5060 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
5061 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
5062 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
5063 the server and display it in the article buffer.
5065 @item gnus-select-article-hook
5066 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
5067 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
5068 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article. If you would
5069 like each article to be saved in the Agent as you read it, putting
5070 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this hook will do so.
5072 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
5073 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
5074 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
5075 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
5076 @findex gnus-unread-mark
5077 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
5078 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
5079 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
5080 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
5081 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
5082 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
5083 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
5084 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
5085 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
5090 @node Paging the Article
5091 @section Scrolling the Article
5092 @cindex article scrolling
5097 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5098 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5099 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5100 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5101 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5103 @vindex gnus-article-boring-faces
5104 @vindex gnus-article-skip-boring
5105 If @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} is non-@code{nil} and the rest of
5106 the article consists only of citations and signature, then it will be
5107 skipped; the next article will be shown instead. You can customize
5108 what is considered uninteresting with
5109 @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}. You can manually view the article's
5110 pages, no matter how boring, using @kbd{C-M-v}.
5113 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5114 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5115 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5118 @kindex RET (Summary)
5119 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5120 Scroll the current article one line forward
5121 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5124 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5125 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5126 Scroll the current article one line backward
5127 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5131 @kindex A g (Summary)
5133 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5134 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5135 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5136 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5137 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5138 the way it came from the server.
5140 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5141 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5142 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5145 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5150 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5155 @kindex A < (Summary)
5156 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5157 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5158 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5163 @kindex A > (Summary)
5164 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5165 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5169 @kindex A s (Summary)
5171 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5172 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5173 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5177 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5178 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5183 @node Reply Followup and Post
5184 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5187 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5188 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5189 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5190 * Canceling and Superseding::
5194 @node Summary Mail Commands
5195 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5197 @cindex composing mail
5199 Commands for composing a mail message:
5205 @kindex S r (Summary)
5207 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5208 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5209 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5210 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5211 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5216 @kindex S R (Summary)
5217 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5218 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5219 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5220 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5221 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5224 @kindex S w (Summary)
5225 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5226 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5227 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5228 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5229 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
5232 @kindex S W (Summary)
5233 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5234 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5235 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5236 the process/prefix convention.
5239 @kindex S v (Summary)
5240 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5241 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5242 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5243 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5244 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5245 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5248 @kindex S V (Summary)
5249 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5250 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5251 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5252 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5255 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5256 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5257 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5258 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5259 If you need this because a mailing list incorrectly sets a
5260 @code{Reply-To} header pointing to the list, you probably want to set
5261 the @code{broken-reply-to} group parameter instead, so things will work
5262 correctly. @xref{Group Parameters}.
5265 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5266 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5267 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5268 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5269 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5273 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5274 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5275 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5276 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5277 Forward the current article to some other person
5278 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5279 headers of the forwarded article.
5284 @kindex S m (Summary)
5285 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5286 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5287 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5288 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5289 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5294 @kindex S i (Summary)
5295 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5296 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5297 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5298 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5300 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5301 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
5302 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5303 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5304 for this to work though.
5307 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5308 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5309 @cindex bouncing mail
5310 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5311 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5312 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5313 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5314 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5315 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, gnus will try to fetch
5316 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5317 very well fail, though.
5320 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5321 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5322 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5323 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5324 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5325 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5326 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5327 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5328 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5329 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5331 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5332 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5333 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5334 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5335 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5337 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5338 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5341 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5342 @findex gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward
5343 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5344 result using mail (@code{gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward}). This
5345 command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5348 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5349 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5350 @cindex crossposting
5351 @cindex excessive crossposting
5352 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5353 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5355 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5356 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5357 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5358 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5359 command understands the process/prefix convention
5360 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5364 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5365 Manual}, for more information.
5368 @node Summary Post Commands
5369 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5371 @cindex composing news
5373 Commands for posting a news article:
5379 @kindex S p (Summary)
5380 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5381 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5382 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5383 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5384 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5389 @kindex S f (Summary)
5390 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5391 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5392 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5396 @kindex S F (Summary)
5398 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5399 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5400 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5401 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5402 process/prefix convention.
5405 @kindex S n (Summary)
5406 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5407 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5408 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5411 @kindex S N (Summary)
5412 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5413 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5414 message through mail and include the original message
5415 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5416 the process/prefix convention.
5419 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5420 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5421 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5422 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5423 headers of the forwarded article.
5426 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5427 @findex gnus-summary-digest-post-forward
5429 @cindex making digests
5430 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5431 (@code{gnus-summary-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
5432 process/prefix convention.
5435 @kindex S u (Summary)
5436 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5437 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5438 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5439 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5442 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5443 Manual}, for more information.
5446 @node Summary Message Commands
5447 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5451 @kindex S y (Summary)
5452 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5453 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5454 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5455 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5456 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5461 @node Canceling and Superseding
5462 @subsection Canceling Articles
5463 @cindex canceling articles
5464 @cindex superseding articles
5466 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5467 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5469 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5471 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5473 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5474 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5475 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5476 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5477 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5478 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5480 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5481 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5484 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5485 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5486 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5488 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5489 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5490 your original article.
5492 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5494 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5495 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5496 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5499 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5500 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5501 have posted almost the same article twice.
5503 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5504 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5505 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5506 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5507 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5508 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5509 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5510 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5511 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5512 canceled/superseded.
5514 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5516 @node Delayed Articles
5517 @section Delayed Articles
5518 @cindex delayed sending
5519 @cindex send delayed
5521 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5522 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5523 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5524 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5527 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5530 @findex gnus-delay-article
5531 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5532 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5533 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5534 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5538 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5539 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5540 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5541 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5544 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5545 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5546 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5549 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5550 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5551 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5552 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5553 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5554 that means a time tomorrow.
5557 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5558 couple of variables:
5561 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5562 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5563 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5564 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5566 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5567 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5568 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5569 formats described above.
5571 @item gnus-delay-group
5572 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5573 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5574 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5575 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5577 @item gnus-delay-header
5578 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5579 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5580 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5581 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5584 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5585 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5586 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5587 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5588 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5590 @findex gnus-delay-send-queue
5591 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5592 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5593 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5594 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5595 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5596 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5599 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5600 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5602 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5603 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
5604 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-@code{nil},
5605 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
5606 argument is ignored.
5608 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
5609 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
5610 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
5614 @node Marking Articles
5615 @section Marking Articles
5616 @cindex article marking
5617 @cindex article ticking
5620 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5622 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5623 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5624 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5626 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5629 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5630 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5631 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5635 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
5639 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5640 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5641 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5645 @node Unread Articles
5646 @subsection Unread Articles
5648 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5653 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5654 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5656 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5657 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5658 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5659 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5660 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5661 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5662 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5665 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5666 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5668 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5669 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5670 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5671 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5675 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5676 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5678 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5683 @subsection Read Articles
5684 @cindex expirable mark
5686 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5691 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5692 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5693 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5696 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5697 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5700 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5701 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5702 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5705 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5706 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5709 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5710 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5713 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5714 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5717 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5718 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5721 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5722 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5725 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5726 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5729 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5730 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5734 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5735 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5736 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5740 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5741 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5743 One more special mark, though:
5747 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5748 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5750 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5751 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5752 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5753 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by gnus at
5759 @subsection Other Marks
5760 @cindex process mark
5763 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5769 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5770 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5771 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5772 in the article, and gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5773 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5776 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5777 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5778 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5779 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5782 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5783 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5784 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5787 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5788 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5789 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5792 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5793 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5794 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5795 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5798 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5799 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
5800 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5801 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
5802 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
5803 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
5806 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5807 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
5808 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5809 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
5812 @vindex gnus-downloaded-mark
5813 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, articles may be
5814 downloaded for unplugged (offline) viewing. If you are using the
5815 @samp{%O} spec, these articles get the @samp{+} mark in that spec.
5816 (The variable @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} controls which character to
5820 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
5821 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, some articles might
5822 not have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you
5823 are unplugged (offline). If you are using the @samp{%O} spec, these
5824 articles get the @samp{-} mark in that spec. (The variable
5825 @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls which character to use.)
5828 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
5829 The Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics} downloads some articles
5830 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
5831 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
5832 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
5833 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
5837 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5838 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5839 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5840 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5841 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5844 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5845 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5846 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5847 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5848 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5849 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5853 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5854 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5855 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5857 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5858 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5859 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5863 @subsection Setting Marks
5864 @cindex setting marks
5866 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5871 @kindex M c (Summary)
5872 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5873 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5874 @cindex mark as unread
5875 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5876 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5882 @kindex M t (Summary)
5883 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5884 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5885 @xref{Article Caching}.
5890 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5891 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5892 Mark the current article as dormant
5893 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5897 @kindex M d (Summary)
5899 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5900 Mark the current article as read
5901 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5905 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5906 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5907 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5912 @kindex M k (Summary)
5913 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5914 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5915 and then select the next unread article
5916 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5920 @kindex M K (Summary)
5921 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5922 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5923 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5924 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5927 @kindex M C (Summary)
5928 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5929 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5930 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5933 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5934 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5935 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5936 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5939 @kindex M H (Summary)
5940 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5941 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
5942 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5945 @kindex M h (Summary)
5946 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
5947 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
5948 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
5951 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5952 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5953 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5954 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5957 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5958 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5959 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5960 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5964 @kindex M e (Summary)
5966 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5967 Mark the current article as expirable
5968 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5971 @kindex M b (Summary)
5972 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5973 Set a bookmark in the current article
5974 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5977 @kindex M B (Summary)
5978 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5979 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5980 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5983 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5984 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5985 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5986 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5989 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5990 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5991 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5992 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5995 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5996 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5997 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5998 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5999 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
6002 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
6003 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
6004 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
6005 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
6006 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
6007 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
6008 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
6009 The default is @code{t}.
6012 @node Generic Marking Commands
6013 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
6015 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
6016 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
6017 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
6018 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
6019 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
6022 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
6023 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
6026 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
6027 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
6028 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
6029 to list in this manual.
6031 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
6032 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
6033 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
6034 article, you could say something like:
6038 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
6039 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6040 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
6048 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6049 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
6053 @node Setting Process Marks
6054 @subsection Setting Process Marks
6055 @cindex setting process marks
6057 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
6058 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
6059 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
6060 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
6061 commands into the cache. For more information,
6062 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
6069 @kindex M P p (Summary)
6070 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6071 Mark the current article with the process mark
6072 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
6073 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6077 @kindex M P u (Summary)
6078 @kindex M-# (Summary)
6079 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
6080 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6083 @kindex M P U (Summary)
6084 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6085 Remove the process mark from all articles
6086 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6089 @kindex M P i (Summary)
6090 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
6091 Invert the list of process marked articles
6092 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
6095 @kindex M P R (Summary)
6096 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6097 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6098 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6101 @kindex M P G (Summary)
6102 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6103 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6104 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6107 @kindex M P r (Summary)
6108 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6109 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6113 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6114 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6117 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6118 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6119 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6120 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6123 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6124 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6125 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6126 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6129 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6130 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6131 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6132 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6135 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6136 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6137 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6140 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6141 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6142 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6143 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6146 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6147 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6148 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6151 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6152 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6153 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6154 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6157 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6158 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6159 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6160 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6163 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6164 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6165 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6166 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6169 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6170 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6171 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6172 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6176 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
6177 set process marks based on article body contents.
6184 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6185 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6186 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6189 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6190 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6191 additional articles.
6197 @kindex / / (Summary)
6198 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6199 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6200 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6204 @kindex / a (Summary)
6205 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6206 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6207 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6211 @kindex / x (Summary)
6212 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6213 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6214 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6215 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6220 @kindex / u (Summary)
6222 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6223 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6224 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6225 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6226 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6229 @kindex / m (Summary)
6230 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6231 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6232 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6235 @kindex / t (Summary)
6236 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6237 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6238 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6239 articles younger than that number of days.
6242 @kindex / n (Summary)
6243 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6244 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
6245 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
6246 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6249 @kindex / w (Summary)
6250 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6251 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6252 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6256 @kindex / . (Summary)
6257 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6258 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6259 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6262 @kindex / v (Summary)
6263 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6264 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6265 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6268 @kindex / p (Summary)
6269 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6270 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6271 group parameter predicate
6272 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). See @pxref{Group
6273 Parameters} for more on this predicate.
6277 @kindex M S (Summary)
6278 @kindex / E (Summary)
6279 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6280 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6281 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6284 @kindex / D (Summary)
6285 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6286 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6287 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6290 @kindex / * (Summary)
6291 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6292 Include all cached articles in the limit
6293 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6296 @kindex / d (Summary)
6297 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6298 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6299 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6302 @kindex / M (Summary)
6303 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6304 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6307 @kindex / T (Summary)
6308 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6309 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6312 @kindex / c (Summary)
6313 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6314 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit@*
6315 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6318 @kindex / C (Summary)
6319 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6320 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6321 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6322 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6325 @kindex / N (Summary)
6326 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6327 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6328 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6331 @kindex / o (Summary)
6332 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6333 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6334 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6342 @cindex article threading
6344 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6345 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6346 hierarchical fashion.
6348 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6349 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6350 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6351 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6352 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6353 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6354 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
6356 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6360 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6363 A tree-like article structure.
6366 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6369 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6370 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6371 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6372 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6373 called loose threads.
6375 @item thread gathering
6376 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6378 @item sparse threads
6379 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6380 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6386 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6387 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6391 @node Customizing Threading
6392 @subsection Customizing Threading
6393 @cindex customizing threading
6396 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6397 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6398 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6399 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
6404 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6407 @cindex loose threads
6410 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6411 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6412 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6413 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6414 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6415 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6417 When there is no real root of a thread, gnus will have to fudge
6418 something. This variable says what fudging method gnus should use.
6419 There are four possible values:
6423 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6424 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6425 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6426 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6427 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6432 @cindex adopting articles
6437 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6438 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6439 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6440 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6443 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6444 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6445 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6446 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6447 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6448 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6449 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6450 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6451 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6452 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to @code{t}.
6455 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6456 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6457 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6461 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6462 display them after one another.
6465 Don't gather loose threads.
6468 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6469 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6470 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6471 variable is @code{nil}, gnus requires an exact match between the
6472 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6473 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6474 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6475 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6476 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6477 variable to a really low number, you'll find that gnus will gather
6478 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6480 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6481 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, gnus will
6482 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6485 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6486 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6487 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6488 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6489 simplification is used.
6491 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6492 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6493 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6494 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6496 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6498 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6504 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6505 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6506 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6507 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6512 (mapconcat 'identity
6513 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6515 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6518 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6521 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6522 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6523 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6524 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6525 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6526 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6528 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6531 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6532 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6533 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6535 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6536 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6539 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6540 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6541 Remove excessive whitespace.
6543 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6544 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6545 Remove all whitespace.
6548 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6551 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6552 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6553 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6554 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6555 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6556 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6557 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6558 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6560 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6561 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6562 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6563 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6564 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6565 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6566 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6567 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6568 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6572 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6573 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6574 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6575 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6577 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6578 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6579 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6582 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6586 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6587 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6593 @node Filling In Threads
6594 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6597 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6598 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6599 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6600 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
6601 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
6602 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
6603 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
6604 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
6605 fetching old headers only works if the back end you are using carries
6606 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
6607 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
6608 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do
6611 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6612 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6613 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6615 @item gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
6616 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
6617 Same as @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}, but only used for ephemeral
6620 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6621 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6622 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6623 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6624 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6625 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6626 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where gnus guesses that an article
6627 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6628 lines. If you select a gap, gnus will try to fetch the article in
6629 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, gnus will display all these
6630 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6631 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, gnus won't cut
6632 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6633 @code{nil} by default.
6635 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6636 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6637 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6638 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6639 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6640 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6641 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6643 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6644 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6645 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6650 @node More Threading
6651 @subsubsection More Threading
6654 @item gnus-show-threads
6655 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6656 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6657 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6658 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6659 slower and more awkward.
6661 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6662 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6663 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6666 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
6667 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
6668 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}.
6673 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6674 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
6675 gnus-article-unseen-p))
6678 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
6679 unread, but you get my drift.)
6682 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6683 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6684 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6685 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6686 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6687 threads are expunged.
6689 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6690 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6691 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6694 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6695 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6696 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6697 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6698 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6699 result in a new thread.
6701 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6702 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6703 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6706 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6707 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6708 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6709 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6710 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6711 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6712 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6713 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6714 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6715 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6716 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6721 @node Low-Level Threading
6722 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6726 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6727 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6728 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
6729 @code{(gnus-set-summary-default-charset)}, which sets up local value of
6730 @code{default-mime-charset} in summary buffer based on variable
6731 @code{gnus-newsgroup-default-charset-alist}.
6733 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6734 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6735 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6736 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6737 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6738 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6739 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6740 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6741 meaningful. Here's one example:
6744 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6746 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6747 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6749 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6751 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6758 @node Thread Commands
6759 @subsection Thread Commands
6760 @cindex thread commands
6766 @kindex T k (Summary)
6767 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6768 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6769 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6770 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6771 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6776 @kindex T l (Summary)
6777 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6778 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6779 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6780 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6783 @kindex T i (Summary)
6784 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6785 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6786 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6789 @kindex T # (Summary)
6790 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6791 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6792 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6795 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6796 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6797 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6798 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6801 @kindex T T (Summary)
6802 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6803 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6806 @kindex T s (Summary)
6807 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6808 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any@*
6809 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6812 @kindex T h (Summary)
6813 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6814 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6817 @kindex T S (Summary)
6818 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6819 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6822 @kindex T H (Summary)
6823 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6824 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6827 @kindex T t (Summary)
6828 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6829 Re-thread the current article's thread
6830 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6831 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6834 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6835 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6836 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6837 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6841 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6842 understand the numeric prefix.
6847 @kindex T n (Summary)
6849 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
6851 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6852 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6853 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6856 @kindex T p (Summary)
6858 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
6860 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6861 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6862 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6865 @kindex T d (Summary)
6866 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6867 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6870 @kindex T u (Summary)
6871 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6872 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6875 @kindex T o (Summary)
6876 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6877 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6880 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6881 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6882 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6883 a command like @kbd{T k} (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6884 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6885 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6886 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6887 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6888 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6889 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6890 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6891 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6895 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6896 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6898 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6899 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6900 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6901 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6902 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6903 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6904 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
6905 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6906 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-thread
6907 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6908 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6909 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6910 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6912 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6913 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6914 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6915 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
6916 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
6917 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
6918 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
6919 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6921 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6922 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6923 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6925 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6926 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6927 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6928 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6929 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6930 ascending article order.
6932 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6933 by number, you could do something like:
6936 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6937 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6938 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6939 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6942 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6943 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6944 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6945 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6946 which the articles arrived.
6948 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6952 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6954 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6955 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6958 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6959 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6960 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6961 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6964 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6965 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6966 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6967 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6968 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6969 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
6970 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6971 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
6972 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
6973 variable. It is very similar to the
6974 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
6975 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
6976 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6977 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
6978 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
6979 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
6980 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6982 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6986 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6987 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6988 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6993 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6994 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6995 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6996 @cindex article pre-fetch
6999 If you read your news from an @acronym{NNTP} server that's far away, the
7000 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
7001 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
7002 article appears. Why can't gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
7003 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
7005 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
7006 article fetching, especially the way gnus does it.
7008 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
7009 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
7010 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
7011 article 3, but since gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
7012 connection is blocked.
7014 To avoid these situations, gnus will open two (count 'em two)
7015 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
7016 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
7017 extra connection takes some time, so gnus startup will be slower.
7019 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
7020 the link between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server will become more
7021 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
7022 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
7025 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing@dots{} unless
7028 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
7029 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
7030 happen automatically.
7032 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
7033 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
7034 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
7035 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
7036 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
7037 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
7038 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
7040 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
7041 @findex gnus-async-read-p
7042 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
7043 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p}
7044 variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This
7045 function should return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is
7046 to be pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which
7047 returns @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an
7048 article data structure as the only parameter.
7050 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter
7051 than 100 lines, you could say something like:
7054 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
7055 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
7056 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
7057 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
7060 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
7063 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
7064 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down gnus too much.
7065 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
7067 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
7068 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
7069 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
7070 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
7074 Remove articles when they are read.
7077 Remove articles when exiting the group.
7080 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
7082 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
7083 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
7084 @c from the next group.
7087 @node Article Caching
7088 @section Article Caching
7089 @cindex article caching
7092 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @acronym{NNTP} connection, you may
7093 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
7094 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
7095 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
7096 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
7098 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
7100 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7101 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
7102 @vindex gnus-use-cache
7103 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
7104 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
7105 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
7106 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
7107 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
7109 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
7110 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
7111 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
7112 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
7113 as dormant, and don't worry.
7115 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
7117 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
7118 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
7119 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
7120 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
7121 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7122 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7123 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7124 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7125 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7126 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7128 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7129 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7130 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7131 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7132 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7133 command if 1) your connection to the @acronym{NNTP} server is really, really,
7134 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7135 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7136 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7137 not then be downloaded by this command.
7139 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7140 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7141 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7142 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7143 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7144 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7146 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7147 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7148 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7149 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7150 variables, the group is not cached.
7152 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7153 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7154 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7155 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7156 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7157 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, gnus
7158 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7159 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @acronym{NOV}
7160 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7163 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7164 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7165 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7166 where, isn't that cool?
7168 @node Persistent Articles
7169 @section Persistent Articles
7170 @cindex persistent articles
7172 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7173 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7174 useful in my opinion.
7176 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7177 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7178 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7179 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7180 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7181 the expiry going on at the news server.
7183 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7184 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7185 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7191 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7192 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7195 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7196 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7197 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7198 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7202 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7204 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7205 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7206 interested in persistent articles:
7209 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7213 @node Article Backlog
7214 @section Article Backlog
7216 @cindex article backlog
7218 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7219 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7220 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where gnus will buffer
7221 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7222 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7223 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7224 that, turning the backlog on will slow gnus down a little bit, and
7225 increase memory usage some.
7227 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7228 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, gnus will store
7229 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7230 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, gnus will store
7231 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7232 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7233 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7235 The default value is 20.
7238 @node Saving Articles
7239 @section Saving Articles
7240 @cindex saving articles
7242 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7243 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7244 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7245 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7246 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7248 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7249 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7250 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7252 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7253 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, gnus will not delete
7254 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7256 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7257 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7258 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7259 deleted before saving.
7265 @kindex O o (Summary)
7267 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7268 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7269 Save the current article using the default article saver
7270 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7273 @kindex O m (Summary)
7274 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7275 Save the current article in mail format
7276 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7279 @kindex O r (Summary)
7280 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7281 Save the current article in Rmail format
7282 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7285 @kindex O f (Summary)
7286 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7287 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7288 Save the current article in plain file format
7289 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7292 @kindex O F (Summary)
7293 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7294 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7295 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7298 @kindex O b (Summary)
7299 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7300 Save the current article body in plain file format
7301 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7304 @kindex O h (Summary)
7305 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7306 Save the current article in mh folder format
7307 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7310 @kindex O v (Summary)
7311 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7312 Save the current article in a VM folder
7313 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7317 @kindex O p (Summary)
7319 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7320 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7321 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7322 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7323 complete headers in the piped output.
7326 @kindex O P (Summary)
7327 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7328 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7329 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7330 external program @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/,
7331 Muttprint}. The program name and options to use is controlled by the
7332 variable @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}.
7333 (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7337 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7338 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7339 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7340 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7341 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7342 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7343 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7344 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7345 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7346 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7347 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7348 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7352 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7353 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7354 gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
7355 functions below, or you can create your own.
7359 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7360 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7361 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7362 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7363 This is the default format, @dfn{Babyl}. Uses the function in the
7364 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7365 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7367 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7368 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7369 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7370 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7371 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7372 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7374 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7375 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7376 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7377 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7378 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7379 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7380 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7382 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7383 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7384 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7385 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7386 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7387 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7389 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7390 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7391 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7392 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7393 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7395 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7396 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7397 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7398 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7399 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7402 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7403 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7404 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7405 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7406 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7408 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7409 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7410 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7411 reader to use this setting.
7414 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7415 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7416 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7417 @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7420 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7421 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7422 available functions that generate names:
7426 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7427 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7428 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7430 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7431 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7432 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7434 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7435 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7436 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7438 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7439 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7440 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7442 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7443 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7444 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7447 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7448 You can have gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7449 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7450 save articles related to gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7451 related to VM in @file{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7455 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7456 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7457 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7458 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7461 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7462 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7463 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7464 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7465 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7466 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7467 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7468 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7469 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7471 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7472 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7473 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7474 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7476 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7477 means that gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7478 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7481 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7482 lots of mail groups called things like
7483 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7484 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7485 following will do just that:
7488 (defun my-save-name (group)
7489 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7490 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7492 (setq gnus-split-methods
7493 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7498 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7499 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7500 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7501 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7502 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7503 all the files in the top level directory
7504 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7505 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7506 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7507 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7509 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7510 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7511 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7512 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7513 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7516 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7520 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; @r{to get a hierarchy}
7521 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7522 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; @r{no encoding}
7525 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7526 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7527 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7528 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7531 @node Decoding Articles
7532 @section Decoding Articles
7533 @cindex decoding articles
7535 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7536 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7539 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7540 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7541 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7542 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7543 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7544 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7548 @cindex article series
7549 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7550 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7551 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7552 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7553 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7555 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7556 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7557 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7559 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, gnus
7560 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7561 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7563 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7564 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7565 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7568 @node Uuencoded Articles
7569 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7571 @cindex uuencoded articles
7576 @kindex X u (Summary)
7577 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7578 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7579 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7582 @kindex X U (Summary)
7583 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7584 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7585 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7588 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7589 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7590 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7593 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7594 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7595 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7596 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7600 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7601 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7602 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7603 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7604 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7606 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7607 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7608 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7609 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7612 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7613 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7614 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7615 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7616 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7617 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7621 @node Shell Archives
7622 @subsection Shell Archives
7624 @cindex shell archives
7625 @cindex shared articles
7627 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7628 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7629 some commands to deal with these:
7634 @kindex X s (Summary)
7635 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7636 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7639 @kindex X S (Summary)
7640 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7641 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7644 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7645 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7646 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7649 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7650 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7651 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7652 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7656 @node PostScript Files
7657 @subsection PostScript Files
7663 @kindex X p (Summary)
7664 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7665 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7668 @kindex X P (Summary)
7669 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7670 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7671 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7674 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7675 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7676 View the current PostScript series
7677 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7680 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7681 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7682 View and save the current PostScript series
7683 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7688 @subsection Other Files
7692 @kindex X o (Summary)
7693 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7694 Save the current series
7695 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7698 @kindex X b (Summary)
7699 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7700 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7701 doesn't really work yet.
7705 @node Decoding Variables
7706 @subsection Decoding Variables
7708 Adjective, not verb.
7711 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7712 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7713 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7717 @node Rule Variables
7718 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7719 @cindex rule variables
7721 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7722 variables are of the form
7725 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7732 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7733 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7735 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7736 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @file{.au} sound file, you could
7739 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7740 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7743 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7744 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7745 This variable is consulted if gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7746 user and default view rules.
7748 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7749 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7750 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
7755 @node Other Decode Variables
7756 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
7759 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7761 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7762 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
7763 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
7764 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
7765 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
7769 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
7770 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
7773 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
7774 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
7775 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
7778 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7779 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7780 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
7781 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
7782 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
7785 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7786 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7787 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
7789 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7790 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7791 Files with a @acronym{MIME} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
7792 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7793 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @acronym{MIME} package (yet), so this is slightly
7796 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7797 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7798 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7800 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7801 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7802 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7803 looking for files to display.
7805 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7806 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7807 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7810 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7811 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7812 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7815 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7816 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7817 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7820 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7821 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7822 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7825 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7826 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7827 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7828 decoded articles as unread.
7830 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7831 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7832 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7833 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7835 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7836 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7837 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7839 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7840 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7842 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7843 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @acronym{MIME}
7844 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7845 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7847 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7848 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7849 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7850 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7851 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7852 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7853 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7854 simply dropped them.
7859 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7860 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7864 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7865 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7866 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7867 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7868 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7869 for you when you post the article.
7871 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7872 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7873 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7874 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7876 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7877 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7878 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7879 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7880 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7881 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7882 think that counts@dots{}) Default is @code{nil}.
7884 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7885 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7886 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7887 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7888 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7889 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7890 Default is @code{t}.
7896 @subsection Viewing Files
7897 @cindex viewing files
7898 @cindex pseudo-articles
7900 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, gnus will attempt
7901 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7902 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7903 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, gnus will
7904 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7905 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7906 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7908 Finally, gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7909 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7910 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7911 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7913 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7914 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7915 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7917 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7918 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7919 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7920 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7921 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7923 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7924 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7925 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7926 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7927 a list of parameters to that command.
7929 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7930 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7931 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7933 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7934 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7935 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7938 @node Article Treatment
7939 @section Article Treatment
7941 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7942 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7943 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7944 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7945 these articles easier.
7948 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7949 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7950 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7951 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7952 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
7953 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7954 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
7955 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7956 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
7957 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7958 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
7962 @node Article Highlighting
7963 @subsection Article Highlighting
7964 @cindex highlighting
7966 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7967 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7972 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7973 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7974 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7975 Do much highlighting of the current article
7976 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7977 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7980 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7981 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7982 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7983 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7984 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7985 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7986 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7987 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7988 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7989 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7990 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7991 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7994 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7995 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7996 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7998 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
8001 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8003 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8004 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
8005 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
8007 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
8008 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
8009 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
8011 @item gnus-cite-face-list
8012 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
8013 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
8014 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
8015 gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
8016 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
8018 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
8019 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
8020 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
8022 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8023 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8024 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
8026 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8027 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8028 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
8029 that it's a citation.
8031 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8032 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8033 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
8035 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8036 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8037 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
8039 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
8040 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
8041 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
8042 cited text belonging to the attribution.
8048 @kindex W H s (Summary)
8049 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8050 @vindex gnus-signature-face
8051 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
8052 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
8053 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
8054 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
8055 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
8060 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
8063 @node Article Fontisizing
8064 @subsection Article Fontisizing
8066 @cindex article emphasis
8068 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
8069 @kindex W e (Summary)
8070 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
8071 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
8072 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
8073 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
8075 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
8076 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
8077 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
8078 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
8079 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
8080 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
8081 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
8082 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
8086 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
8087 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
8088 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
8097 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
8098 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
8099 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
8100 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
8101 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
8102 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
8103 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
8104 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
8105 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
8106 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
8107 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
8108 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
8109 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
8111 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
8112 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
8113 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
8117 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
8120 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
8122 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8123 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8124 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8125 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8127 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8130 @node Article Hiding
8131 @subsection Article Hiding
8132 @cindex article hiding
8134 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8135 too much cruft in most articles.
8140 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8141 @findex gnus-article-hide
8142 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8143 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8144 headers, @acronym{PGP}, cited text and the signature.
8147 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8148 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8149 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8153 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8154 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8155 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8156 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8159 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8160 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8161 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8165 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8166 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8167 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8168 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8169 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8170 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8171 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8172 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8176 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8177 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8178 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8179 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8184 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8185 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8186 Hide @acronym{PEM} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8187 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8190 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8191 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8192 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8193 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8196 @cindex stripping advertisements
8197 @cindex advertisements
8198 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8199 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8200 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8201 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8202 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8203 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8204 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8205 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8206 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8207 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8210 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8211 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8212 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8216 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8217 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8218 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8219 @code{(@var{address} . @var{banner})}, where @var{address} is a regexp
8220 matching a mail address in the From header, @var{banner} is one of a
8221 symbol @code{signature}, an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist},
8222 a regexp and @code{nil}. If @var{address} matches author's mail
8223 address, it will remove things like advertisements. For example, if a
8224 sender has the mail address @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a
8225 banner something like @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he
8226 sends, you can use the following element to remove them:
8229 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" .
8230 "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8236 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8237 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8238 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8239 customizing the hiding:
8243 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8244 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8245 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8246 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8247 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8248 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8249 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8254 Starting point of the hidden text.
8256 Ending point of the hidden text.
8258 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8260 Number of lines of hidden text.
8263 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8264 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8265 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8266 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8267 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8272 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8273 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8275 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8276 following two variables:
8279 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8280 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8281 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8282 50), hide the cited text.
8284 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8285 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8286 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8291 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8292 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8293 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8294 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8295 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8296 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8300 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8301 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8302 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8304 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8305 citation customization.
8307 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8311 @node Article Washing
8312 @subsection Article Washing
8314 @cindex article washing
8316 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8317 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8319 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8320 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8323 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8324 articles by default.
8329 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8330 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8334 Force redisplaying of the current article
8335 (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). This is also not really washing.
8336 If you type this, you see the article without any previously applied
8337 interactive Washing functions but with all default treatments
8338 (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8341 @kindex W l (Summary)
8342 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8343 Remove page breaks from the current article
8344 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8348 @kindex W r (Summary)
8349 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8350 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8351 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8352 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8353 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8354 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8356 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8357 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8358 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8359 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8362 @kindex W m (Summary)
8363 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8364 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8368 @kindex W t (Summary)
8370 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8371 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8372 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8375 @kindex W v (Summary)
8376 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8377 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8378 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8381 @kindex W m (Summary)
8382 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
8383 Toggle whether to run the article through @acronym{MIME} before
8384 displaying (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
8387 @kindex W o (Summary)
8388 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8389 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8392 @kindex W d (Summary)
8393 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8394 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8396 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8398 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8399 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8400 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8401 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8404 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8405 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8406 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8407 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8410 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
8411 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8412 @cindex Outlook Express
8413 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
8414 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
8415 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8418 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
8419 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
8420 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min
8421 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max
8422 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
8423 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
8424 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
8425 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the minimum and
8426 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
8427 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines}).
8430 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
8431 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
8432 Repair a broken attribution line.@*
8433 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
8436 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
8437 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
8438 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
8439 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
8442 @kindex W w (Summary)
8443 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8444 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8446 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8450 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8451 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8452 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8455 @kindex W C (Summary)
8456 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8457 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8458 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8461 @kindex W c (Summary)
8462 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8463 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8464 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8465 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8466 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8468 @kindex W q (Summary)
8469 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
8470 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
8471 Quoted-Printable is one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when
8472 sending non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. It typically
8473 makes strings like @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which
8474 doesn't look very readable to me. Note that this is usually done
8475 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8476 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
8477 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8480 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8481 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8482 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}). Base64 is
8483 one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when sending
8484 non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is
8485 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8486 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
8487 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8490 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8491 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8492 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8493 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8494 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8497 @kindex W u (Summary)
8498 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
8499 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
8500 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
8501 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
8502 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
8505 @kindex W h (Summary)
8506 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8507 Treat @acronym{HTML} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
8508 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8509 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @acronym{HTML}.
8511 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8513 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
8514 The default is to use the function specified by
8515 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display
8516 Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) to convert the
8517 @acronym{HTML}, but this is controlled by the
8518 @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions you
8526 Use @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/, emacs-w3m}.
8529 Use @uref{http://links.sf.net/, Links}.
8532 Use @uref{http://lynx.isc.org/, Lynx}.
8535 Use html2text---a simple @acronym{HTML} converter included with Gnus.
8540 @kindex W b (Summary)
8541 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8542 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8543 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8546 @kindex W B (Summary)
8547 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8548 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8549 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8552 @kindex W p (Summary)
8553 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8554 Verify a signed control message
8555 (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}). Control messages such as
8556 @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are usually signed by the
8557 hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the @acronym{PGP} public key of
8558 the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8559 message.@footnote{@acronym{PGP} keys for many hierarchies are
8560 available at @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8563 @kindex W s (Summary)
8564 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8565 Verify a signed (@acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME} or
8566 @acronym{S/MIME}) message
8567 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8570 @kindex W a (Summary)
8571 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
8572 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8573 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
8576 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8577 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8578 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8579 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8582 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8583 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8584 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8585 lines with a single empty line.
8586 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8589 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8590 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8591 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8592 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8595 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8596 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8597 Do all the three commands above
8598 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8601 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8602 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8603 Remove all blank lines
8604 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8607 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8608 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8609 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8610 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8613 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8614 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8615 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8616 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8620 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8623 @node Article Header
8624 @subsection Article Header
8626 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8631 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8632 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8633 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8636 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8637 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8638 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8639 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8642 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8643 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
8644 Fold all the message headers
8645 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8649 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
8650 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
8651 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
8656 @node Article Buttons
8657 @subsection Article Buttons
8660 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8661 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8662 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8663 button on these references.
8665 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8666 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8667 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man pages and
8668 Emacs or Gnus related references. This is controlled by two variables,
8669 one that handles article bodies and one that handles article heads:
8673 @item gnus-button-alist
8674 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8675 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8678 (@var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
8684 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
8685 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
8686 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
8687 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
8688 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp} and @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp}.
8691 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8692 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8693 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8696 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8697 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8698 avoid false matches. Often variables named
8699 @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} are used here, @xref{Article Button
8700 Levels}, but any other form may be used too.
8702 @c @code{use-p} is @code{eval}ed only if @code{regexp} matches.
8705 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8708 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8709 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8713 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8716 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8719 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8720 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8721 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8722 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8723 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8726 (@var{header} @var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
8729 @var{header} is a regular expression.
8732 @subsubsection Related variables and functions
8735 @item gnus-button-@var{*}-level
8736 @xref{Article Button Levels}.
8738 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-browse-level
8740 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
8741 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
8742 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
8743 default values of the variables above.
8745 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-man-level
8747 @item gnus-button-man-handler
8748 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8749 The function to use for displaying man pages. It must take at least one
8750 argument with a string naming the man page.
8752 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-message-level
8754 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
8755 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
8756 Regular expression that matches a message ID or a mail address.
8758 @item gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
8759 @vindex gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
8760 This variable determines what to do when the button on a string as
8761 @samp{foo123@@bar.invalid} is pushed. Strings like this can be either a
8762 message ID or a mail address. If it is one of the symbols @code{mid} or
8763 @code{mail}, Gnus will always assume that the string is a message ID or
8764 a mail address, respectively. If this variable is set to the symbol
8765 @code{ask}, always query the user what do do. If it is a function, this
8766 function will be called with the string as its only argument. The
8767 function must return @code{mid}, @code{mail}, @code{invalid} or
8768 @code{ask}. The default value is the function
8769 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
8771 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
8772 @findex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
8773 Function that guesses whether its argument is a message ID or a mail
8774 address. Returns @code{mid} if it's a message IDs, @code{mail} if
8775 it's a mail address, @code{ask} if unsure and @code{invalid} if the
8778 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
8779 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
8780 An alist of @code{(RATE . REGEXP)} pairs used by the function
8781 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
8783 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-tex-level
8785 @item gnus-button-ctan-handler
8786 @findex gnus-button-ctan-handler
8787 The function to use for displaying CTAN links. It must take one
8788 argument, the string naming the URL.
8791 @vindex gnus-ctan-url
8792 Top directory of a CTAN (Comprehensive TeX Archive Network) archive used
8793 by @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler}.
8797 @item gnus-article-button-face
8798 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
8799 Face used on buttons.
8801 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
8802 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
8803 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
8807 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
8810 @node Article Button Levels
8811 @subsection Article button levels
8812 @cindex button levels
8813 The higher the value of the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level},
8814 the more buttons will appear. If the level is zero, no corresponding
8815 buttons are displayed. With the default value (which is 5) you should
8816 already see quite a lot of buttons. With higher levels, you will see
8817 more buttons, but you may also get more false positives. To avoid them,
8818 you can set the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} local to
8819 specific groups (@pxref{Group Parameters}). Here's an example for the
8820 variable @code{gnus-parameters}:
8823 ;; @r{increase @code{gnus-button-*-level} in some groups:}
8824 (setq gnus-parameters
8825 '(("\\<\\(emacs\\|gnus\\)\\>" (gnus-button-emacs-level 10))
8826 ("\\<unix\\>" (gnus-button-man-level 10))
8827 ("\\<tex\\>" (gnus-button-tex-level 10))))
8832 @item gnus-button-browse-level
8833 @vindex gnus-button-browse-level
8834 Controls the display of references to message IDs, mail addresses and
8835 news URLs. Related variables and functions include
8836 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}, @code{browse-url}, and
8837 @code{browse-url-browser-function}.
8839 @item gnus-button-emacs-level
8840 @vindex gnus-button-emacs-level
8841 Controls the display of Emacs or Gnus references. Related functions are
8842 @code{gnus-button-handle-custom},
8843 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-function},
8844 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-variable},
8845 @code{gnus-button-handle-symbol},
8846 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-key},
8847 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos},
8848 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-command},
8849 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-variable},
8850 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-documentation}, and
8851 @code{gnus-button-handle-library}.
8853 @item gnus-button-man-level
8854 @vindex gnus-button-man-level
8855 Controls the display of references to (Unix) man pages.
8856 See @code{gnus-button-man-handler}.
8858 @item gnus-button-message-level
8859 @vindex gnus-button-message-level
8860 Controls the display of message IDs, mail addresses and news URLs.
8861 Related variables and functions include
8862 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp},
8863 @code{gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail},
8864 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}, and
8865 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist}.
8867 @item gnus-button-tex-level
8868 @vindex gnus-button-tex-level
8869 Controls the display of references to @TeX{} or LaTeX stuff, e.g. for CTAN
8870 URLs. See the variables @code{gnus-ctan-url},
8871 @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler},
8872 @code{gnus-button-ctan-directory-regexp}, and
8873 @code{gnus-button-handle-ctan-bogus-regexp}.
8879 @subsection Article Date
8881 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
8882 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
8883 when the article was sent.
8888 @kindex W T u (Summary)
8889 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
8890 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
8891 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
8894 @kindex W T i (Summary)
8895 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
8897 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
8898 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
8901 @kindex W T l (Summary)
8902 @findex gnus-article-date-local
8903 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
8906 @kindex W T p (Summary)
8907 @findex gnus-article-date-english
8908 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
8909 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
8912 @kindex W T s (Summary)
8913 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
8914 @findex gnus-article-date-user
8915 @findex format-time-string
8916 Display the date using a user-defined format
8917 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
8918 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
8919 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
8920 for a list of possible format specs.
8923 @kindex W T e (Summary)
8924 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
8925 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
8926 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
8927 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
8928 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
8931 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
8934 @vindex gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header
8935 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
8936 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
8939 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
8940 into wonderful absurdities.
8942 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
8945 (gnus-start-date-timer)
8948 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
8949 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
8953 @kindex W T o (Summary)
8954 @findex gnus-article-date-original
8955 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
8956 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
8957 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
8958 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
8959 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
8963 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
8964 preferred format automatically.
8967 @node Article Display
8968 @subsection Article Display
8973 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
8974 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
8976 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
8977 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
8979 @code{Face} headers are small colored images supplied by the message
8980 headers (@pxref{Face}).
8982 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
8983 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
8985 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
8986 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
8988 All these functions are toggles---if the elements already exist,
8993 @kindex W D x (Summary)
8994 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
8995 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
8996 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
8999 @kindex W D d (Summary)
9000 @findex gnus-article-display-face
9001 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
9002 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
9005 @kindex W D s (Summary)
9006 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
9007 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
9010 @kindex W D f (Summary)
9011 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
9012 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
9015 @kindex W D m (Summary)
9016 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
9017 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
9018 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
9021 @kindex W D n (Summary)
9022 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
9023 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
9024 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
9027 @kindex W D D (Summary)
9028 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
9029 Remove all images from the article buffer
9030 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
9036 @node Article Signature
9037 @subsection Article Signature
9039 @cindex article signature
9041 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
9042 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
9043 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
9044 that says what is to be considered a signature is
9045 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
9046 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
9047 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
9048 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
9049 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
9052 (setq gnus-signature-separator
9053 '("^-- $" ; @r{The standard}
9054 "^-- *$" ; @r{A common mangling}
9055 "^-------*$" ; @r{Many people just use a looong}
9056 ; @r{line of dashes. Shame!}
9057 "^ *--------*$" ; @r{Double-shame!}
9058 "^________*$" ; @r{Underscores are also popular}
9059 "^========*$")) ; @r{Pervert!}
9062 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
9065 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
9066 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
9067 signature when displaying articles.
9071 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
9074 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
9077 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
9078 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
9080 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
9081 in question is not a signature.
9084 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
9085 listed above. Here's an example:
9088 (setq gnus-signature-limit
9089 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
9092 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
9093 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
9094 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
9095 signature after all.
9098 @node Article Miscellanea
9099 @subsection Article Miscellanea
9103 @kindex A t (Summary)
9104 @findex gnus-article-babel
9105 Translate the article from one language to another
9106 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
9112 @section MIME Commands
9113 @cindex MIME decoding
9115 @cindex viewing attachments
9117 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
9118 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @acronym{MIME} part''.
9124 @kindex K v (Summary)
9125 View the @acronym{MIME} part.
9128 @kindex K o (Summary)
9129 Save the @acronym{MIME} part.
9132 @kindex K c (Summary)
9133 Copy the @acronym{MIME} part.
9136 @kindex K e (Summary)
9137 View the @acronym{MIME} part externally.
9140 @kindex K i (Summary)
9141 View the @acronym{MIME} part internally.
9144 @kindex K | (Summary)
9145 Pipe the @acronym{MIME} part to an external command.
9148 The rest of these @acronym{MIME} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
9153 @kindex K b (Summary)
9154 Make all the @acronym{MIME} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
9155 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
9159 @kindex K m (Summary)
9160 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
9161 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
9162 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
9163 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
9164 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
9167 @kindex X m (Summary)
9168 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
9169 Save all parts matching a @acronym{MIME} type to a directory
9170 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
9171 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9174 @kindex M-t (Summary)
9175 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
9176 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
9177 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
9180 @kindex W M w (Summary)
9181 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
9182 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
9183 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
9186 @kindex W M c (Summary)
9187 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
9188 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
9189 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
9191 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
9192 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
9193 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
9194 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
9195 include @acronym{MIME} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
9196 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9199 @kindex W M v (Summary)
9200 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
9201 View all the @acronym{MIME} parts in the current article
9202 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
9209 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
9210 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
9211 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9212 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
9215 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
9218 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
9222 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
9223 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
9224 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't require the @samp{MIME-Version} header
9225 before interpreting the message as a @acronym{MIME} message. This helps
9226 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
9227 default is @code{nil}.
9229 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
9230 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
9231 There are other, non-@acronym{MIME} encoding methods used. The most common
9232 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
9233 this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
9234 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
9235 Gnus @acronym{MIME} machinery. The default is @code{t}.
9237 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9238 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9239 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9240 this list won't have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9241 displayed or this variable is overridden by
9242 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
9243 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
9244 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is @code{nil}.
9246 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9247 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9248 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9249 this list will have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9250 displayed. This variable overrides
9251 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
9252 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
9255 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
9256 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
9257 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9259 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9260 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9261 If this is non-@code{nil}, then all @acronym{MIME} parts get buttons. The
9262 default value is @code{nil}.
9264 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9265 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9266 For each @acronym{MIME} part, this function will be called with the @acronym{MIME}
9267 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9268 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9269 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9270 save all jpegs into some directory).
9272 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9275 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9276 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9278 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9279 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9280 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9281 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9282 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9285 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9286 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9287 Alist of @acronym{MIME} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9289 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9290 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9291 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @acronym{MIME} parts.
9292 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9294 Ready-made functions include@*
9295 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9296 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9297 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9298 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9299 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9300 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9301 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9302 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9303 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9304 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9305 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9306 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9308 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9309 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9311 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9312 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9313 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9316 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9317 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9318 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9319 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9323 to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
9332 People use different charsets, and we have @acronym{MIME} to let us know what
9333 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
9334 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @acronym{MIME}, and
9335 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
9336 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
9337 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
9338 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
9340 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
9341 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
9342 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
9343 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
9345 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets
9346 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @acronym{MIME}-aware agents that
9347 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
9348 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
9349 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
9350 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
9351 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
9352 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
9353 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
9355 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
9356 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
9357 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @acronym{MIME}
9358 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
9359 quoted-printable header encoding.
9361 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
9362 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
9363 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
9367 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
9370 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
9371 means encode all charsets),
9373 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
9374 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
9375 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
9382 @cindex coding system aliases
9383 @cindex preferred charset
9385 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
9387 If there are several @acronym{MIME} charsets that encode the same Emacs
9388 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
9391 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
9392 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
9395 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
9396 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @acronym{MIME} charset.
9398 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
9401 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
9404 This will almost do the right thing.
9406 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
9410 (codepage-setup 1251)
9411 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
9415 @node Article Commands
9416 @section Article Commands
9423 @kindex A P (Summary)
9424 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
9425 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
9426 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
9427 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
9428 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
9429 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
9434 @node Summary Sorting
9435 @section Summary Sorting
9436 @cindex summary sorting
9438 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
9439 can't really see why you'd want that.
9444 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
9445 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
9446 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
9449 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
9450 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
9451 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
9454 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
9455 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
9456 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
9459 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
9460 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
9461 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
9464 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
9465 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
9466 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
9469 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
9470 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
9471 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
9474 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
9475 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
9476 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
9479 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
9480 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
9481 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
9484 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
9485 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
9486 Sort using the default sorting method
9487 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
9490 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
9491 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
9492 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
9493 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
9494 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
9498 @node Finding the Parent
9499 @section Finding the Parent
9500 @cindex parent articles
9501 @cindex referring articles
9506 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
9507 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
9508 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
9509 if the current group is fetched by @acronym{NNTP}, the parent hasn't expired
9510 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
9511 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
9512 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
9513 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
9514 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
9516 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
9517 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
9518 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, gnus will fetch the parent, the
9519 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
9520 @kbd{-3 ^}, gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
9524 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
9525 @kindex A R (Summary)
9526 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
9527 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
9530 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
9531 @kindex A T (Summary)
9532 Display the full thread where the current article appears
9533 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
9534 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
9535 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
9536 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
9537 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
9538 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
9540 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
9541 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
9542 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
9543 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
9544 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
9545 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
9548 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
9549 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
9551 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
9552 You can also ask the @acronym{NNTP} server for an arbitrary article, no
9553 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
9554 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
9555 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
9556 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
9557 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
9560 The current select method will be used when fetching by
9561 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
9562 by giving this command a prefix.
9564 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
9565 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
9566 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
9567 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @acronym{NNTP} method. It
9568 would, perhaps, be best if the @acronym{NNTP} server you consult is the one
9569 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
9572 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
9573 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
9574 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
9577 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
9578 then ask Google if that fails:
9581 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
9583 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
9586 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
9587 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
9588 @code{nnbabyl}, and @code{nnmaildir} are able to locate articles from
9589 any groups, while @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
9590 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current group.
9591 (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not
9592 support this at all.
9595 @node Alternative Approaches
9596 @section Alternative Approaches
9598 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
9599 gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
9602 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
9603 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
9608 @subsection Pick and Read
9609 @cindex pick and read
9611 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
9612 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
9613 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
9614 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
9616 @findex gnus-pick-mode
9617 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
9618 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
9619 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
9620 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
9621 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
9623 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
9628 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
9629 Pick the article or thread on the current line
9630 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9631 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
9632 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
9633 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
9634 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
9635 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
9638 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
9639 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
9640 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
9641 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
9645 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
9646 Unpick the thread or article
9647 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9648 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
9649 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
9650 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9651 the thread or article at that line.
9655 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9656 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9657 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9658 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9659 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9660 will still be visible when you are reading.
9664 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9665 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9666 which is mapped to the same function
9667 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9669 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9672 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9675 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9676 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
9678 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
9679 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
9680 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
9682 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
9683 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
9684 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
9685 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
9686 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
9687 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
9688 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
9692 @subsection Binary Groups
9693 @cindex binary groups
9695 @findex gnus-binary-mode
9696 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
9697 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
9698 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
9699 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
9700 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
9701 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
9704 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
9705 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
9706 command, when you have turned on this mode
9707 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
9709 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
9710 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
9714 @section Tree Display
9717 @vindex gnus-use-trees
9718 If you don't like the normal gnus summary display, you might try setting
9719 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
9720 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
9723 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
9726 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
9727 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
9728 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
9730 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9731 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9732 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
9733 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
9734 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
9736 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
9737 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
9738 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
9739 default is @code{modeline}.
9741 @item gnus-tree-line-format
9742 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
9743 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
9744 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
9745 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
9746 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
9747 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
9753 The name of the poster.
9755 The @code{From} header.
9757 The number of the article.
9759 The opening bracket.
9761 The closing bracket.
9766 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
9768 Variables related to the display are:
9771 @item gnus-tree-brackets
9772 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
9773 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
9774 ``sparse'' articles. The format is
9776 ((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
9777 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close})
9778 (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))
9780 and the default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
9782 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9783 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9784 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
9785 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
9789 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
9790 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
9791 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will try to keep the tree
9792 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other gnus
9793 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
9794 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
9795 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
9796 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
9797 other windows displayed next to it.
9799 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
9803 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
9804 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
9807 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
9808 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
9809 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9810 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
9811 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
9812 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
9813 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
9817 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
9820 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
9830 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
9835 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
9836 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
9838 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
9840 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
9846 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
9847 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
9848 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
9851 (setq gnus-use-trees t
9852 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9853 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
9854 (gnus-add-configuration
9858 (summary 0.75 point)
9863 @xref{Window Layout}.
9866 @node Mail Group Commands
9867 @section Mail Group Commands
9868 @cindex mail group commands
9870 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
9871 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
9873 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
9874 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9879 @kindex B e (Summary)
9880 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
9881 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
9882 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
9883 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
9884 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
9887 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
9888 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
9889 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
9890 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
9891 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
9892 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
9895 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
9896 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
9897 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
9898 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
9899 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
9900 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
9903 @kindex B m (Summary)
9905 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
9906 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
9907 Move the article from one mail group to another
9908 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9909 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9912 @kindex B c (Summary)
9914 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
9915 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
9916 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
9917 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9918 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9921 @kindex B B (Summary)
9922 @cindex crosspost mail
9923 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
9924 Crosspost the current article to some other group
9925 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
9926 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
9927 be properly updated.
9930 @kindex B i (Summary)
9931 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
9932 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
9933 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
9934 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9937 @kindex B I (Summary)
9938 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
9939 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
9940 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
9941 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9944 @kindex B r (Summary)
9945 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
9946 @vindex gnus-summary-respool-default-method
9947 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
9948 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
9949 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
9950 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
9951 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
9952 (which is the default).
9956 @kindex B w (Summary)
9958 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
9959 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
9960 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
9961 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
9962 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
9963 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
9964 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, gnus won't re-highlight the article.
9967 @kindex B q (Summary)
9968 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
9969 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
9970 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
9971 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
9974 @kindex B t (Summary)
9975 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
9976 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
9977 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
9980 @kindex B p (Summary)
9981 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
9982 Some people have a tendency to send you ``courtesy'' copies when they
9983 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
9984 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
9985 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
9986 article from your news server (or rather, from
9987 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
9988 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
9989 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
9990 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
9991 just not have arrived yet.
9994 @kindex K E (Summary)
9995 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
9996 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
9997 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
9998 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
9999 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
10003 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
10004 @cindex moving articles
10005 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have gnus
10006 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
10007 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
10008 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
10009 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
10010 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
10011 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
10014 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
10015 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
10016 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
10017 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
10021 @node Various Summary Stuff
10022 @section Various Summary Stuff
10025 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
10026 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
10027 * Summary Generation Commands::
10028 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
10032 @vindex gnus-summary-display-while-building
10033 @item gnus-summary-display-while-building
10034 If non-@code{nil}, show and update the summary buffer as it's being
10035 built. If @code{t}, update the buffer after every line is inserted.
10036 If the value is an integer, @var{n}, update the display every @var{n}
10037 lines. The default is @code{nil}.
10039 @vindex gnus-summary-display-arrow
10040 @item gnus-summary-display-arrow
10041 If non-@code{nil}, display an arrow in the fringe to indicate the
10044 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
10045 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
10046 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
10048 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
10049 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
10050 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
10051 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
10052 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
10053 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
10056 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10057 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10058 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
10059 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
10060 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
10062 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10063 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10064 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
10067 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10068 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10069 When gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
10070 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
10071 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
10072 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
10073 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), gnus will rename the
10074 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
10075 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
10076 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
10078 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10079 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10080 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
10081 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
10082 list of articles to be selected.
10084 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
10085 the list in one particular group:
10088 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
10089 (if (string= group "some.group")
10090 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
10094 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
10095 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
10096 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
10097 variables and their default values (when the default values are not
10098 @code{nil}), that should be made global while the summary buffer is
10099 active. These variables can be used to set variables in the group
10100 parameters while still allowing them to affect operations done in
10101 other buffers. For example:
10104 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
10105 '(message-use-followup-to
10106 (gnus-visible-headers .
10107 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
10113 @node Summary Group Information
10114 @subsection Summary Group Information
10119 @kindex H f (Summary)
10120 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
10121 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
10122 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} (list of frequently asked questions)
10123 for the current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try
10124 to get the @acronym{FAQ} from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which
10125 is usually a directory on a remote machine. This variable can also be
10126 a list of directories. In that case, giving a prefix to this command
10127 will allow you to choose between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp}
10128 or @code{efs} will probably be used for fetching the file.
10131 @kindex H d (Summary)
10132 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
10133 Give a brief description of the current group
10134 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
10135 rereading the description from the server.
10138 @kindex H h (Summary)
10139 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
10140 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
10141 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
10144 @kindex H i (Summary)
10145 @findex gnus-info-find-node
10146 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
10150 @node Searching for Articles
10151 @subsection Searching for Articles
10156 @kindex M-s (Summary)
10157 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
10158 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
10159 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
10162 @kindex M-r (Summary)
10163 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
10164 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
10165 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
10168 @kindex & (Summary)
10169 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
10170 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
10171 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
10172 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
10173 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
10174 search backward instead.
10176 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
10177 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
10180 @kindex M-& (Summary)
10181 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
10182 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
10183 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
10186 @node Summary Generation Commands
10187 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
10192 @kindex Y g (Summary)
10193 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
10194 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
10197 @kindex Y c (Summary)
10198 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
10199 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10200 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
10203 @kindex Y d (Summary)
10204 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
10205 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10206 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
10211 @node Really Various Summary Commands
10212 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
10218 @kindex C-d (Summary)
10219 @kindex A D (Summary)
10220 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
10221 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
10222 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
10223 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
10224 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
10225 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
10226 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
10227 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
10231 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
10232 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
10233 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
10234 several documents into one biiig group
10235 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
10236 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
10237 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
10238 command understands the process/prefix convention
10239 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10242 @kindex C-t (Summary)
10243 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
10244 Toggle truncation of summary lines
10245 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
10246 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
10247 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
10250 @kindex = (Summary)
10251 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
10252 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
10253 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
10256 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
10257 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
10258 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10259 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
10262 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
10263 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
10264 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10265 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
10270 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
10271 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
10272 @cindex summary exit
10273 @cindex exiting groups
10275 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
10276 group and return you to the group buffer.
10282 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
10283 @kindex q (Summary)
10284 @findex gnus-summary-exit
10285 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
10286 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
10287 @vindex gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook
10288 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
10289 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
10290 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
10291 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
10292 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
10293 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
10294 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
10295 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
10299 @kindex Z E (Summary)
10300 @kindex Q (Summary)
10301 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
10302 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
10303 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
10307 @kindex Z c (Summary)
10308 @kindex c (Summary)
10309 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
10310 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
10311 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
10312 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
10315 @kindex Z C (Summary)
10316 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
10317 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
10318 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
10321 @kindex Z n (Summary)
10322 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
10323 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
10324 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
10327 @kindex Z R (Summary)
10328 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
10329 Exit this group, and then enter it again
10330 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
10331 all articles, both read and unread.
10335 @kindex Z G (Summary)
10336 @kindex M-g (Summary)
10337 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
10338 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
10339 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
10340 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
10341 articles, both read and unread.
10344 @kindex Z N (Summary)
10345 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
10346 Exit the group and go to the next group
10347 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
10350 @kindex Z P (Summary)
10351 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
10352 Exit the group and go to the previous group
10353 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
10356 @kindex Z s (Summary)
10357 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
10358 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
10359 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
10360 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
10361 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
10364 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
10365 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
10366 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
10367 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
10369 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
10370 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
10371 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
10372 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
10373 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
10374 If you do that, gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
10375 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
10376 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
10377 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
10378 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
10379 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
10380 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
10382 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
10384 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
10385 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
10386 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
10387 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
10388 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
10389 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
10390 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
10391 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
10392 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
10395 @node Crosspost Handling
10396 @section Crosspost Handling
10400 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
10401 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
10402 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
10403 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
10404 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
10405 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
10408 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
10409 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
10410 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
10411 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
10412 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
10414 @cindex cross-posting
10416 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
10417 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
10418 correctly is if you use an @acronym{NNTP} server that supports @sc{xover}
10419 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
10420 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @acronym{NOV} lines. This is
10421 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
10422 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
10423 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
10424 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
10425 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
10426 the cross reference mechanism.
10428 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
10429 @cindex overview.fmt
10430 To check whether your @acronym{NNTP} server includes the @code{Xref} header
10431 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
10432 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
10433 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
10434 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
10435 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
10438 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
10439 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
10440 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
10445 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
10448 @node Duplicate Suppression
10449 @section Duplicate Suppression
10451 By default, gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
10452 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
10453 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
10454 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
10459 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
10460 is evil and not very common.
10463 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
10464 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
10467 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
10468 different @acronym{NNTP} servers.
10471 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
10474 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
10475 well, but these four are the most common situations.
10477 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
10478 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
10479 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
10480 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
10481 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
10482 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
10483 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
10486 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
10487 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
10488 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
10489 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
10490 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
10491 saw the article in.
10494 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
10495 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
10496 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
10498 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
10499 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
10500 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
10501 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
10502 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single gnus
10503 session are suppressed.
10505 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
10506 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
10507 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
10508 suppression list. The default is 10000.
10510 @item gnus-duplicate-file
10511 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
10512 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
10513 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
10516 If you have a tendency to stop and start gnus often, setting
10517 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
10518 you leave gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
10519 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
10520 so that means that if you stop and start gnus often, you should set
10521 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
10522 to you to figure out, I think.
10527 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
10528 The formats that are supported are @acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME}
10529 and @acronym{S/MIME}, however you need some external programs to get
10534 To handle @acronym{PGP} and @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages, you have to
10535 install an OpenPGP implementation such as GnuPG. The Lisp interface
10536 to GnuPG included with Gnus is called PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg, PGG
10537 Manual}), but Mailcrypt and gpg.el are also supported.
10540 To handle @acronym{S/MIME} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
10541 or newer is recommended.
10545 More information on how to set things up can be found in the message
10546 manual (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
10549 @item mm-verify-option
10550 @vindex mm-verify-option
10551 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
10552 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
10553 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10555 @item mm-decrypt-option
10556 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
10557 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
10558 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
10559 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10562 @vindex mml1991-use
10563 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10564 @acronym{PGP} messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but
10565 @code{mailcrypt} and @code{gpg} are also supported although
10569 @vindex mml2015-use
10570 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10571 @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but
10572 @code{mailcrypt} and @code{gpg} are also supported although
10577 @cindex snarfing keys
10578 @cindex importing PGP keys
10579 @cindex PGP key ring import
10580 Snarfing OpenPGP keys (i.e., importing keys from articles into your
10581 key ring) is not supported explicitly through a menu item or command,
10582 rather Gnus do detect and label keys as @samp{application/pgp-keys},
10583 allowing you to specify whatever action you think is appropriate
10584 through the usual @acronym{MIME} infrastructure. You can use a
10585 @file{~/.mailcap} entry (@pxref{mailcap, , mailcap, emacs-mime, The
10586 Emacs MIME Manual}) such as the following to import keys using GNU
10587 Privacy Guard when you click on the @acronym{MIME} button
10588 (@pxref{Using MIME}).
10591 application/pgp-keys; gpg --import --interactive --verbose; needsterminal
10594 This happens to also be the default action defined in
10595 @code{mailcap-mime-data}.
10598 @section Mailing List
10599 @cindex mailing list
10602 @kindex A M (summary)
10603 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10604 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10605 add a @code{to-list} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10606 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10609 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10614 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10615 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10616 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10619 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10620 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10621 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10624 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10625 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10626 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10630 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10631 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10632 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
10635 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
10636 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10637 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
10640 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
10641 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10642 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
10647 @node Article Buffer
10648 @chapter Article Buffer
10649 @cindex article buffer
10651 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
10652 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
10653 tell gnus otherwise.
10656 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
10657 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
10658 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
10659 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
10660 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
10664 @node Hiding Headers
10665 @section Hiding Headers
10666 @cindex hiding headers
10667 @cindex deleting headers
10669 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
10670 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
10672 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
10673 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
10674 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
10675 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
10676 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
10677 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
10678 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseam---and you'll probably want to get rid
10679 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
10680 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
10682 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
10686 @item gnus-visible-headers
10687 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
10688 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
10689 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
10690 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
10692 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
10693 the article and the subject, you'd say:
10696 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
10699 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10702 @item gnus-ignored-headers
10703 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
10704 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
10705 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
10706 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
10707 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
10709 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} field
10710 and the @code{Xref} field, you might say:
10713 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
10716 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10719 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
10720 variable will have no effect.
10724 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
10725 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
10726 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
10727 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
10728 the headers are to be displayed.
10730 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
10731 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10734 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10737 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10738 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10740 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10741 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10742 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10743 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10744 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10745 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
10746 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10749 These conditions are:
10752 Remove all empty headers.
10754 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10755 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10757 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
10758 @code{From} header, or if the @code{broken-reply-to} group parameter is
10761 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10764 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10765 the current group's @code{to-address} parameter.
10767 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10768 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
10770 Remove the @code{CC} header if it only contains the address identical to
10771 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
10773 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10776 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10778 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10781 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
10784 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10785 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10788 This is also the default value for this variable.
10792 @section Using MIME
10793 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
10795 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10796 while people stand around yawning.
10798 @acronym{MIME}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10799 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10801 @acronym{MIME} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10802 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10803 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10805 @vindex gnus-show-mime
10806 @vindex gnus-article-display-method-for-mime
10807 @findex gnus-article-display-mime-message
10808 gnus handles @acronym{MIME} by pushing the articles through
10809 @code{gnus-article-display-method-for-mime}, which is
10810 @code{gnus-article-display-mime-message} by default. This function
10811 calls the @acronym{SEMI} MIME-View program to actually do the work. For
10812 more information on @acronym{SEMI} MIME-View, see its manual page
10813 (however it is not existed yet, sorry).
10815 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
10816 @acronym{MIME} all the time. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime} set,
10817 then you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article buffer.
10818 These can't be avoided.
10820 In GNUS or Gnus, it might be best to just use the toggling functions
10821 from the summary buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance,
10822 you enter the group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it,
10823 @acronym{MIME} has decoded the sound file in the article and some
10824 horrible sing-a-long song comes screaming out your speakers, and you
10825 can't find the volume button, because there isn't one, and people are
10826 starting to look at you, and you try to stop the program, but you can't,
10827 and you can't find the program to control the volume, and everybody else
10828 in the room suddenly decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll
10829 feel rather stupid.)
10831 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
10833 To avoid such kind of situation, gnus stops to use
10834 @code{metamail-buffer}. So now, you can set @code{gnus-show-mime} to
10835 non-@code{nil} every-time, then you can push button in the article
10836 buffer when there are nobody else.
10838 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
10841 @node Customizing Articles
10842 @section Customizing Articles
10843 @cindex article customization
10845 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
10846 exist. You can call these functions interactively
10847 (@pxref{Article Washing}), or you can have them
10848 called automatically when you select the articles.
10850 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
10851 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
10852 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
10853 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
10855 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
10856 for sensible values.
10860 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
10863 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
10866 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
10869 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
10872 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
10876 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
10877 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
10878 regexps in the list.
10881 A list where the first element is not a string:
10883 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
10884 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
10885 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
10889 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
10893 @code{mime}: Do this treatment if the value of @code{gnus-show-mime}' is
10898 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
10899 to the fact that some messages are @acronym{MIME} multipart articles that may
10900 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
10901 considered to contain just a single part.
10903 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
10904 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
10905 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
10906 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
10907 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
10908 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
10909 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
10911 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
10912 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
10913 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
10914 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
10917 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
10918 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
10920 @xref{Article Buttons}.
10922 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
10923 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
10924 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
10925 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
10926 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
10927 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
10928 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
10929 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
10930 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
10931 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
10932 @item gnus-treat-decode-article-as-default-mime-charset (t, integer)
10934 @xref{Article Washing}.
10936 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
10937 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
10938 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
10939 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
10940 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
10941 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
10942 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
10944 @xref{Article Date}.
10946 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
10947 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
10948 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
10952 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
10954 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
10956 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
10957 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
10958 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
10962 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
10966 @item gnus-treat-display-face (head)
10970 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
10971 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
10972 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
10973 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
10974 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
10975 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
10976 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
10977 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
10978 @item gnus-treat-strip-banner (t, last)
10979 @item gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers (head)
10981 @xref{Article Hiding}.
10983 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
10984 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
10985 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
10987 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
10989 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
10990 @item gnus-treat-translate
10991 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
10993 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
10994 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
10995 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
10996 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
10998 @xref{Article Header}.
11003 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
11004 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
11005 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
11006 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
11007 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
11011 @node Article Keymap
11012 @section Article Keymap
11014 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
11015 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
11016 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
11017 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
11020 A few additional keystrokes are available:
11025 @kindex SPACE (Article)
11026 @findex gnus-article-next-page
11027 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
11028 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h SPACE h}.
11031 @kindex DEL (Article)
11032 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
11033 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
11034 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h DEL h}.
11037 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
11038 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
11039 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
11040 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
11041 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
11044 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
11045 @findex gnus-article-mail
11046 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
11047 given a prefix, include the mail.
11050 @kindex s (Article)
11051 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
11052 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
11053 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
11056 @kindex ? (Article)
11057 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
11058 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
11059 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
11062 @kindex TAB (Article)
11063 @findex gnus-article-next-button
11064 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
11065 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
11068 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
11069 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
11070 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
11073 @kindex R (Article)
11074 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
11075 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
11076 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
11077 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
11081 @kindex F (Article)
11082 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
11083 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
11084 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
11085 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
11093 @section Misc Article
11097 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
11098 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
11099 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
11100 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
11103 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
11104 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
11105 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
11106 Hook used to decode @acronym{MIME} articles. The default value is
11107 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
11109 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
11110 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
11111 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
11112 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
11113 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
11114 the contents of the article buffer.
11116 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
11117 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
11118 Hook called in article mode buffers.
11120 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
11121 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
11122 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
11123 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
11125 @vindex gnus-article-over-scroll
11126 @item gnus-article-over-scroll
11127 If non-@code{nil}, allow scrolling the article buffer even when there
11128 no more new text to scroll in. The default is @code{nil}.
11130 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
11131 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
11132 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
11133 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
11134 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
11140 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
11141 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
11142 performed. The characters and their meaning:
11147 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
11150 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
11153 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
11154 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
11155 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
11158 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
11161 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
11164 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
11169 The number of @acronym{MIME} parts in the article.
11173 @vindex gnus-break-pages
11175 @item gnus-break-pages
11176 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
11177 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
11178 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
11179 paging will not be done.
11181 @item gnus-page-delimiter
11182 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
11183 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
11187 @cindex internationalized domain names
11188 @vindex gnus-use-idna
11189 @item gnus-use-idna
11190 This variable controls whether Gnus performs IDNA decoding of
11191 internationalized domain names inside @samp{From}, @samp{To} and
11192 @samp{Cc} headers. This requires
11193 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/, GNU Libidn}, and this
11194 variable is only enabled if you have installed it.
11199 @node Composing Messages
11200 @chapter Composing Messages
11201 @cindex composing messages
11204 @cindex sending mail
11209 @cindex using s/mime
11210 @cindex using smime
11212 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
11213 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
11214 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
11215 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
11216 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
11217 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
11220 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
11221 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
11222 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
11223 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
11224 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
11225 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
11226 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
11227 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
11230 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
11231 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
11237 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
11240 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
11241 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
11242 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
11243 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
11244 @code{nil} include all headers.
11246 @item gnus-add-to-list
11247 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
11248 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
11249 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
11251 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11252 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11253 This can also be a function receiving the group name as the only
11254 parameter which should return non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is
11255 needed, or a regular expression matching group names, where
11256 confirmation is should be asked for.
11258 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
11259 press R anyway, this variable might be for you.
11261 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11262 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11263 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
11264 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
11265 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
11270 @node Posting Server
11271 @section Posting Server
11273 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
11274 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
11276 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
11278 It can be quite complicated.
11280 @vindex gnus-post-method
11281 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
11282 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
11283 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
11284 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
11285 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
11286 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
11287 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
11288 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
11289 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
11292 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
11295 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
11296 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
11297 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
11298 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
11300 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
11301 gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
11303 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
11304 If that's the case, gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
11307 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
11308 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
11310 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
11311 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
11312 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
11313 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
11314 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @acronym{SMTP}
11315 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
11316 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
11317 package correctly. An example:
11320 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
11321 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11322 ;; The following variable needs to be set because of the FLIM version of
11323 ;; smtpmail.el. Which smtpmail.el is used depends on the `load-path'.
11324 (setq smtp-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11327 To the thing similar to this, there is
11328 @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}. It is useful if your ISP requires
11329 the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication. See the
11330 documentation for the function @code{mail-source-touch-pop}.
11332 Other possible choices for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
11333 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
11334 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
11336 @node Mail and Post
11337 @section Mail and Post
11339 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
11343 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
11344 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
11345 @cindex mailing lists
11347 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
11348 gatewayed to the @acronym{NNTP} server, you can read those groups without
11349 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
11350 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
11351 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
11352 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
11353 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
11354 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
11355 still a pain, though.
11357 @item gnus-user-agent
11358 @vindex gnus-user-agent
11361 This variable controls which information should be exposed in the
11362 User-Agent header. It can be one of the symbols @code{gnus} (show only
11363 Gnus version), @code{emacs-gnus} (show only Emacs and Gnus versions),
11364 @code{emacs-gnus-config} (same as @code{emacs-gnus} plus system
11365 configuration), @code{emacs-gnus-type} (same as @code{emacs-gnus} plus
11366 system type) or a custom string. If you set it to a string, be sure to
11367 use a valid format, see RFC 2616.
11371 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
11372 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
11373 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
11376 @findex ispell-message
11378 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
11381 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
11382 you're in, you could say something like the following:
11385 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
11389 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
11390 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
11392 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
11395 Modify to suit your needs.
11398 @node Archived Messages
11399 @section Archived Messages
11400 @cindex archived messages
11401 @cindex sent messages
11403 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
11404 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
11405 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
11406 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
11409 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
11410 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
11413 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
11414 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server gnus is to
11415 use to store sent messages. The default is:
11418 (nnfolder "archive"
11419 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
11420 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
11421 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
11422 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
11425 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
11426 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
11427 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
11428 directory chosen, you could say something like:
11431 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
11432 '(nnfolder "archive"
11433 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
11434 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
11435 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
11438 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
11440 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
11441 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
11442 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
11444 This variable can be used to do the following:
11449 Messages will be saved in that group.
11451 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
11452 message will not be stored in the select method given by
11453 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
11454 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
11455 has the default value shown above. Then setting
11456 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
11457 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
11458 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
11462 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
11464 an alist of regexps, functions and forms
11465 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
11468 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
11473 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
11475 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
11478 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
11480 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
11483 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
11485 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11486 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
11487 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
11488 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
11491 More complex stuff:
11493 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11494 '((if (message-news-p)
11499 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
11500 messages in one file per month:
11503 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11504 '((if (message-news-p)
11506 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
11509 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
11510 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
11512 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
11513 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
11514 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
11515 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
11516 gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
11517 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
11518 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
11519 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
11520 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
11521 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
11523 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
11524 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
11525 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
11526 this will disable archiving.
11529 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
11530 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
11531 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
11532 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
11533 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
11536 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
11537 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
11538 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
11541 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
11542 but the latter is the preferred method.
11544 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11545 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11546 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
11548 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11549 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11550 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
11551 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
11552 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
11553 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
11554 changed in the future.
11559 @node Posting Styles
11560 @section Posting Styles
11561 @cindex posting styles
11564 All them variables, they make my head swim.
11566 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
11567 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
11568 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
11571 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
11572 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
11573 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
11574 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
11575 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
11580 (signature "Peace and happiness")
11581 (organization "What me?"))
11583 (signature "Death to everybody"))
11584 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
11585 (organization "Emacs is it")))
11588 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
11589 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
11590 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
11591 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
11592 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
11593 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
11594 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
11595 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
11597 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
11598 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
11599 If it is the form @code{(header @var{match} @var{regexp})}, then Gnus
11600 will look in the original article for a header whose name is
11601 @var{match} and compare that @var{regexp}. @var{match} and
11602 @var{regexp} are strings. (There original article is the one you are
11603 replying or following up to. If you are not composing a reply or a
11604 followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
11605 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with
11606 no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
11607 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
11608 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is
11609 said to @dfn{match}.
11611 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
11612 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
11613 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
11614 @code{x-face-file}, @code{address} (overriding
11615 @code{user-mail-address}), @code{name} (overriding
11616 @code{(user-full-name)}) or @code{body}. The attribute name can also
11617 be a string or a symbol. In that case, this will be used as a header
11618 name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the article; if
11619 the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed. If the
11620 attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the result
11623 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
11624 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
11625 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
11626 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
11627 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
11628 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
11629 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
11630 references chars lines xref extra.
11632 @vindex message-reply-headers
11634 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
11635 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
11636 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
11638 @findex message-mail-p
11639 @findex message-news-p
11641 So here's a new example:
11644 (setq gnus-posting-styles
11646 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11648 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11649 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11651 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
11652 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; @r{A form}
11653 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
11654 (message-news-p ;; @r{A function symbol}
11655 (signature my-news-signature))
11656 (window-system ;; @r{A value symbol}
11657 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
11658 ;; @r{If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.}
11659 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
11660 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
11661 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; @r{A user defined function}
11662 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
11663 (address "user@@bar.foo")
11664 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
11665 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
11667 (From (save-excursion
11668 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
11669 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
11671 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
11674 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
11675 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
11676 if you fill many roles.
11678 Setting the @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} variable will make
11679 posting-styles allow to have distinctive names. You can specify an
11680 arbitrary posting-style when article posting with @kbd{S P} in the
11681 summary buffer. @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} is an alist which maps
11682 the names to styles. Once a posting-style is added to the alist, we can
11683 import it from @code{gnus-posting-styles}. If an attribute whose name
11684 is @code{import} is found, Gnus will look for the attribute value in
11685 @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} and expand it in place.
11690 (setq gnus-named-posting-styles
11692 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11694 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11695 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11698 (organization "The Church of Emacs"))))
11701 The posting-style named "Emacs" will inherit all the attributes from
11702 "Default" except @code{organization}.
11709 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
11710 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
11711 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
11712 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
11713 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
11715 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
11716 some sort using the gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
11717 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
11718 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
11719 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
11723 @vindex nndraft-directory
11724 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
11725 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
11726 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
11727 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
11728 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
11729 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
11731 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
11732 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
11733 unsubscribe it. The special properties of the draft group comes from
11734 a group property (@pxref{Group Parameters}), and if lost the group
11735 behaves like any other group. This means the commands below will not
11736 be available. To restore the special properties of the group, the
11737 simplest way is to kill the group, using @kbd{C-k}, and restart
11738 Gnus. The group is automatically created again with the
11739 correct parameters. The content of the group is not lost.
11741 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
11742 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
11743 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
11744 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
11745 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
11746 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
11747 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
11748 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
11749 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
11750 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
11751 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
11752 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
11753 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
11754 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
11756 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
11757 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
11758 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
11760 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
11761 @kindex D e (Draft)
11762 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
11763 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
11764 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
11766 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
11769 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
11770 @kindex D s (Draft)
11771 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
11772 @kindex D S (Draft)
11773 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
11774 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
11775 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
11776 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
11777 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
11780 @findex gnus-draft-toggle-sending
11781 @kindex D t (Draft)
11782 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
11783 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
11784 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
11787 @node Rejected Articles
11788 @section Rejected Articles
11789 @cindex rejected articles
11791 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
11792 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
11793 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
11794 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
11796 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of gnus.
11797 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
11798 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
11799 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So gnus saves these
11800 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
11802 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
11803 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
11804 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
11806 @node Signing and encrypting
11807 @section Signing and encrypting
11809 @cindex using s/mime
11810 @cindex using smime
11812 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla
11813 @acronym{PGP} format or @acronym{PGP/MIME} or @acronym{S/MIME}. For
11814 decoding such messages, see the @code{mm-verify-option} and
11815 @code{mm-decrypt-option} options (@pxref{Security}).
11817 @vindex gnus-message-replysign
11818 @vindex gnus-message-replyencrypt
11819 @vindex gnus-message-replysignencrypted
11820 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
11821 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
11822 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
11823 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
11824 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
11825 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
11826 automatically encrypted messages.
11828 Instructing MML to perform security operations on a @acronym{MIME} part is
11829 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c
11830 C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
11835 @kindex C-c C-m s s
11836 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
11838 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
11841 @kindex C-c C-m s o
11842 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11844 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP}.
11847 @kindex C-c C-m s p
11848 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11850 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
11853 @kindex C-c C-m c s
11854 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
11856 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
11859 @kindex C-c C-m c o
11860 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
11862 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP}.
11865 @kindex C-c C-m c p
11866 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
11868 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
11871 @kindex C-c C-m C-n
11872 @findex mml-unsecure-message
11873 Remove security related MML tags from message.
11877 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
11879 @node Select Methods
11880 @chapter Select Methods
11881 @cindex foreign groups
11882 @cindex select methods
11884 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
11885 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
11886 @acronym{NNTP} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
11887 personal mail group.
11889 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
11890 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
11891 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
11892 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
11893 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
11894 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
11896 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
11897 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
11899 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
11902 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @acronym{NNTP} server
11903 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
11904 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
11905 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
11906 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
11908 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
11911 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
11912 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
11913 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
11914 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
11915 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @acronym{IMAP} client.
11916 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
11917 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
11918 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
11922 @node Server Buffer
11923 @section Server Buffer
11925 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
11926 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
11927 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
11928 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
11929 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
11930 back end represents a virtual server.
11932 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
11933 different actual @acronym{NNTP} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
11934 on the same actual @acronym{NNTP} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
11935 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
11937 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
11938 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
11939 @acronym{NNTP} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
11940 hangs if queried for @acronym{NOV} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
11941 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
11942 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
11943 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
11945 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
11946 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
11949 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
11950 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
11951 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
11952 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
11953 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
11954 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
11955 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
11958 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
11959 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
11962 @node Server Buffer Format
11963 @subsection Server Buffer Format
11964 @cindex server buffer format
11966 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
11967 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
11968 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
11969 variable, with some simple extensions:
11974 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
11977 The name of this server.
11980 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
11983 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
11986 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
11987 The mode line can also be customized by using the
11988 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
11989 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
11999 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
12002 @node Server Commands
12003 @subsection Server Commands
12004 @cindex server commands
12010 @findex gnus-server-add-server
12011 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
12015 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
12016 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
12019 @kindex SPACE (Server)
12020 @findex gnus-server-read-server
12021 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
12025 @findex gnus-server-exit
12026 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
12030 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
12031 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
12035 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
12036 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
12040 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
12041 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
12045 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
12046 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
12050 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
12051 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
12052 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
12057 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
12058 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
12059 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
12060 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
12065 @node Example Methods
12066 @subsection Example Methods
12068 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
12071 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
12074 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
12080 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
12081 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
12084 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
12085 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
12087 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
12088 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
12092 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
12095 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
12096 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
12098 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
12099 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
12100 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
12104 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
12107 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
12110 Here's the method for a public spool:
12114 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
12115 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
12121 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @acronym{NNTP}
12122 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
12123 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
12124 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
12125 should probably look something like this:
12129 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
12130 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
12131 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
12132 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
12135 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
12136 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
12137 configuration to the example above:
12140 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
12143 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}.
12145 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
12146 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
12147 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
12151 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12152 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
12153 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
12154 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
12157 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
12158 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
12159 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
12160 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
12163 @node Creating a Virtual Server
12164 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
12166 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
12167 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
12169 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
12170 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
12171 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
12173 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
12175 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
12176 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
12177 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
12178 will contain the following:
12188 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
12189 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
12190 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
12193 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
12194 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
12195 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
12198 @node Server Variables
12199 @subsection Server Variables
12200 @cindex server variables
12201 @cindex server parameters
12203 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
12204 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
12205 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
12206 change the ``base'' variable after the variables have been loaded, you
12207 won't change the ``derived'' variables.
12209 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
12210 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
12211 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
12212 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
12213 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
12214 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
12215 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
12216 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
12217 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
12221 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
12222 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
12223 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
12226 Server variables are often called @dfn{server parameters}.
12228 @node Servers and Methods
12229 @subsection Servers and Methods
12231 Wherever you would normally use a select method
12232 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
12233 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
12234 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
12238 @node Unavailable Servers
12239 @subsection Unavailable Servers
12241 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
12242 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
12243 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
12244 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
12245 actually the case or not.
12247 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
12248 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
12249 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
12250 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
12251 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
12252 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
12253 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
12254 it will regard that server as ``down''.
12256 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
12257 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
12259 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
12260 with the following commands:
12266 @findex gnus-server-open-server
12267 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
12268 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
12272 @findex gnus-server-close-server
12273 Close the connection (if any) to the server
12274 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
12278 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
12279 Mark the current server as unreachable
12280 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
12283 @kindex M-o (Server)
12284 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
12285 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
12286 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
12289 @kindex M-c (Server)
12290 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
12291 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
12292 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
12296 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
12297 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
12298 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
12302 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
12303 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
12309 @section Getting News
12310 @cindex reading news
12311 @cindex news back ends
12313 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
12314 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @acronym{NNTP} server,
12315 or it can read from a local spool.
12318 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
12319 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
12327 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @acronym{NNTP} server is rather easy.
12328 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @acronym{NNTP}
12329 server as the, uhm, address.
12331 If the @acronym{NNTP} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
12332 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
12333 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
12334 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12336 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
12337 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
12338 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
12340 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
12345 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
12346 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
12347 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
12349 @cindex authentification
12350 @cindex nntp authentification
12351 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12352 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
12353 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
12354 commands to the @acronym{NNTP} server after it has been contacted. By
12355 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
12356 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
12357 present in this hook.
12359 @item nntp-authinfo-function
12360 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
12361 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12362 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
12363 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @acronym{NNTP}
12364 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
12365 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
12366 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
12367 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
12368 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
12369 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
12370 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
12374 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
12377 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
12379 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
12380 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
12381 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
12382 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
12383 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
12384 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
12385 @samp{force} is explained below.
12389 Here's an example file:
12392 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
12393 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
12396 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
12397 have to be first, for instance.
12399 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
12400 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
12401 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
12402 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
12403 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
12404 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
12405 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
12407 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
12408 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
12414 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
12415 previously mentioned.
12417 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
12419 @item nntp-server-action-alist
12420 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
12421 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
12422 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
12423 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
12426 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
12427 '(("innd" (ding))))
12430 You probably don't want to do that, though.
12432 The default value is
12435 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
12436 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
12437 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
12440 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
12441 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
12443 @item nntp-maximum-request
12444 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
12445 If the @acronym{NNTP} server doesn't support @acronym{NOV} headers, this back end
12446 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
12447 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
12448 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
12449 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
12450 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
12452 @item nntp-connection-timeout
12453 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
12454 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
12455 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @acronym{NNTP} servers not
12456 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
12457 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
12458 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
12459 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
12460 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
12461 no timeouts are done.
12463 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
12464 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
12465 @c @cindex PPP connections
12466 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
12467 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
12468 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
12469 @c changes after connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server, Gnus will simply sit
12470 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
12471 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
12472 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
12473 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
12474 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
12475 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
12477 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
12478 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
12479 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
12480 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
12481 @c described above.
12483 @item nntp-server-hook
12484 @vindex nntp-server-hook
12485 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @acronym{NNTP}
12488 @item nntp-buggy-select
12489 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
12490 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
12492 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
12493 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
12494 If the @acronym{NNTP} server does not support @acronym{NOV}, you could set this
12495 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @acronym{NOV}
12498 @item nntp-xover-commands
12499 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
12500 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
12502 List of strings used as commands to fetch @acronym{NOV} lines from a
12503 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
12507 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
12508 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @acronym{NOV} lines to
12509 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
12510 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
12511 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @acronym{NOV}
12512 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
12513 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
12514 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
12515 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
12516 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
12517 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
12519 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
12520 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
12521 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @acronym{NNTP} server.
12523 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12524 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12525 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
12526 server closes connection.
12528 @item nntp-record-commands
12529 @vindex nntp-record-commands
12530 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
12531 @acronym{NNTP} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
12532 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@acronym{NNTP} connection
12533 that doesn't seem to work.
12535 @item nntp-open-connection-function
12536 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
12537 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
12538 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
12539 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
12540 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
12541 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
12542 indirect ones (two pre-made).
12544 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
12545 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
12546 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
12547 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
12548 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
12549 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
12550 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
12553 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
12556 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
12557 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
12559 @item nntp-read-timeout
12560 @vindex nntp-read-timeout
12561 How long nntp should wait between checking for the end of output.
12562 Shorter values mean quicker response, but is more CPU intensive. The
12563 default is 0.1 seconds. If you have a slow line to the server (and
12564 don't like to see Emacs eat your available CPU power), you might set
12567 @item nntp-list-options
12568 @vindex nntp-list-options
12569 List of newsgroup name used for a option of the LIST command to restrict
12570 the listing output to only the specified newsgroups. Each newsgroup name
12571 can be a shell-style wildcard, for instance, @dfn{fj.*}, @dfn{japan.*},
12572 etc. Fortunately, if the server can accept such a option, it will
12573 probably make gnus run faster. You may use it as a server variable as
12577 (setq gnus-select-method
12578 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12579 (nntp-list-options ("fj.*" "japan.*"))))
12582 @item nntp-options-subscribe
12583 @vindex nntp-options-subscribe
12584 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will be subscribed
12585 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12586 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12587 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12588 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12591 (setq gnus-select-method
12592 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12593 (nntp-options-subscribe "^fj\\.\\|^japan\\.")))
12596 @item nntp-options-not-subscribe
12597 @vindex nntp-options-not-subscribe
12598 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will not be subscribed
12599 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12600 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12601 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12602 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12605 (setq gnus-select-method
12606 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12607 (nntp-options-not-subscribe "\\.binaries\\.")))
12612 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
12613 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
12614 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
12618 @node Direct Functions
12619 @subsubsection Direct Functions
12620 @cindex direct connection functions
12622 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
12623 between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server. The behavior of these
12624 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
12625 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12628 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
12629 @item nntp-open-network-stream
12630 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
12633 @findex nntp-open-tls-stream
12634 @item nntp-open-tls-stream
12635 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12636 this you must have @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/, GNUTLS}
12637 installed. You then define a server as follows:
12640 ;; @r{"nntps" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
12641 ;; @r{however, @samp{gnutls-cli -p} doesn't like named ports.}
12643 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12644 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-tls-stream)
12645 (nntp-port-number )
12646 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12649 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
12650 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
12651 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12652 this you must have @uref{http://www.openssl.org, OpenSSL} or
12653 @uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL, SSLeay} installed. You
12654 then define a server as follows:
12657 ;; @r{"snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
12658 ;; @r{however, @samp{openssl s_client -port} doesn't like named ports.}
12660 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12661 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
12662 (nntp-port-number 563)
12663 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12666 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
12667 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
12668 Opens a connection to an @acronym{NNTP} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
12669 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
12670 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
12671 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
12672 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
12673 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
12677 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12678 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
12679 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
12682 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
12683 session, which is not a good idea.
12687 @node Indirect Functions
12688 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
12689 @cindex indirect connection functions
12691 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
12692 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
12693 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
12694 the ``via'' family of connection: they're all prefixed with ``via'' to make
12695 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
12696 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12699 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12700 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12701 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
12702 to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from there. This is useful for instance if
12703 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
12705 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12708 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12709 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12710 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12711 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12713 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12714 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12715 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12716 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
12717 @samp{ssh} for @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}, you may set this to
12718 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
12719 this to @samp{("-t" "-e" "none")} or @samp{("-C" "-t" "-e" "none")} if
12720 the telnet command requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate
12724 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12725 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12726 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
12727 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
12729 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12732 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
12733 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
12734 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
12737 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
12738 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
12739 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12740 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
12742 @item nntp-via-user-password
12743 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
12744 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
12746 @item nntp-via-envuser
12747 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
12748 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
12749 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
12750 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
12752 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
12753 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
12754 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
12755 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
12762 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
12767 @item nntp-via-user-name
12768 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
12769 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
12771 @item nntp-via-address
12772 @vindex nntp-via-address
12773 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
12778 @node Common Variables
12779 @subsubsection Common Variables
12781 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
12782 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
12787 @item nntp-pre-command
12788 @vindex nntp-pre-command
12789 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native
12790 connection function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream},
12791 @code{nntp-open-tls-stream}, and @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is
12792 where you would put a @samp{SOCKS} wrapper for instance.
12795 @vindex nntp-address
12796 The address of the @acronym{NNTP} server.
12798 @item nntp-port-number
12799 @vindex nntp-port-number
12800 Port number to connect to the @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
12801 @samp{nntp}. If you use @acronym{NNTP} over
12802 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you may want to use integer ports rather
12803 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews} or
12804 @samp{nntps}), because external @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} tools may
12805 not work with named ports.
12807 @item nntp-end-of-line
12808 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
12809 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @acronym{NNTP}
12810 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
12811 using a non native connection function.
12813 @item nntp-telnet-command
12814 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
12815 Command to use when connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server through
12816 @samp{telnet}. This is @emph{not} for an intermediate host. This is
12817 just for the real @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
12820 @item nntp-telnet-switches
12821 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
12822 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
12829 @subsection News Spool
12833 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
12834 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
12835 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
12838 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
12839 anything else) as the address.
12841 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
12842 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
12843 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
12844 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
12848 @item nnspool-inews-program
12849 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
12850 Program used to post an article.
12852 @item nnspool-inews-switches
12853 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
12854 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
12856 @item nnspool-spool-directory
12857 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
12858 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
12859 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
12861 @item nnspool-nov-directory
12862 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
12863 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @acronym{NOV} files. This is normally@*
12864 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
12866 @item nnspool-lib-dir
12867 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
12868 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
12870 @item nnspool-active-file
12871 @vindex nnspool-active-file
12872 The name of the active file.
12874 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
12875 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
12876 The name of the group descriptions file.
12878 @item nnspool-history-file
12879 @vindex nnspool-history-file
12880 The name of the news history file.
12882 @item nnspool-active-times-file
12883 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
12884 The name of the active date file.
12886 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
12887 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
12888 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @acronym{NOV} files
12891 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12892 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12894 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
12895 relevant portion from the overview file. If @code{nil},
12896 @code{nnspool} will load the entire file into a buffer and process it
12903 @section Getting Mail
12904 @cindex reading mail
12907 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
12911 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
12912 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
12913 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
12914 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
12915 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
12916 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
12917 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
12918 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
12919 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
12920 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
12921 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
12922 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
12923 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
12927 @node Mail in a Newsreader
12928 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
12930 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
12931 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
12932 of a culture shock.
12934 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
12935 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
12937 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
12938 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
12939 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
12940 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
12942 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
12944 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
12945 deleted? How awful!
12947 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
12948 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
12949 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
12950 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
12953 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
12954 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
12955 they want to treat a message.
12957 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
12958 via @acronym{SMTP}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
12959 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
12960 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
12961 archived somewhere else.
12963 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
12964 These are transported via @acronym{NNTP}, and are therefore news. But we may need
12965 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
12966 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
12967 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
12969 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
12970 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
12971 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
12973 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
12974 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
12977 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
12978 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
12979 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
12980 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
12981 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
12983 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
12984 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
12985 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
12986 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
12987 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
12988 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
12992 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
12993 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
12995 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
12996 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
12997 and things will happen automatically.
12999 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a ``one file per
13000 mail'' back end), you could put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
13003 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
13006 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
13007 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
13008 directory, which is @file{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
13009 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
13010 like any other group.
13012 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
13015 (setq nnmail-split-methods
13016 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13017 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
13021 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
13022 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
13023 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
13026 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
13027 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
13028 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
13031 @node Splitting Mail
13032 @subsection Splitting Mail
13033 @cindex splitting mail
13034 @cindex mail splitting
13035 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
13037 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
13038 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
13039 to be split into groups.
13042 (setq nnmail-split-methods
13043 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13044 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
13045 ("mail.other" "")))
13048 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
13049 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
13050 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
13051 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
13052 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
13053 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
13054 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
13057 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
13060 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
13061 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
13062 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
13063 mail belongs in that group.
13065 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
13066 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{*} so that it matches any mails
13067 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
13068 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
13069 rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have crossposting enabled.
13070 In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.)
13072 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
13073 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
13074 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
13075 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
13076 thinks should carry this mail message.
13078 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
13079 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
13080 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
13081 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
13083 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
13084 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
13085 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
13086 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
13087 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{*}) group.
13089 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
13092 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
13093 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
13094 links. If that's the case for you, set
13095 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
13096 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
13098 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
13099 @findex nnmail-split-history
13100 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
13101 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
13102 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
13103 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
13106 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
13107 Header lines longer than the value of
13108 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
13111 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
13112 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
13113 By default the splitting codes @acronym{MIME} decodes headers so you
13114 can match on non-@acronym{ASCII} strings. The
13115 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset} variable specifies the default
13116 charset for decoding. The behaviour can be turned off completely by
13117 binding @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to @code{nil}, which is
13118 useful if you want to match articles based on the raw header data.
13120 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
13121 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If you
13122 specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable @code{mail-sources}
13123 @pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}, however, then splitting does
13124 @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
13125 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-@code{nil} value to make
13126 splitting happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on
13127 other kinds of entries.)
13129 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
13130 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
13131 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
13132 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
13133 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
13134 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
13135 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
13136 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
13137 month's rent money.
13141 @subsection Mail Sources
13143 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from
13144 a @acronym{POP} mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a
13145 maildir, for instance.
13148 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
13149 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
13150 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
13154 @node Mail Source Specifiers
13155 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
13157 @cindex mail server
13160 @cindex mail source
13162 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
13163 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
13168 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
13171 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
13172 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
13173 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
13176 The following mail source types are available:
13180 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
13186 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @env{MAIL}
13187 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
13188 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
13192 Script run before/after fetching mail.
13195 An example file mail source:
13198 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
13201 Or using the default file name:
13207 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best
13208 to use @acronym{POP} or @acronym{IMAP} or the like to fetch the mail.
13209 You can not use ange-ftp file names here---it has no way to lock the
13210 mail spool while moving the mail.
13212 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
13216 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
13219 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
13223 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
13226 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
13228 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
13231 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
13235 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
13236 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used
13237 when you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files.
13238 That is, there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that
13239 directory and groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool}
13240 will be put in the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix
13241 to be used instead of @code{.spool}.) Setting
13242 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-@code{nil} forces
13243 Gnus to scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful
13244 if you want to scan mail groups at a specified level.
13246 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
13247 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
13248 that to a non-@code{nil} value, then the normal splitting process is
13249 applied to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
13255 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
13259 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
13263 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
13264 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
13265 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
13266 predicate are considered.
13270 Script run before/after fetching mail.
13274 An example directory mail source:
13277 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
13282 Get mail from a @acronym{POP} server.
13288 The name of the @acronym{POP} server. The default is taken from the
13289 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13292 The port number of the @acronym{POP} server. This can be a number (eg,
13293 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
13294 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
13295 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
13296 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
13299 The user name to give to the @acronym{POP} server. The default is the login
13303 The password to give to the @acronym{POP} server. If not specified,
13304 the user is prompted.
13307 The program to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. This
13308 should be a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
13311 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
13314 The valid format specifier characters are:
13318 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
13319 included in this string.
13322 The name of the server.
13325 The port number of the server.
13328 The user name to use.
13331 The password to use.
13334 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13335 corresponding keywords.
13338 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13339 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13342 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13343 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13346 The function to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. The
13347 function is called with one parameter---the name of the file where the
13348 mail should be moved to.
13350 @item :authentication
13351 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
13352 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
13356 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this can be the symbol
13357 @code{ssl}, the symbol @code{tls} or others. The default is @code{nil}
13358 and use insecure connections. Note that for SSL/TLS, you need external
13359 programs and libraries:
13363 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL@. Requires OpenSSL (the program
13364 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
13365 library @samp{ssl.el}.
13367 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to SSL)@.
13368 Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
13373 Non-@code{nil} if mail is to be left on the server and UIDL used for
13374 message retrieval. The default is @code{nil}.
13378 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
13379 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
13381 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default @acronym{POP} server,
13382 using the default user name, and default fetcher:
13388 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
13391 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
13392 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
13395 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
13398 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
13402 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
13403 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
13404 contains exactly one mail.
13410 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
13411 taken from the @env{MAILDIR} environment variable or
13414 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
13415 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
13417 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
13418 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
13419 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
13422 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
13423 from locking problems).
13427 Two example maildir mail sources:
13430 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
13431 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
13435 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
13440 Get mail from a @acronym{IMAP} server. If you don't want to use
13441 @acronym{IMAP} as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie
13442 with nnimap), for some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar
13443 to a @acronym{POP} server and fetches articles from a given
13444 @acronym{IMAP} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for more information.
13446 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} and STARTTLS support you
13447 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
13453 The name of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is taken from the
13454 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13457 The port number of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
13458 @samp{993} for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} connections.
13461 The user name to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is the login
13465 The password to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. If not specified, the user is
13469 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
13470 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
13471 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{tls},
13472 @samp{ssl}, @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
13474 @item :authentication
13475 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
13476 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
13477 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
13478 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
13481 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
13482 mapped into the @code{imap-shell-program} variable. This should be a
13483 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
13489 The valid format specifier characters are:
13493 The name of the server.
13496 User name from @code{imap-default-user}.
13499 The port number of the server.
13502 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13503 corresponding keywords.
13506 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
13507 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
13510 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
13511 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
13512 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @acronym{IMAP} client and mark some
13513 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
13514 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
13515 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
13518 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
13519 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
13520 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
13521 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
13524 If non-@code{nil}, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the
13525 mailbox after finishing the fetch.
13529 An example @acronym{IMAP} mail source:
13532 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
13534 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
13538 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{www.hotmail.com},
13539 @uref{webmail.netscape.com}, @uref{www.netaddress.com},
13540 @uref{mail.yahoo.com}.
13542 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
13543 required for url "4.0pre.46".
13545 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
13551 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
13552 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
13555 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
13559 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
13563 If non-@code{nil}, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to
13564 trash folder after finishing the fetch.
13568 An example webmail source:
13571 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
13573 :password "secret")
13578 @item Common Keywords
13579 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
13585 If non-@code{nil}, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you
13586 use directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this
13591 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
13596 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
13597 useful when you use local mail and news.
13602 @subsubsection Function Interface
13604 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
13605 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
13606 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
13607 consider the following mail-source setting:
13610 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
13611 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
13614 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
13615 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
13616 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
13617 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
13618 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
13620 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
13623 @node Mail Source Customization
13624 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
13626 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
13627 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
13631 @item mail-source-crash-box
13632 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
13633 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is@*
13634 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
13636 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
13637 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
13638 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them. If
13639 @code{t}, delete the files immediately, if @code{nil}, never delete any
13640 files. If a positive number, delete files older than number of days
13641 (This will only happen, when receiving new mail). You may also set
13642 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} to @code{nil} and call
13643 @code{mail-source-delete-old-incoming} from a hook or interactively.
13645 @item mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
13646 @vindex mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
13647 If non-@code{nil}, ask for for confirmation before deleting old incoming
13648 files. This variable only applies when
13649 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is a positive number.
13651 @item mail-source-ignore-errors
13652 @vindex mail-source-ignore-errors
13653 If non-@code{nil}, ignore errors when reading mail from a mail source.
13655 @item mail-source-directory
13656 @vindex mail-source-directory
13657 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
13658 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
13659 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
13662 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13663 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13664 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
13665 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
13666 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
13667 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
13669 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
13670 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
13671 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
13673 @item mail-source-movemail-program
13674 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
13675 If non-@code{nil}, name of program for fetching new mail. If
13676 @code{nil}, @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
13681 @node Fetching Mail
13682 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
13684 @vindex mail-sources
13685 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
13686 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
13687 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
13688 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
13690 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
13691 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
13694 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a
13695 @acronym{POP} mail server, you'd say something like:
13700 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13701 :password "secret")))
13704 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
13708 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
13709 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13712 :password "secret")))
13716 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
13717 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
13718 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
13719 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
13720 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
13721 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
13725 @node Mail Back End Variables
13726 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
13728 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
13732 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13733 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13734 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
13735 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
13737 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
13738 @item nnmail-split-hook
13739 @findex gnus-article-decode-encoded-words
13740 @cindex RFC 1522 decoding
13741 @cindex RFC 2047 decoding
13742 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
13743 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
13744 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
13745 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
13746 in the buffer will show up in any files.
13747 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
13750 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13751 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13752 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13753 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13754 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
13755 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
13756 starting to handle the new mail) and
13757 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
13758 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
13759 default file modes the new mail files get:
13762 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13763 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
13765 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13766 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
13769 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
13770 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
13771 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
13772 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
13773 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
13774 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
13775 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
13777 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
13778 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
13779 @findex delete-file
13780 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
13782 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13783 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13784 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
13785 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
13786 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
13788 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13789 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13790 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
13791 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
13792 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
13794 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
13795 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
13796 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
13801 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
13802 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
13803 @cindex mail splitting
13804 @cindex fancy mail splitting
13806 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
13807 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
13808 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
13809 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
13810 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
13811 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
13813 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
13816 ;; @r{Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of}
13817 ;; @r{the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group}
13818 ;; @r{from real errors.}
13819 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
13821 ;; @r{Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant}
13822 ;; @r{groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the}
13823 ;; @r{(ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.}
13824 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
13825 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
13826 ;; @r{Other mailing lists@dots{}}
13827 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
13828 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
13829 ;; @r{Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent}
13830 ;; @r{cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to}
13831 ;; @r{the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the}
13832 ;; @r{message was really cross-posted.}
13833 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
13834 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
13835 ;; @r{People@dots{}}
13836 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
13837 ;; @r{Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.}
13841 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
13842 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
13843 the five possible split syntaxes:
13848 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
13849 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
13853 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
13854 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
13855 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
13856 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
13857 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
13858 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
13859 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
13860 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
13863 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13864 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
13865 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
13866 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
13869 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13870 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
13873 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
13874 (i.e., delete) this message. Use with extreme caution.
13877 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
13878 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
13879 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
13880 function should return a @var{split}.
13883 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
13884 body of the messages:
13887 (defun split-on-body ()
13889 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
13890 (goto-char (point-min))
13891 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
13895 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
13896 when the @code{:} function is run.
13899 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the
13900 first element is @code{!}, then @var{split} will be processed, and
13901 @var{func} will be called as a function with the result of @var{split}
13902 as argument. @var{func} should return a split.
13905 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
13909 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
13910 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
13911 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
13912 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
13913 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
13915 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
13916 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be Lisp symbols, in that case
13917 they are expanded as specified by the variable
13918 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells,
13919 where the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr}
13920 contains the associated value. Predefined entries in
13921 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist} include:
13925 Matches the @samp{From}, @samp{Sender} and @samp{Resent-From} fields.
13927 Matches the @samp{To}, @samp{Cc}, @samp{Apparently-To},
13928 @samp{Resent-To} and @samp{Resent-Cc} fields.
13930 Is the union of the @code{from} and @code{to} entries.
13933 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
13934 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
13935 when all this splitting is performed.
13937 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
13938 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
13939 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
13942 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
13945 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
13946 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
13948 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
13949 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
13950 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
13951 groupings 1 through 9.
13953 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
13954 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
13955 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
13956 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
13957 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
13958 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
13959 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
13960 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
13961 it once per thread.
13963 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates}
13964 and @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-@code{nil}
13965 value. And then you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}
13966 using the colon feature, like so:
13968 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; @r{or @code{delete}}
13969 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
13971 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
13972 ;; @r{other splits go here}
13976 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
13977 non-@code{nil}, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees
13978 in the file specified by the variable
13979 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, together with the group it is in
13980 (the group is omitted for non-mail messages). When mail splitting is
13981 invoked, the function @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks
13982 at the References (and In-Reply-To) header of each message to split
13983 and searches the file specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}
13984 for the message ids. When it has found a parent, it returns the
13985 corresponding group name unless the group name matches the regexp
13986 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is
13987 recommended that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a
13988 somewhat higher number than the default so that the message ids are
13989 still in the cache. (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some
13990 300 kBytes in size.)
13991 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13992 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
13993 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
13994 messages goes into the new group.
13996 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
13997 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
13998 outgoing messages are written to an `outgoing' group, you could set
13999 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
14000 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
14004 @node Group Mail Splitting
14005 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
14006 @cindex mail splitting
14007 @cindex group mail splitting
14009 @findex gnus-group-split
14010 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
14011 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
14012 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
14013 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
14014 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
14015 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
14016 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
14017 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
14019 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
14020 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
14021 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
14022 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
14024 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
14025 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
14026 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
14027 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
14028 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
14029 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
14030 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
14032 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
14033 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
14034 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
14035 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
14036 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
14037 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
14038 @code{gnus-group-split}.
14040 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
14041 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
14042 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
14043 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
14044 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
14045 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
14046 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
14047 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
14048 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
14049 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
14050 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
14051 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
14052 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
14054 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
14059 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
14060 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
14062 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
14063 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
14064 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
14065 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
14067 ((split-spec . catch-all))
14070 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
14071 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
14072 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
14075 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
14076 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
14077 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
14081 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
14082 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
14083 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
14087 (: gnus-group-split-fancy @var{groups} @var{no-crosspost} @var{catch-all})
14090 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
14091 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
14092 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
14093 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fall back
14094 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
14095 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
14096 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
14097 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
14098 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
14100 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
14101 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
14102 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
14103 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
14104 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
14105 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
14106 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
14107 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
14108 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
14110 @findex gnus-group-split-update
14111 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
14112 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
14113 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
14114 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
14115 you. For example, add to your @file{~/.gnus.el}:
14118 (gnus-group-split-setup @var{auto-update} @var{catch-all})
14121 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
14122 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
14123 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
14124 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
14125 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
14128 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
14129 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
14130 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
14131 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
14133 @node Incorporating Old Mail
14134 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
14135 @cindex incorporating old mail
14136 @cindex import old mail
14138 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
14139 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
14140 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
14143 Doing so can be quite easy.
14145 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
14146 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
14147 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
14148 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
14149 your @code{nnml} groups.
14155 Go to the group buffer.
14158 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
14159 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14162 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
14165 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
14166 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
14169 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
14170 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
14173 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
14174 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
14175 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
14176 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
14177 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
14179 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
14180 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
14181 using the new mail back end.
14184 @node Expiring Mail
14185 @subsection Expiring Mail
14186 @cindex article expiry
14188 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
14189 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
14190 different approach to mail reading.
14192 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
14193 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
14194 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
14195 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
14196 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
14197 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
14200 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
14201 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default key bindings, this means
14202 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
14203 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
14204 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
14205 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
14206 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
14207 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
14208 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
14210 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
14211 two features, called `auto-expire' and `total-expire', that can help you
14212 with this. In a nutshell, `auto-expire' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
14213 for you when you select an article. And `total-expire' means that Gnus
14214 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
14215 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
14216 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
14219 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
14220 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
14221 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
14222 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
14223 into its own group.)
14225 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
14226 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
14227 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
14228 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
14229 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
14230 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
14231 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring @pxref{Adaptive
14232 Scoring}. Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
14235 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
14236 Groups that match the regular expression
14237 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
14238 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
14239 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
14241 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
14242 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
14243 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
14244 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
14245 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
14247 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
14249 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
14250 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
14251 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
14254 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
14255 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
14256 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
14257 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
14258 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
14260 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
14261 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
14264 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
14265 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
14268 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
14269 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
14271 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
14272 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
14273 don't really mix very well.
14275 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
14276 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
14277 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
14278 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
14281 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
14282 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
14283 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
14284 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
14287 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
14289 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
14291 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
14293 ((string= group "mail.junk")
14295 ((string= group "important")
14301 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
14302 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
14304 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
14305 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
14306 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
14309 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
14310 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
14312 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
14313 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
14314 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
14315 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
14316 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
14317 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
14318 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
14319 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
14320 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
14321 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
14322 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
14323 from as its parameter) which should return a target---either a group
14324 name or @code{delete}.
14326 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
14328 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
14331 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14332 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14333 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
14334 expire mail to groups according to the variable
14335 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
14338 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14339 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14340 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
14341 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
14342 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
14345 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
14346 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
14347 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
14348 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
14349 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
14350 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
14352 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
14353 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
14354 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
14355 easier for procmail users.
14357 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
14358 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
14359 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
14360 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
14361 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
14362 caution. Even more dangerous is the
14363 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
14364 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
14365 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
14366 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
14367 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
14368 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
14369 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
14372 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
14374 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
14375 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
14376 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
14377 auto-expire turned on.
14381 @subsection Washing Mail
14382 @cindex mail washing
14383 @cindex list server brain damage
14384 @cindex incoming mail treatment
14386 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
14387 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
14388 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
14389 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
14390 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
14391 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
14393 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
14394 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
14395 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
14398 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
14399 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
14400 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
14401 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
14404 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14405 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14406 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
14407 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
14408 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
14411 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14412 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14413 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
14414 Emacs running on MS machines.
14418 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14419 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14420 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
14421 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
14424 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14425 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14426 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
14427 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
14429 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
14430 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
14431 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
14432 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
14433 into a feature by documenting it.)
14435 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14436 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14437 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
14438 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
14439 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
14440 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
14441 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
14444 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
14445 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
14448 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
14449 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
14452 This can also be done non-destructively with
14453 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
14455 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
14456 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
14457 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
14459 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14460 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14462 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
14463 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
14464 @code{References} headers.
14468 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14469 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14470 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
14474 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
14475 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
14476 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
14483 @subsection Duplicates
14485 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
14486 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
14487 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
14488 @cindex duplicate mails
14489 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
14490 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
14491 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
14492 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
14493 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
14494 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
14495 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
14496 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
14497 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
14498 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
14499 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
14500 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
14501 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
14503 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
14504 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
14505 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
14506 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
14508 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
14511 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
14512 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
14516 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
14517 '(| ;; @r{Messages duplicates go to a separate group.}
14518 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
14519 ;; @r{Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.}
14520 (any mail "mail.misc")
14521 ;; @r{Other rules.}
14527 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14528 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
14529 ;; @r{Other rules.}
14533 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
14534 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
14535 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
14536 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
14537 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
14540 @node Not Reading Mail
14541 @subsection Not Reading Mail
14543 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
14544 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
14545 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
14547 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
14548 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
14549 mail, which should help.
14551 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14552 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14553 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14554 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14555 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14556 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
14557 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old Rmail
14558 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
14559 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
14560 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
14561 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
14563 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
14564 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
14568 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
14569 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
14571 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
14572 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
14573 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
14575 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
14576 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
14577 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
14581 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
14582 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the Rmail Babyl format.
14583 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
14584 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
14585 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
14586 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
14587 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
14591 @node Unix Mail Box
14592 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
14594 @cindex unix mail box
14596 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14597 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14598 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
14599 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
14600 which group it belongs in.
14602 Virtual server settings:
14605 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
14606 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14607 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
14610 @item nnmbox-active-file
14611 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14612 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
14613 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
14615 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
14616 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14617 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
14618 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
14623 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
14627 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14628 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14629 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a Babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{Rmail
14630 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
14631 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
14633 Virtual server settings:
14636 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
14637 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14638 The name of the Rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
14640 @item nnbabyl-active-file
14641 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14642 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
14643 @file{~/.rmail-active}
14645 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14646 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14647 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
14653 @subsubsection Mail Spool
14655 @cindex mail @acronym{NOV} spool
14657 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
14658 format. It should be used with some caution.
14660 @vindex nnml-directory
14661 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
14662 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
14663 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
14664 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
14666 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
14669 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
14670 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
14671 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
14672 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
14673 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
14674 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
14675 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
14676 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
14678 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
14679 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
14680 @acronym{NOV} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
14681 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
14683 @cindex self contained nnml servers
14685 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
14686 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14687 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14688 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
14689 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
14690 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
14691 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
14692 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
14695 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
14696 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
14697 them next time it starts.
14699 Virtual server settings:
14702 @item nnml-directory
14703 @vindex nnml-directory
14704 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory. The
14705 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default value
14708 @item nnml-active-file
14709 @vindex nnml-active-file
14710 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
14711 @file{~/Mail/active}.
14713 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
14714 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
14715 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14716 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}.
14718 @item nnml-get-new-mail
14719 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14720 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
14723 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
14724 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
14725 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
14726 default is @code{nil}.
14728 @item nnml-nov-file-name
14729 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
14730 The name of the @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
14732 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14733 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14734 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
14736 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
14737 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
14738 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14739 default is @code{nil}.
14741 @item nnml-marks-file-name
14742 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
14743 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
14745 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
14746 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
14747 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
14752 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
14753 If your @code{nnml} groups and @acronym{NOV} files get totally out of whack,
14754 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
14755 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
14756 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
14757 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
14758 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
14763 @subsubsection MH Spool
14765 @cindex mh-e mail spool
14767 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
14768 @acronym{NOV} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks file.
14769 This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than @code{nnml},
14770 but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
14772 Virtual server settings:
14775 @item nnmh-directory
14776 @vindex nnmh-directory
14777 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
14778 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14781 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
14782 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14783 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
14787 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
14788 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
14789 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
14790 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
14791 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
14792 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
14793 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
14798 @subsubsection Maildir
14802 @code{nnmaildir} stores mail in the maildir format, with each maildir
14803 corresponding to a group in Gnus. This format is documented here:
14804 @uref{http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html} and here:
14805 @uref{http://www.qmail.org/man/man5/maildir.html}. nnmaildir also
14806 stores extra information in the @file{.nnmaildir/} directory within a
14809 Maildir format was designed to allow concurrent deliveries and
14810 reading, without needing locks. With other back ends, you would have
14811 your mail delivered to a spool of some kind, and then you would
14812 configure Gnus to split mail from that spool into your groups. You
14813 can still do that with nnmaildir, but the more common configuration is
14814 to have your mail delivered directly to the maildirs that appear as
14817 nnmaildir is designed to be perfectly reliable: @kbd{C-g} will never
14818 corrupt its data in memory, and @code{SIGKILL} will never corrupt its
14819 data in the filesystem.
14821 nnmaildir stores article marks and @acronym{NOV} data in each maildir. So you
14822 can copy a whole maildir from one Gnus setup to another, and you will
14825 Virtual server settings:
14829 For each of your nnmaildir servers (it's very unlikely that you'd need
14830 more than one), you need to create a directory and populate it with
14831 maildirs or symlinks to maildirs (and nothing else; do not choose a
14832 directory already used for other purposes). Each maildir will be
14833 represented in Gnus as a newsgroup on that server; the filename of the
14834 symlink will be the name of the group. Any filenames in the directory
14835 starting with `.' are ignored. The directory is scanned when you
14836 first start Gnus, and each time you type @kbd{g} in the group buffer;
14837 if any maildirs have been removed or added, nnmaildir notices at these
14840 The value of the @code{directory} parameter should be a Lisp form
14841 which is processed by @code{eval} and @code{expand-file-name} to get
14842 the path of the directory for this server. The form is @code{eval}ed
14843 only when the server is opened; the resulting string is used until the
14844 server is closed. (If you don't know about forms and @code{eval},
14845 don't worry---a simple string will work.) This parameter is not
14846 optional; you must specify it. I don't recommend using
14847 @code{"~/Mail"} or a subdirectory of it; several other parts of Gnus
14848 use that directory by default for various things, and may get confused
14849 if nnmaildir uses it too. @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} is a typical value.
14851 @item target-prefix
14852 This should be a Lisp form which is processed by @code{eval} and
14853 @code{expand-file-name}. The form is @code{eval}ed only when the
14854 server is opened; the resulting string is used until the server is
14857 When you create a group on an nnmaildir server, the maildir is created
14858 with @code{target-prefix} prepended to its name, and a symlink
14859 pointing to that maildir is created, named with the plain group name.
14860 So if @code{directory} is @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} and
14861 @code{target-prefix} is @code{"../maildirs/"}, then when you create
14862 the group @code{foo}, nnmaildir will create
14863 @file{~/.nnmaildir/../maildirs/foo} as a maildir, and will create
14864 @file{~/.nnmaildir/foo} as a symlink pointing to
14865 @file{../maildirs/foo}.
14867 You can set @code{target-prefix} to a string without any slashes to
14868 create both maildirs and symlinks in the same @code{directory}; in
14869 this case, any maildirs found in @code{directory} whose names start
14870 with @code{target-prefix} will not be listed as groups (but the
14871 symlinks pointing to them will be).
14873 As a special case, if @code{target-prefix} is @code{""} (the default),
14874 then when you create a group, the maildir will be created in
14875 @code{directory} without a corresponding symlink. Beware that you
14876 cannot use @code{gnus-group-delete-group} on such groups without the
14877 @code{force} argument.
14879 @item directory-files
14880 This should be a function with the same interface as
14881 @code{directory-files} (such as @code{directory-files} itself). It is
14882 used to scan the server's @code{directory} for maildirs. This
14883 parameter is optional; the default is
14884 @code{nnheader-directory-files-safe} if
14885 @code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is @code{nil}, and
14886 @code{directory-files} otherwise.
14887 (@code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is checked only once when the
14888 server is opened; if you want to check it each time the directory is
14889 scanned, you'll have to provide your own function that does that.)
14892 If non-@code{nil}, then after scanning for new mail in the group
14893 maildirs themselves as usual, this server will also incorporate mail
14894 the conventional Gnus way, from @code{mail-sources} according to
14895 @code{nnmail-split-methods} or @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. The default
14896 value is @code{nil}.
14898 Do @emph{not} use the same maildir both in @code{mail-sources} and as
14899 an nnmaildir group. The results might happen to be useful, but that
14900 would be by chance, not by design, and the results might be different
14901 in the future. If your split rules create new groups, remember to
14902 supply a @code{create-directory} server parameter.
14905 @subsubsection Group parameters
14907 nnmaildir uses several group parameters. It's safe to ignore all
14908 this; the default behavior for nnmaildir is the same as the default
14909 behavior for other mail back ends: articles are deleted after one week,
14910 etc. Except for the expiry parameters, all this functionality is
14911 unique to nnmaildir, so you can ignore it if you're just trying to
14912 duplicate the behavior you already have with another back end.
14914 If the value of any of these parameters is a vector, the first element
14915 is evaluated as a Lisp form and the result is used, rather than the
14916 original value. If the value is not a vector, the value itself is
14917 evaluated as a Lisp form. (This is why these parameters use names
14918 different from those of other, similar parameters supported by other
14919 back ends: they have different, though similar, meanings.) (For
14920 numbers, strings, @code{nil}, and @code{t}, you can ignore the
14921 @code{eval} business again; for other values, remember to use an extra
14922 quote and wrap the value in a vector when appropriate.)
14926 An integer specifying the minimum age, in seconds, of an article before
14927 it will be expired, or the symbol @code{never} to specify that
14928 articles should never be expired. If this parameter is not set,
14929 nnmaildir falls back to the usual
14930 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) variables (overrideable by
14931 the @code{expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) group parameters. If you
14932 wanted a value of 3 days, you could use something like @code{[(* 3 24
14933 60 60)]}; nnmaildir will evaluate the form and use the result. An
14934 article's age is measured starting from the article file's
14935 modification time. Normally, this is the same as the article's
14936 delivery time, but editing an article makes it younger. Moving an
14937 article (other than via expiry) may also make an article younger.
14940 If this is set to a string such as a full Gnus group name, like
14942 "backend+server.address.string:group.name"
14944 and if it is not the name of the same group that the parameter belongs
14945 to, then articles will be moved to the specified group during expiry
14946 before being deleted. @emph{If this is set to an nnmaildir group, the
14947 article will be just as old in the destination group as it was in the
14948 source group.} So be careful with @code{expire-age} in the
14949 destination group. If this is set to the name of the same group that
14950 the parameter belongs to, then the article is not expired at all. If
14951 you use the vector form, the first element is evaluated once for each
14952 article. So that form can refer to
14953 @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name}, etc., to decide where to put the
14954 article. @emph{If this parameter is not set, nnmaildir does not fall
14955 back to the @code{expiry-target} group parameter or the
14956 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} variable.}
14959 If this is set to @code{t}, nnmaildir will treat the articles in this
14960 maildir as read-only. This means: articles are not renamed from
14961 @file{new/} into @file{cur/}; articles are only found in @file{new/},
14962 not @file{cur/}; articles are never deleted; articles cannot be
14963 edited. @file{new/} is expected to be a symlink to the @file{new/}
14964 directory of another maildir---e.g., a system-wide mailbox containing
14965 a mailing list of common interest. Everything in the maildir outside
14966 @file{new/} is @emph{not} treated as read-only, so for a shared
14967 mailbox, you do still need to set up your own maildir (or have write
14968 permission to the shared mailbox); your maildir just won't contain
14969 extra copies of the articles.
14971 @item directory-files
14972 A function with the same interface as @code{directory-files}. It is
14973 used to scan the directories in the maildir corresponding to this
14974 group to find articles. The default is the function specified by the
14975 server's @code{directory-files} parameter.
14977 @item distrust-Lines:
14978 If non-@code{nil}, nnmaildir will always count the lines of an
14979 article, rather than use the @code{Lines:} header field. If
14980 @code{nil}, the header field will be used if present.
14983 A list of mark symbols, such as
14984 @code{['(read expire)]}. Whenever Gnus asks nnmaildir for
14985 article marks, nnmaildir will say that all articles have these
14986 marks, regardless of whether the marks stored in the filesystem
14987 say so. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will probably be
14988 removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
14989 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
14992 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(tick expire)]}. Whenever
14993 Gnus asks nnmaildir for article marks, nnmaildir will say that no
14994 articles have these marks, regardless of whether the marks stored in
14995 the filesystem say so. @code{never-marks} overrides
14996 @code{always-marks}. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will
14997 probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
14998 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
15000 @item nov-cache-size
15001 An integer specifying the size of the @acronym{NOV} memory cache. To speed
15002 things up, nnmaildir keeps @acronym{NOV} data in memory for a limited number of
15003 articles in each group. (This is probably not worthwhile, and will
15004 probably be removed in the future.) This parameter's value is noticed
15005 only the first time a group is seen after the server is opened---i.e.,
15006 when you first start Gnus, typically. The @acronym{NOV} cache is never resized
15007 until the server is closed and reopened. The default is an estimate
15008 of the number of articles that would be displayed in the summary
15009 buffer: a count of articles that are either marked with @code{tick} or
15010 not marked with @code{read}, plus a little extra.
15013 @subsubsection Article identification
15014 Articles are stored in the @file{cur/} subdirectory of each maildir.
15015 Each article file is named like @code{uniq:info}, where @code{uniq}
15016 contains no colons. nnmaildir ignores, but preserves, the
15017 @code{:info} part. (Other maildir readers typically use this part of
15018 the filename to store marks.) The @code{uniq} part uniquely
15019 identifies the article, and is used in various places in the
15020 @file{.nnmaildir/} subdirectory of the maildir to store information
15021 about the corresponding article. The full pathname of an article is
15022 available in the variable @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name} after you
15023 request the article in the summary buffer.
15025 @subsubsection NOV data
15026 An article identified by @code{uniq} has its @acronym{NOV} data (used to
15027 generate lines in the summary buffer) stored in
15028 @code{.nnmaildir/nov/uniq}. There is no
15029 @code{nnmaildir-generate-nov-databases} function. (There isn't much
15030 need for it---an article's @acronym{NOV} data is updated automatically when the
15031 article or @code{nnmail-extra-headers} has changed.) You can force
15032 nnmaildir to regenerate the @acronym{NOV} data for a single article simply by
15033 deleting the corresponding @acronym{NOV} file, but @emph{beware}: this will also
15034 cause nnmaildir to assign a new article number for this article, which
15035 may cause trouble with @code{seen} marks, the Agent, and the cache.
15037 @subsubsection Article marks
15038 An article identified by @code{uniq} is considered to have the mark
15039 @code{flag} when the file @file{.nnmaildir/marks/flag/uniq} exists.
15040 When Gnus asks nnmaildir for a group's marks, nnmaildir looks for such
15041 files and reports the set of marks it finds. When Gnus asks nnmaildir
15042 to store a new set of marks, nnmaildir creates and deletes the
15043 corresponding files as needed. (Actually, rather than create a new
15044 file for each mark, it just creates hard links to
15045 @file{.nnmaildir/markfile}, to save inodes.)
15047 You can invent new marks by creating a new directory in
15048 @file{.nnmaildir/marks/}. You can tar up a maildir and remove it from
15049 your server, untar it later, and keep your marks. You can add and
15050 remove marks yourself by creating and deleting mark files. If you do
15051 this while Gnus is running and your nnmaildir server is open, it's
15052 best to exit all summary buffers for nnmaildir groups and type @kbd{s}
15053 in the group buffer first, and to type @kbd{g} or @kbd{M-g} in the
15054 group buffer afterwards. Otherwise, Gnus might not pick up the
15055 changes, and might undo them.
15059 @subsubsection Mail Folders
15061 @cindex mbox folders
15062 @cindex mail folders
15064 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a separate
15065 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
15066 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
15069 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
15071 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
15072 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
15073 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
15074 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
15075 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
15076 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
15077 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder} directory.
15078 Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to backup, use
15079 @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the
15080 @code{nnfolder} directory).
15082 Virtual server settings:
15085 @item nnfolder-directory
15086 @vindex nnfolder-directory
15087 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
15088 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
15091 @item nnfolder-active-file
15092 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
15093 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
15095 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
15096 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
15097 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
15098 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}
15100 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
15101 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
15102 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
15105 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
15106 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
15107 @cindex backup files
15108 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
15109 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
15110 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
15111 your @file{.emacs} file:
15114 (defun turn-off-backup ()
15115 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
15117 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
15120 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
15121 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
15122 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
15123 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
15124 extract some information from it before removing it.
15126 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
15127 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
15128 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
15129 default is @code{nil}.
15131 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
15132 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
15133 The extension for @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
15135 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
15136 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
15137 The directory where the @acronym{NOV} files should be stored. If
15138 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
15140 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
15141 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
15142 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
15143 default is @code{nil}.
15145 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
15146 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
15147 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
15149 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
15150 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
15151 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If
15152 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
15157 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
15158 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
15159 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
15160 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
15161 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
15162 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
15165 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
15166 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
15168 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
15169 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
15170 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
15171 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
15172 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
15174 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
15175 typically done by @acronym{NNTP} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
15176 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
15177 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @acronym{NNTP} server), and
15178 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
15179 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
15180 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
15181 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
15184 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
15185 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
15186 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
15187 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
15192 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
15193 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
15194 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
15195 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
15196 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
15197 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
15198 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
15199 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
15200 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
15201 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
15202 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
15203 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
15204 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
15209 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
15210 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
15211 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
15212 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
15213 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
15214 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
15215 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
15216 Rmail was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
15217 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote Rmail
15218 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
15219 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
15220 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
15221 headers/status bits stuff. Rmail itself still exists as well, of
15222 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
15224 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
15225 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
15230 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
15231 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
15232 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
15233 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
15234 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
15235 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
15236 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
15237 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
15238 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
15239 @acronym{NNTP} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
15240 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
15241 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
15242 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
15243 provided by the active file and overviews.
15245 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
15246 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
15247 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
15248 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
15249 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
15252 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
15253 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
15258 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
15259 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
15260 individual files, but with little or no indexing support---@code{nnmh}
15261 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
15262 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
15263 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
15264 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
15268 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
15269 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
15270 itself puts @emph{all} one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
15271 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
15272 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
15273 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
15274 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
15275 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
15276 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
15278 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
15279 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
15280 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
15281 friendly mail back end all over.
15285 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses
15286 incompatible group parameters, slightly different from those of other
15289 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
15290 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
15291 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
15292 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
15293 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
15294 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
15295 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to
15296 @uref{http://www.namesys.com/, ReiserFS} or another non-block-structured
15299 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
15300 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
15301 This means you can skip Gnus' mail splitting if your mail is already
15302 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
15303 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
15304 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
15305 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
15306 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
15307 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
15308 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will not
15309 undergo treatment such as duplicate checking.
15311 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
15312 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
15313 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
15314 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
15315 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
15318 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
15319 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
15320 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
15321 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
15322 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
15323 would) to make it use less memory. This caching will probably be
15324 removed in the future.
15326 Startup is likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than with other
15327 back ends. Everything else is likely to be faster, depending in part
15328 on your file system.
15330 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
15331 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
15336 @node Browsing the Web
15337 @section Browsing the Web
15339 @cindex browsing the web
15343 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
15344 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
15345 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
15346 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
15347 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
15348 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
15349 even know what a news group is.
15351 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
15352 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
15353 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
15354 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
15355 you mad in the end.
15357 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
15360 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
15361 interfaces to these sources.
15365 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
15366 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
15367 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
15368 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
15369 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
15370 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
15373 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
15375 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
15376 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @acronym{HTML} data
15377 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
15378 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
15379 though, you should be ok.
15381 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
15382 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
15383 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
15384 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
15385 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
15387 @node Archiving Mail
15388 @subsection Archiving Mail
15389 @cindex archiving mail
15390 @cindex backup of mail
15392 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
15393 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
15394 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
15395 marks is fairly simple.
15397 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
15398 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
15401 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
15402 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
15403 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
15404 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
15405 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
15406 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
15407 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
15408 before you restore the data.
15410 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
15411 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
15412 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
15413 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
15414 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
15415 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
15416 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
15417 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
15418 is unnecessary in that case.
15421 @subsection Web Searches
15426 @cindex Usenet searches
15427 @cindex searching the Usenet
15429 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
15430 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
15431 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
15432 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
15433 searches without having to use a browser.
15435 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
15436 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
15437 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
15438 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
15439 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
15441 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
15442 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
15443 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
15444 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
15445 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
15446 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
15447 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
15448 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
15449 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
15450 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
15453 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
15454 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
15455 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
15456 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
15457 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
15458 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
15460 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
15461 to use @code{nnweb}.
15463 Virtual server variables:
15468 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
15469 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
15470 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
15473 @vindex nnweb-search
15474 The search string to feed to the search engine.
15476 @item nnweb-max-hits
15477 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
15478 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
15481 @item nnweb-type-definition
15482 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
15483 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
15484 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
15489 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
15493 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
15496 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
15499 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
15503 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
15510 @subsection Slashdot
15514 @uref{http://slashdot.org/, Slashdot} is a popular news site, with
15515 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
15516 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
15518 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
15519 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
15522 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15523 '((nnslashdot "")))
15526 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
15527 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
15528 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
15529 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
15530 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
15533 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
15534 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
15536 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
15537 comments), some light @acronym{HTML}izations will be performed. In
15538 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
15539 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
15540 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @acronym{HTML}
15541 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
15542 @acronym{HTML} forms.
15544 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
15547 @item nnslashdot-threaded
15548 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
15549 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
15550 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
15551 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
15552 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
15553 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
15555 @item nnslashdot-login-name
15556 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
15557 The login name to use when posting.
15559 @item nnslashdot-password
15560 @vindex nnslashdot-password
15561 The password to use when posting.
15563 @item nnslashdot-directory
15564 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
15565 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
15566 @file{~/News/slashdot/}.
15568 @item nnslashdot-active-url
15569 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
15570 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
15571 news articles and comments. The default is@*
15572 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
15574 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
15575 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
15576 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
15578 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
15580 @item nnslashdot-article-url
15581 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
15582 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
15584 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
15586 @item nnslashdot-threshold
15587 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
15588 The score threshold. The default is -1.
15590 @item nnslashdot-group-number
15591 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
15592 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
15593 updated. The default is 0.
15600 @subsection Ultimate
15602 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
15604 @uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/, The Ultimate Bulletin Board} is
15605 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
15606 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
15607 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
15609 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
15610 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
15611 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
15612 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
15613 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
15614 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
15615 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
15617 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
15620 @item nnultimate-directory
15621 @vindex nnultimate-directory
15622 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is@*
15623 @file{~/News/ultimate/}.
15628 @subsection Web Archive
15630 @cindex Web Archive
15632 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
15633 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
15634 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
15635 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15638 @findex gnus-group-make-warchive-group
15639 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
15640 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
15641 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET @var{an_egroup} RET egroups RET
15642 www.egroups.com RET @var{your@@email.address} RET}. (Substitute the
15643 @var{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
15644 @var{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
15645 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
15647 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
15650 @item nnwarchive-directory
15651 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
15652 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is@*
15653 @file{~/News/warchive/}.
15655 @item nnwarchive-login
15656 @vindex nnwarchive-login
15657 The account name on the web server.
15659 @item nnwarchive-passwd
15660 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
15661 The password for your account on the web server.
15669 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
15670 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
15671 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15674 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
15675 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
15678 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
15681 @item nnrss-directory
15682 @vindex nnrss-directory
15683 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
15684 @file{~/News/rss/}.
15688 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
15689 the summary buffer.
15692 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
15693 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
15695 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
15697 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
15698 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
15701 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
15704 (require 'browse-url)
15706 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
15708 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
15711 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
15712 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
15715 (browse-url (cdr url))
15716 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
15717 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
15719 (eval-after-load "gnus"
15720 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
15721 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
15722 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
15725 @node Customizing w3
15726 @subsection Customizing w3
15732 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
15733 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
15734 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
15736 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
15737 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
15738 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
15741 (eval-after-load "w3"
15743 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
15744 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
15745 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
15746 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
15748 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
15751 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
15752 @acronym{HTML} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
15759 @cindex @acronym{IMAP}
15761 @acronym{IMAP} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or @dots{}),
15762 think of it as a modernized @acronym{NNTP}. Connecting to a @acronym{IMAP}
15763 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
15764 specify the network address of the server.
15766 @acronym{IMAP} has two properties. First, @acronym{IMAP} can do
15767 everything that @acronym{POP} can, it can hence be viewed as a
15768 @acronym{POP++}. Secondly, @acronym{IMAP} is a mail storage protocol,
15769 similar to @acronym{NNTP} being a news storage protocol---however,
15770 @acronym{IMAP} offers more features than @acronym{NNTP} because news
15771 is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
15773 If you want to use @acronym{IMAP} as a @acronym{POP++}, use an imap
15774 entry in @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from
15775 the @acronym{IMAP} server and store them on the local disk. This is
15776 not the usage described in this section---@xref{Mail Sources}.
15778 If you want to use @acronym{IMAP} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
15779 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
15780 manipulate mails stored on the @acronym{IMAP} server. This is the kind of
15781 usage explained in this section.
15783 A server configuration in @file{~/.gnus.el} with a few @acronym{IMAP}
15784 servers might look something like the following. (Note that for
15785 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you need external programs and libraries,
15789 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15790 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; @r{no special configuration}
15791 ; @r{perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:}
15793 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15794 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
15795 ; @r{a UW server running on localhost}
15797 (nnimap-server-port 143)
15798 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15799 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
15800 ; @r{anonymous public cyrus server:}
15801 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
15802 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
15803 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
15804 (nnimap-stream network))
15805 ; @r{a ssl server on a non-standard port:}
15807 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
15808 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
15809 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
15812 After defining the new server, you can subscribe to groups on the
15813 server using normal Gnus commands such as @kbd{U} in the Group Buffer
15814 (@pxref{Subscription Commands}) or via the Server Buffer
15815 (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
15817 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
15822 @item nnimap-address
15823 @vindex nnimap-address
15825 The address of the remote @acronym{IMAP} server. Defaults to the virtual
15826 server name if not specified.
15828 @item nnimap-server-port
15829 @vindex nnimap-server-port
15830 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}.
15832 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
15835 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15836 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
15839 @item nnimap-list-pattern
15840 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
15841 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
15842 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
15843 interested in a few---some servers export your home directory via
15844 @acronym{IMAP}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
15845 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
15847 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
15848 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
15849 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
15852 Example server specification:
15855 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15856 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
15857 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
15860 @item nnimap-stream
15861 @vindex nnimap-stream
15862 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
15863 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
15864 of @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}. (@acronym{IMAP} over
15865 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is being replaced by STARTTLS, which can
15866 be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
15868 Example server specification:
15871 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15872 (nnimap-stream ssl))
15875 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
15879 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
15880 @samp{gsasl} or @samp{imtest} program.
15882 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
15884 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
15885 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
15888 @dfn{tls:} Connect through @acronym{TLS}. Requires GNUTLS (the program
15889 @samp{gnutls-cli}).
15891 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through @acronym{SSL}. Requires OpenSSL (the program
15892 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
15894 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @acronym{IMAP} connection.
15896 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
15899 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
15900 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
15901 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
15902 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
15903 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
15904 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
15905 restrictions on @acronym{IMAP} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
15906 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
15907 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
15910 For @acronym{TLS} connection, the @code{gnutls-cli} program from GNUTLS is
15911 needed. It is available from
15912 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/}.
15914 @vindex imap-gssapi-program
15915 This parameter specifies a list of command lines that invoke a GSSAPI
15916 authenticated @acronym{IMAP} stream in a subshell. They are tried
15917 sequentially until a connection is made, or the list has been
15918 exhausted. By default, @samp{gsasl} from GNU SASL, available from
15919 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gsasl/}, and the @samp{imtest}
15920 program from Cyrus IMAPD (see @code{imap-kerberos4-program}), are
15923 @vindex imap-ssl-program
15924 For @acronym{SSL} connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
15925 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
15926 and nnimap support it too---although the most recent versions of
15927 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
15928 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
15929 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
15932 @vindex imap-shell-program
15933 @vindex imap-shell-host
15934 For @acronym{IMAP} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
15935 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
15937 @item nnimap-authenticator
15938 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
15940 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
15941 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
15943 Example server specification:
15946 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15947 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
15950 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
15954 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
15955 external program @code{gsasl} or @code{imtest}.
15957 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
15960 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
15961 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
15963 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
15965 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
15967 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your email address as password.
15970 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
15972 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
15973 Unlike Parmenides the @acronym{IMAP} designers have decided things that
15974 don't exist actually do exist. More specifically, @acronym{IMAP} has
15975 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
15976 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
15977 nnimap does when you delete an article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
15980 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
15981 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
15982 running in circles yet?
15984 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
15985 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
15988 The possible options are:
15993 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as ``Deleted'' when
15996 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
15997 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @acronym{IMAP} clients
15998 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
15999 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
16001 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
16006 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
16007 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
16009 If non-@code{nil} (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as
16010 well), for other @acronym{IMAP} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
16011 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
16012 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @acronym{IMAP}
16013 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @acronym{IMAP}
16016 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
16017 enable per-user persistent dormant flags, using something like:
16020 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
16021 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
16022 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
16023 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
16026 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
16027 as ticked for other users.
16029 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
16031 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
16033 This variable contain the @acronym{IMAP} search command sent to server when
16034 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
16035 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
16036 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
16038 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
16039 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
16040 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
16041 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
16043 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
16044 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
16046 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
16047 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
16048 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
16051 @item nnimap-need-unselect-to-notice-new-mail
16052 @vindex nnimap-need-unselect-to-notice-new-mail
16054 Unselect mailboxes before looking for new mail in them. Some servers
16055 seem to need this under some circumstances; it was reported that
16061 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
16062 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
16063 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
16064 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
16065 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use @acronym{IMAP} namespace in Gnus.
16070 @node Splitting in IMAP
16071 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
16072 @cindex splitting imap mail
16074 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
16075 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
16076 @acronym{IMAP} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
16077 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @acronym{IMAP}
16078 support for Gnus has to do its own splitting.
16082 Here are the variables of interest:
16086 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
16087 @cindex splitting, crosspost
16089 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
16091 If non-@code{nil}, do crossposting if several split methods match the
16092 mail. If @code{nil}, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule}
16093 found will be used.
16095 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
16097 @item nnimap-split-inbox
16098 @cindex splitting, inbox
16100 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
16102 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @acronym{IMAP}
16103 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to @code{nil}, which means that
16104 splitting is disabled!
16107 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
16108 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
16111 No nnmail equivalent.
16113 @item nnimap-split-rule
16114 @cindex splitting, rules
16115 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
16117 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
16120 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
16121 sublist gives the name of the @acronym{IMAP} mailbox to move articles
16122 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
16123 Neither did I, we need examples.
16126 (setq nnimap-split-rule
16128 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
16129 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
16130 ("INBOX.private" "")))
16133 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
16134 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
16135 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
16137 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
16138 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
16142 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
16145 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
16146 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
16148 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
16149 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
16150 containing the headers of the article. It should return a
16151 non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
16153 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
16154 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
16155 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
16156 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
16157 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
16158 them every time you fetch new mail.)
16160 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
16161 end. The first rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have
16162 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.
16164 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
16165 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
16166 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
16168 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
16170 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
16171 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
16172 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
16175 (setq nnimap-split-rule
16176 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
16177 ("junk" "From:.*Simon"))))
16178 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
16179 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
16180 ("junk" my-junk-func))))))
16183 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
16184 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
16185 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
16186 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
16187 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
16188 group/function elements.
16190 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
16192 @item nnimap-split-predicate
16194 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
16196 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
16197 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
16199 This might be useful if you use another @acronym{IMAP} client to read mail in
16200 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
16201 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
16204 @item nnimap-split-fancy
16205 @cindex splitting, fancy
16206 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
16207 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
16209 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
16210 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
16211 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
16213 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
16214 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
16215 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
16216 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
16221 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
16222 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
16225 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
16227 @item nnimap-split-download-body
16228 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
16229 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
16231 Set to non-@code{nil} to download entire articles during splitting.
16232 This is generally not required, and will slow things down
16233 considerably. You may need it if you want to use an advanced
16234 splitting function that analyses the body to split the article.
16238 @node Expiring in IMAP
16239 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
16240 @cindex expiring imap mail
16242 Even though @code{nnimap} is not a proper @code{nnmail} derived back
16243 end, it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring
16244 Mail}). Unlike splitting in @acronym{IMAP} (@pxref{Splitting in
16245 IMAP}) it does not clone the @code{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating
16246 @var{nnimap-expiry-wait}) but reuse the @code{nnmail} variables. What
16247 follows below are the variables used by the @code{nnimap} expiry
16250 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @acronym{IMAP} server is
16251 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
16252 @code{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
16253 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
16254 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
16255 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
16256 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
16257 messages. Most do, fortunately.
16261 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
16262 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
16264 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
16265 number, the symbol @code{immediate} or @code{never}.
16267 @item nnmail-expiry-target
16269 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
16270 @code{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
16271 that if the destination is a @acronym{IMAP} group on the same server, the
16272 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
16276 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
16277 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
16278 @cindex editing imap acls
16279 @cindex Access Control Lists
16280 @cindex Editing @acronym{IMAP} ACLs
16282 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
16284 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @acronym{IMAP} for
16285 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
16286 @acronym{IMAP} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
16289 To edit an ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
16290 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with an ACL
16291 editing window with detailed instructions.
16293 Some possible uses:
16297 Giving ``anyone'' the ``lrs'' rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
16298 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
16299 follow the list without subscribing to it.
16301 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
16302 ``anyone'' posting ("p") capabilities to have ``plussing'' work (that is,
16303 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @acronym{IMAP} mailbox
16307 @node Expunging mailboxes
16308 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
16312 @cindex manual expunging
16314 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
16316 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
16317 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
16318 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
16320 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
16323 @node A note on namespaces
16324 @subsection A note on namespaces
16325 @cindex IMAP namespace
16328 The @acronym{IMAP} protocol has a concept called namespaces, described
16329 by the following text in the RFC:
16332 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
16334 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
16335 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
16336 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
16337 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
16339 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
16340 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
16341 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
16342 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
16343 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
16344 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
16347 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the
16348 @acronym{IMAP} implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace
16349 prefixes in a way that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
16351 Specifically, University of Washington's @acronym{IMAP} server uses
16352 mailbox names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only
16353 in the @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is
16354 created (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed
16355 without the namespace prefix, i.e. @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do
16356 not make it possible for the user to guarantee that user entered
16357 mailbox names will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands,
16358 you should simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in
16361 See the UoW IMAPD documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
16362 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
16363 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
16365 @node Other Sources
16366 @section Other Sources
16368 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
16369 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
16373 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
16374 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
16375 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
16376 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
16377 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
16381 @node Directory Groups
16382 @subsection Directory Groups
16384 @cindex directory groups
16386 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
16387 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
16390 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
16391 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
16392 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
16393 back end to read directories. Big deal.
16395 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
16396 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
16397 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
16398 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
16399 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
16401 @code{nndir} will use @acronym{NOV} files if they are present.
16403 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
16404 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
16405 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
16406 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
16409 @node Anything Groups
16410 @subsection Anything Groups
16413 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
16414 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
16415 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
16418 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
16419 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
16420 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
16421 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
16422 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
16423 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
16424 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
16425 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
16426 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
16427 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
16430 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
16431 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
16432 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
16433 in the article buffer, just as usual.
16435 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
16436 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
16437 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
16438 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
16440 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
16441 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
16442 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
16443 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
16444 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
16445 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
16446 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
16447 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
16452 @item nneething-map-file-directory
16453 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
16454 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
16455 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
16457 @item nneething-exclude-files
16458 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
16459 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
16460 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
16462 @item nneething-include-files
16463 @vindex nneething-include-files
16464 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
16465 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
16467 @item nneething-map-file
16468 @vindex nneething-map-file
16469 Name of the map files.
16473 @node Document Groups
16474 @subsection Document Groups
16476 @cindex documentation group
16479 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
16480 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
16487 The Babyl (Rmail) mail box.
16492 The standard Unix mbox file.
16494 @cindex MMDF mail box
16496 The MMDF mail box format.
16499 Several news articles appended into a file.
16502 @cindex rnews batch files
16503 The rnews batch transport format.
16504 @cindex forwarded messages
16507 Forwarded articles.
16510 Netscape mail boxes.
16513 @acronym{MIME} multipart messages.
16515 @item standard-digest
16516 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
16519 A @acronym{MIME} digest of messages.
16521 @item lanl-gov-announce
16522 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
16524 @item rfc822-forward
16525 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
16528 The Outlook mail box.
16531 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
16534 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
16537 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
16540 An RFC934-forwarded message.
16546 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
16549 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
16555 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
16556 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
16557 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
16560 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
16561 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
16562 group. And that's it.
16564 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
16565 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
16566 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
16567 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
16568 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
16569 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
16570 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
16571 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
16572 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
16573 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
16575 Virtual server variables:
16578 @item nndoc-article-type
16579 @vindex nndoc-article-type
16580 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
16581 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
16582 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
16583 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
16584 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
16586 @item nndoc-post-type
16587 @vindex nndoc-post-type
16588 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
16589 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
16594 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
16598 @node Document Server Internals
16599 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
16601 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
16602 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
16603 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
16604 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
16606 First, here's an example document type definition:
16610 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
16611 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
16614 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
16615 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
16616 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
16617 types can be defined with very few settings:
16620 @item first-article
16621 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
16622 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
16625 @item article-begin
16626 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
16627 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
16629 @item head-begin-function
16630 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
16633 @item nndoc-head-begin
16634 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
16637 @item nndoc-head-end
16638 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
16639 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
16641 @item body-begin-function
16642 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
16646 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
16649 @item body-end-function
16650 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
16654 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
16657 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
16658 regexp will be totally ignored.
16662 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
16663 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
16664 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
16665 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
16666 something that's palatable for Gnus:
16669 @item prepare-body-function
16670 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
16671 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
16672 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
16674 @item article-transform-function
16675 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
16676 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
16677 body of the article.
16679 @item generate-head-function
16680 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
16681 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
16682 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
16683 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
16687 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
16692 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16693 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16694 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
16695 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
16696 (head-end . "^ ?$")
16697 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
16698 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
16699 (subtype digest guess))
16702 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
16703 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
16704 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
16705 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
16706 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
16708 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
16709 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first
16710 is the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says
16711 where in the document type definition alist to put this definition.
16712 The alist is traversed sequentially, and
16713 @code{nndoc-@var{type}-type-p} is called for a given type @var{type}.
16714 So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document is of
16715 @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
16716 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it
16717 is of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
16718 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number
16719 means low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
16727 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
16728 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
16729 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
16731 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
16732 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
16733 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
16736 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
16737 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
16738 that interested in doing things properly.
16740 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
16741 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
16744 First some terminology:
16749 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
16750 get news and/or mail from.
16753 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
16754 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
16757 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
16761 @item message packets
16762 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
16763 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
16764 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16766 @item response packets
16767 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
16768 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
16769 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16779 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
16780 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
16781 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
16782 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
16785 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
16788 You put the packet in your home directory.
16791 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
16792 the native or secondary server.
16795 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
16796 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
16799 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
16803 You transfer this packet to the server.
16806 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
16809 You then repeat until you die.
16813 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
16814 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
16817 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
16818 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
16819 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
16823 @node SOUP Commands
16824 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
16826 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
16830 @kindex G s b (Group)
16831 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
16832 Pack all unread articles in the current group
16833 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
16834 process/prefix convention.
16837 @kindex G s w (Group)
16838 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
16839 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
16842 @kindex G s s (Group)
16843 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
16844 Send all replies from the replies packet
16845 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
16848 @kindex G s p (Group)
16849 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
16850 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
16853 @kindex G s r (Group)
16854 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
16855 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
16858 @kindex O s (Summary)
16859 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
16860 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
16861 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
16862 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16867 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
16872 @item gnus-soup-directory
16873 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
16874 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
16875 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
16877 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
16878 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
16879 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
16880 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
16882 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
16883 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
16884 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
16885 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
16887 @item gnus-soup-packer
16888 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
16889 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16890 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
16892 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
16893 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
16894 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16895 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16897 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
16898 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
16899 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
16901 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16902 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16903 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
16904 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
16910 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
16913 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
16914 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
16915 you can read them at leisure.
16917 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
16921 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
16922 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
16923 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
16924 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
16926 @item nnsoup-directory
16927 @vindex nnsoup-directory
16928 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
16929 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
16931 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
16932 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
16933 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
16934 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/}.
16936 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
16937 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
16938 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
16939 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
16940 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
16942 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
16943 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
16944 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
16945 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
16947 @item nnsoup-active-file
16948 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
16949 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
16950 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
16951 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
16952 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
16954 @item nnsoup-packer
16955 @vindex nnsoup-packer
16956 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
16957 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
16959 @item nnsoup-unpacker
16960 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
16961 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
16962 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16964 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
16965 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
16966 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
16969 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
16970 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
16971 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
16974 @item nnsoup-always-save
16975 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
16976 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
16982 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
16984 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
16985 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
16986 more for that to happen.
16988 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
16989 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
16990 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
16993 In specific, this is what it does:
16996 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
16997 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
17000 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
17001 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
17002 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
17005 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
17006 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
17007 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
17010 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
17011 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
17012 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
17014 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
17020 @item nngateway-address
17021 @vindex nngateway-address
17022 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
17024 @item nngateway-header-transformation
17025 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
17026 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
17027 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
17028 transformation should be called, and defaults to
17029 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
17030 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
17033 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
17034 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
17035 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
17038 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
17041 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
17044 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
17047 The following pre-defined functions exist:
17049 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
17052 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
17053 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
17054 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
17056 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
17058 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
17059 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
17060 @code{nngateway-address}.
17068 (setq gnus-post-method
17070 "mail2news@@replay.com"
17071 (nngateway-header-transformation
17072 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
17075 So, to use this, simply say something like:
17078 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
17083 @node Combined Groups
17084 @section Combined Groups
17086 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
17090 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
17091 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
17095 @node Virtual Groups
17096 @subsection Virtual Groups
17098 @cindex virtual groups
17099 @cindex merging groups
17101 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
17104 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
17105 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
17106 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
17108 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
17109 regexp to match component groups.
17111 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
17112 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
17113 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
17114 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
17115 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
17116 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
17117 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
17118 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
17120 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
17121 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
17124 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
17127 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
17128 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
17130 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
17131 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
17132 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
17133 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
17136 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
17139 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
17140 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
17141 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
17143 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
17144 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
17145 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
17146 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
17147 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
17149 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
17150 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
17151 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
17153 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
17154 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
17155 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
17156 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
17157 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
17158 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
17159 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
17160 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
17161 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
17162 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
17163 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
17165 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
17166 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
17167 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
17168 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
17169 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
17170 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
17171 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
17173 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
17174 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
17176 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
17177 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
17181 @node Kibozed Groups
17182 @subsection Kibozed Groups
17186 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @acronym{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
17187 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will do this for
17188 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @acronym{NNTP} server down to a halt
17189 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
17191 @kindex G k (Group)
17192 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
17195 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
17196 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
17197 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between
17198 @code{nnkiboze} and @code{nnvirtual} end.
17200 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an
17201 @code{nnkiboze} group must have a score file to say what articles are
17202 to be included in the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
17204 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
17205 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
17206 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
17207 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time.
17208 Lots of time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the
17209 headers from all the articles in all the component groups and run them
17210 through the scoring process to determine if there are any articles in
17211 the groups that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
17213 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
17214 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
17215 @acronym{NNTP} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
17216 Stranger things have happened.
17218 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
17219 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
17221 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
17222 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
17223 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
17224 contains the @acronym{NOV} header lines for all the articles in the group,
17225 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
17226 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
17228 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
17229 their @acronym{NOV} lines removed from the @acronym{NOV} file.
17232 @node Gnus Unplugged
17233 @section Gnus Unplugged
17238 @cindex Gnus unplugged
17240 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
17241 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
17242 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
17243 read news. Believe it or not.
17245 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
17246 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
17247 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
17248 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
17249 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
17251 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
17252 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
17253 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
17254 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
17255 reading news on a machine.
17257 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
17258 fact, you don't even have to configure anything.
17260 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
17263 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
17264 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
17265 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
17266 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
17267 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
17268 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
17269 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
17270 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
17271 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
17272 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
17273 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
17274 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
17275 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
17280 @subsection Agent Basics
17282 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
17284 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
17285 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
17286 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
17287 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
17289 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
17290 connected to the net continuously.
17292 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
17293 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
17295 You know that Gnus gives you all the opportunity you'd ever want for
17296 shooting yourself in the foot. Some people call it flexibility. Gnus
17297 is also customizable to a great extent, which means that the user has a
17298 say on how Gnus behaves. Other newsreaders might unconditionally shoot
17299 you in your foot, but with Gnus, you have a choice!
17301 Gnus is never really in plugged or unplugged state. Rather, it applies
17302 that state to each server individually. This means that some servers
17303 can be plugged while others can be unplugged. Additionally, some
17304 servers can be ignored by the Agent altogether (which means that
17305 they're kinda like plugged always).
17307 So when you unplug the Agent and then wonder why is Gnus opening a
17308 connection to the Net, the next step to do is to look whether all
17309 servers are agentized. If there is an unagentized server, you found
17312 Another thing is the @dfn{offline} state. Sometimes, servers aren't
17313 reachable. When Gnus notices this, it asks you whether you want the
17314 server to be switched to offline state. If you say yes, then the
17315 server will behave somewhat as if it was unplugged, except that Gnus
17316 will ask you whether you want to switch it back online again.
17318 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
17323 @findex gnus-unplugged
17324 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
17325 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
17326 already fetched while in this mode.
17329 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
17330 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
17331 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
17332 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
17333 Source Specifiers}).
17336 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
17337 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
17338 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
17339 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
17340 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
17343 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
17344 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
17345 then you read the news offline.
17348 And then you go to step 2.
17351 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
17357 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
17358 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
17359 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
17360 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
17361 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
17362 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
17363 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} servers in @code{gnus-select-method} and
17364 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
17367 Decide on download policy. It's fairly simple once you decide whether
17368 you are going to use agent categories, topic parameters, and/or group
17369 parameters to implement your policy. If you're new to gnus, it
17370 is probably best to start with a category @xref{Agent Categories}.
17372 Both topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) and agent categories
17373 (@pxref{Agent Categories}) provide for setting a policy that applies
17374 to multiple groups. Which you use is entirely up to you. Topic
17375 parameters do override categories so, if you mix the two, you'll have
17376 to take that into account. If you have a few groups that deviate from
17377 your policy, you can use group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to
17381 Uhm@dots{} that's it.
17385 @node Agent Categories
17386 @subsection Agent Categories
17388 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
17389 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
17390 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
17391 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
17392 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
17393 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
17394 you're interested in the articles anyway.
17396 One of the more effective methods for controlling what is to be
17397 downloaded is to create a @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all)
17398 groups to this category. Groups that do not belong in any other
17399 category belong to the @code{default} category. Gnus has its own
17400 buffer for creating and managing categories.
17402 If you prefer, you can also use group parameters (@pxref{Group
17403 Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) for an
17404 alternative approach to controlling the agent. The only real
17405 difference is that categories are specific to the agent (so there is
17406 less to learn) while group and topic parameters include the kitchen
17409 Since you can set agent parameters in several different places we have
17410 a rule to decide which source to believe. This rule specifies that
17411 the parameter sources are checked in the following order: group
17412 parameters, topic parameters, agent category, and finally customizable
17413 variables. So you can mix all of these sources to produce a wide range
17414 of behavior, just don't blame me if you don't remember where you put
17418 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
17419 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
17420 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
17424 @node Category Syntax
17425 @subsubsection Category Syntax
17427 A category consists of a name, the list of groups belonging to the
17428 category, and a number of optional parameters that override the
17429 customizable variables. The complete list of agent parameters are
17433 @item gnus-agent-cat-name
17434 The name of the category.
17436 @item gnus-agent-cat-groups
17437 The list of groups that are in this category.
17439 @item gnus-agent-cat-predicate
17440 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
17441 are eligible for downloading; and
17443 @item gnus-agent-cat-score-file
17444 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
17445 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
17446 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
17448 @item gnus-agent-cat-enable-expiration
17449 a boolean indicating whether the agent should expire old articles in
17450 this group. Most groups should be expired to conserve disk space. In
17451 fact, its probably safe to say that the gnus.* hierarchy contains the
17452 only groups that should not be expired.
17454 @item gnus-agent-cat-days-until-old
17455 an integer indicating the number of days that the agent should wait
17456 before deciding that a read article is safe to expire.
17458 @item gnus-agent-cat-low-score
17459 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-low-score}.
17461 @item gnus-agent-cat-high-score
17462 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-high-score}.
17464 @item gnus-agent-cat-length-when-short
17465 an integer that overrides the value of
17466 @code{gnus-agent-short-article}.
17468 @item gnus-agent-cat-length-when-long
17469 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-long-article}.
17472 The name of a category can not be changed once the category has been
17475 Each category maintains a list of groups that are exclusive members of
17476 that category. The exclusivity rule is automatically enforced, add a
17477 group to a new category and it is automatically removed from its old
17480 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
17481 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
17482 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
17483 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
17485 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
17486 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
17487 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
17489 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
17490 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
17491 operators sprinkled in between.
17493 Perhaps some examples are in order.
17495 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
17496 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
17502 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
17503 short (for some value of ``short'').
17505 Here's a more complex predicate:
17514 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
17515 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
17518 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
17519 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
17520 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
17522 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
17523 you want to do, you can write your own.
17525 When evaluating each of these predicates, the named constant will be
17526 bound to the value determined by calling
17527 @code{gnus-agent-find-parameter} on the appropriate parameter. For
17528 example, gnus-agent-short-article will be bound to
17529 @code{(gnus-agent-find-parameter group 'agent-short-article)}. This
17530 means that you can specify a predicate in your category then tune that
17531 predicate to individual groups.
17535 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
17536 lines; default 100.
17539 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
17540 lines; default 200.
17543 True iff the article has a download score less than
17544 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
17547 True iff the article has a download score greater than
17548 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
17551 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
17552 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
17553 checksum and sees whether articles match.
17562 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
17563 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
17564 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
17567 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
17568 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
17569 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
17570 something along the lines of the following:
17573 (defun my-article-old-p ()
17574 "Say whether an article is old."
17575 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
17576 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
17579 with the predicate then defined as:
17582 (not my-article-old-p)
17585 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
17586 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
17590 (require 'gnus-agent)
17591 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
17592 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
17593 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
17596 and simply specify your predicate as:
17602 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
17603 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
17604 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
17605 just don't give a damn.
17607 The above predicates apply to @emph{all} the groups which belong to the
17608 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
17609 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
17610 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in its group
17611 parameters like so:
17614 (agent-predicate . short)
17617 This is the group/topic parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
17618 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
17619 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
17621 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
17624 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
17627 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
17628 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
17629 predicate is assumed to be a list.
17632 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
17633 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
17634 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
17635 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
17636 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
17637 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
17639 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
17640 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
17641 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
17642 if it's to be specific to that group.
17644 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
17651 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
17652 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
17658 Category specification
17662 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
17668 Group/Topic Parameter specification
17671 (agent-score ("from"
17672 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
17677 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
17683 These score files must @emph{only} contain the permitted scoring
17684 keywords stated above.
17690 Category specification
17693 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
17699 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
17703 Group Parameter specification
17706 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
17709 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
17714 Use @code{normal} score files
17716 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
17717 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
17718 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
17719 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
17721 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
17722 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
17723 files for a group, @emph{filtering out} those sections that do not
17724 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
17728 Category Specification
17735 Group Parameter specification
17738 (agent-score . file)
17743 @node Category Buffer
17744 @subsubsection Category Buffer
17746 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
17747 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
17748 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
17750 The following commands are available in this buffer:
17754 @kindex q (Category)
17755 @findex gnus-category-exit
17756 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
17759 @kindex e (Category)
17760 @findex gnus-category-customize-category
17761 Use a customization buffer to set all of the selected category's
17762 parameters at one time (@code{gnus-category-customize-category}).
17765 @kindex k (Category)
17766 @findex gnus-category-kill
17767 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
17770 @kindex c (Category)
17771 @findex gnus-category-copy
17772 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
17775 @kindex a (Category)
17776 @findex gnus-category-add
17777 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
17780 @kindex p (Category)
17781 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
17782 Edit the predicate of the current category
17783 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
17786 @kindex g (Category)
17787 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
17788 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
17789 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
17792 @kindex s (Category)
17793 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
17794 Edit the download score rule of the current category
17795 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
17798 @kindex l (Category)
17799 @findex gnus-category-list
17800 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
17804 @node Category Variables
17805 @subsubsection Category Variables
17808 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
17809 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
17810 Hook run in category buffers.
17812 @item gnus-category-line-format
17813 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
17814 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
17815 Variables}). Valid elements are:
17819 The name of the category.
17822 The number of groups in the category.
17825 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
17826 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
17827 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
17829 @item gnus-agent-short-article
17830 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
17831 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
17833 @item gnus-agent-long-article
17834 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
17835 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
17837 @item gnus-agent-low-score
17838 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
17839 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
17842 @item gnus-agent-high-score
17843 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
17844 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
17847 @item gnus-agent-expire-days
17848 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
17849 The number of days that a @samp{read} article must stay in the agent's
17850 local disk before becoming eligible for expiration (While the name is
17851 the same, this doesn't mean expiring the article on the server. It
17852 just means deleting the local copy of the article). What is also
17853 important to understand is that the counter starts with the time the
17854 article was written to the local disk and not the time the article was
17858 @item gnus-agent-enable-expiration
17859 @vindex gnus-agent-enable-expiration
17860 Determines whether articles in a group are, by default, expired or
17861 retained indefinitely. The default is @code{ENABLE} which means that
17862 you'll have to disable expiration when desired. On the other hand,
17863 you could set this to @code{DISABLE}. In that case, you would then
17864 have to enable expiration in selected groups.
17869 @node Agent Commands
17870 @subsection Agent Commands
17871 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-plugged
17872 @kindex J j (Agent)
17874 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
17875 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
17876 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
17880 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
17881 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
17882 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
17888 @node Group Agent Commands
17889 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
17893 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
17894 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
17895 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
17896 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
17899 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
17900 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
17901 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
17904 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
17905 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
17906 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
17907 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
17910 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
17911 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
17912 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
17913 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
17916 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
17917 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
17918 Add the current group to an Agent category
17919 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
17920 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17923 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
17924 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
17925 Remove the current group from its category, if any
17926 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
17927 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17930 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
17931 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17932 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
17938 @node Summary Agent Commands
17939 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
17943 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
17944 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
17945 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
17948 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
17949 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
17950 Remove the downloading mark from the article
17951 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
17955 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
17956 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
17957 Toggle whether to download the article
17958 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The download mark is @samp{%} by
17962 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
17963 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
17964 Mark all articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}) that are neither cached, downloaded, nor downloadable.
17967 @kindex J S (Agent Summary)
17968 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
17969 Download all eligible (See @pxref{Agent Categories}) articles in this group.
17970 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
17973 @kindex J s (Agent Summary)
17974 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-series
17975 Download all processable articles in this group.
17976 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-series}).
17979 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
17980 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
17981 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
17982 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
17987 @node Server Agent Commands
17988 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
17992 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
17993 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
17994 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
17995 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
17998 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
17999 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
18000 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
18001 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
18006 @node Agent Visuals
18007 @subsection Agent Visuals
18009 If you open a summary while unplugged and, Gnus knows from the group's
18010 active range that there are more articles than the headers currently
18011 stored in the Agent, you may see some articles whose subject looks
18012 something like @samp{[Undownloaded article #####]}. These are
18013 placeholders for the missing headers. Aside from setting a mark,
18014 there is not much that can be done with one of these placeholders.
18015 When Gnus finally gets a chance to fetch the group's headers, the
18016 placeholders will automatically be replaced by the actual headers.
18017 You can configure the summary buffer's maneuvering to skip over the
18018 placeholders if you care (See @code{gnus-auto-goto-ignores}).
18020 While it may be obvious to all, the only headers and articles
18021 available while unplugged are those headers and articles that were
18022 fetched into the Agent while previously plugged. To put it another
18023 way, "If you forget to fetch something while plugged, you might have a
18024 less than satisfying unplugged session". For this reason, the Agent
18025 adds two visual effects to your summary buffer. These effects display
18026 the download status of each article so that you always know which
18027 articles will be available when unplugged.
18029 The first visual effect is the @samp{%O} spec. If you customize
18030 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} to include this specifier, you will add
18031 a single character field that indicates an article's download status.
18032 Articles that have been fetched into either the Agent or the Cache,
18033 will display @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} (defaults to @samp{+}). All
18034 other articles will display @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} (defaults to
18035 @samp{-}). If you open a group that has not been agentized, a space
18036 (@samp{ }) will be displayed.
18038 The second visual effect are the undownloaded faces. The faces, there
18039 are three indicating the article's score (low, normal, high), seem to
18040 result in a love/hate response from many Gnus users. The problem is
18041 that the face selection is controlled by a list of condition tests and
18042 face names (See @code{gnus-summary-highlight}). Each condition is
18043 tested in the order in which it appears in the list so early
18044 conditions have precedence over later conditions. All of this means
18045 that, if you tick an undownloaded article, the article will continue
18046 to be displayed in the undownloaded face rather than the ticked face.
18048 If you use the Agent as a cache (to avoid downloading the same article
18049 each time you visit it or to minimize your connection time), the
18050 undownloaded face will probably seem like a good idea. The reason
18051 being that you do all of our work (marking, reading, deleting) with
18052 downloaded articles so the normal faces always appear.
18054 For occasional Agent users, the undownloaded faces may appear to be an
18055 absolutely horrible idea. The issue being that, since most of their
18056 articles have not been fetched into the Agent, most of the normal
18057 faces will be obscured by the undownloaded faces. If this is your
18058 situation, you have two choices available. First, you can completely
18059 disable the undownload faces by customizing
18060 @code{gnus-summary-highlight} to delete the three cons-cells that
18061 refer to the @code{gnus-summary-*-undownloaded-face} faces. Second, if
18062 you prefer to take a more fine-grained approach, you may set the
18063 @code{agent-disable-undownloaded-faces} group parameter to t. This
18064 parameter, like all other agent parameters, may be set on an Agent
18065 Category (@pxref{Agent Categories}), a Group Topic (@pxref{Topic
18066 Parameters}), or an individual group (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
18068 @node Agent as Cache
18069 @subsection Agent as Cache
18071 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
18072 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
18073 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
18074 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
18075 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
18076 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
18077 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
18078 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
18079 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
18081 If you so desire, you can configure the agent (see @code{gnus-agent-cache}
18082 @pxref{Agent Variables}) to always download headers and articles while
18083 plugged. Gnus will almost certainly be slower, but it will be kept
18084 synchronized with the server. That last point probably won't make any
18085 sense if you are using a nntp or nnimap back end.
18088 @subsection Agent Expiry
18090 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
18091 @findex gnus-agent-expire
18092 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
18093 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire-group
18094 @findex gnus-agent-expire-group
18095 @cindex agent expiry
18096 @cindex Gnus agent expiry
18099 The Agent back end, @code{nnagent}, doesn't handle expiry. Well, at
18100 least it doesn't handle it like other back ends. Instead, there are
18101 special @code{gnus-agent-expire} and @code{gnus-agent-expire-group}
18102 commands that will expire all read articles that are older than
18103 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. They can be run whenever you feel
18104 that you're running out of space. Neither are particularly fast or
18105 efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to interrupt them (with
18106 @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started one of them.
18108 Note that other functions, e.g. @code{gnus-request-expire-articles},
18109 might run @code{gnus-agent-expire} for you to keep the agent
18110 synchronized with the group.
18112 The agent parameter @code{agent-enable-expiration} may be used to
18113 prevent expiration in selected groups.
18115 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
18116 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, the agent
18117 expiration commands will expire all articles---unread, read, ticked
18118 and dormant. If @code{nil} (which is the default), only read articles
18119 are eligible for expiry, and unread, ticked and dormant articles will
18120 be kept indefinitely.
18122 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
18123 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's are special
18124 commands, @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} and
18125 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group}, to fix possible problems.
18127 @node Agent Regeneration
18128 @subsection Agent Regeneration
18130 @cindex agent regeneration
18131 @cindex Gnus agent regeneration
18132 @cindex regeneration
18134 The local data structures used by @code{nnagent} may become corrupted
18135 due to certain exceptional conditions. When this happens,
18136 @code{nnagent} functionality may degrade or even fail. The solution
18137 to this problem is to repair the local data structures by removing all
18138 internal inconsistencies.
18140 For example, if your connection to your server is lost while
18141 downloaded articles into the agent, the local data structures will not
18142 know about articles successfully downloaded prior to the connection
18143 failure. Running @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} or
18144 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} will update the data structures
18145 such that you don't need to download these articles a second time.
18147 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
18148 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate
18149 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} will perform
18150 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} on every agentized group. While
18151 you can run @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} in any buffer, it is strongly
18152 recommended that you first close all summary buffers.
18154 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate-group
18155 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate-group
18156 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} uses the local copies
18157 of individual articles to repair the local @acronym{NOV}(header) database. It
18158 then updates the internal data structures that document which articles
18159 are stored locally. An optional argument will mark articles in the
18162 @node Agent and IMAP
18163 @subsection Agent and IMAP
18165 The Agent works with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
18166 since there are some conceptual differences between @acronym{NNTP} and
18167 @acronym{IMAP}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
18168 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @acronym{IMAP} Disconnected Mode client.
18170 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
18171 are kept on the @acronym{IMAP} server, rather than in @file{.newsrc} as is the
18172 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
18173 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
18175 Gnus keeps track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
18176 Agent. When you plug back in, Gnus will check if you have any changed
18177 any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the server.
18178 The behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
18180 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
18181 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
18182 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
18183 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
18184 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
18185 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
18187 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
18188 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
18189 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
18190 in the group buffer.
18192 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
18193 expect from a disconnected @acronym{IMAP} client, including:
18198 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
18201 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
18205 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by ``pushing''
18206 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
18207 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
18208 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on an article, quit the group and
18209 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
18210 removed from the server when you ``synchronize''. The queued flag
18211 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
18212 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
18215 @node Outgoing Messages
18216 @subsection Outgoing Messages
18218 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
18219 stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view
18220 them there after posting, and edit them at will.
18222 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
18223 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
18224 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
18225 messages in the draft group.
18229 @node Agent Variables
18230 @subsection Agent Variables
18233 @item gnus-agent-directory
18234 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
18235 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
18236 @file{~/News/agent/}.
18238 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
18239 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
18240 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
18241 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
18242 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
18245 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
18246 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
18247 Hook run when connecting to the network.
18249 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
18250 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
18251 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
18253 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
18254 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
18255 Hook run when finished fetching articles.
18257 @item gnus-agent-cache
18258 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
18259 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @acronym{NOV} and
18260 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
18261 The default is non-@code{nil}, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
18263 @item gnus-agent-go-online
18264 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
18265 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
18266 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
18267 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
18268 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
18269 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
18272 @item gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
18273 @vindex gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
18274 If @code{gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded} is non-@code{nil},
18275 mark articles as unread after downloading. This is usually a safe
18276 thing to do as the newly downloaded article has obviously not been
18277 read. The default is t.
18279 @item gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
18280 @vindex gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
18281 If @code{gnus-agent-consider-all-articles} is non-@code{nil}, the
18282 agent will fetch all missing headers. When @code{nil}, the agent will
18283 fetch only new headers. The default is @code{nil}.
18285 @item gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
18286 @vindex gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
18287 The agent fetches articles into a temporary buffer prior to parsing
18288 them into individual files. To avoid exceeding the max. buffer size,
18289 the agent alternates between fetching and parsing until all articles
18290 have been fetched. @code{gnus-agent-max-fetch-size} provides a size
18291 limit to control how often the cycling occurs. A large value improves
18292 performance. A small value minimizes the time lost should the
18293 connection be lost while fetching (You may need to run
18294 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} to update the group's state.
18295 However, all articles parsed prior to loosing the connection will be
18296 available while unplugged). The default is 10M so it is unusual to
18299 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
18300 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
18301 Perhaps not an Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
18302 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
18303 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
18304 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
18305 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
18306 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
18307 is only valid if the Agent is used.
18309 @item gnus-auto-goto-ignores
18310 @vindex gnus-auto-goto-ignores
18311 Another variable that isn't an Agent variable, yet so closely related
18312 that most will look for it here, this variable tells the summary
18313 buffer how to maneuver around undownloaded (only headers stored in the
18314 agent) and unfetched (neither article nor headers stored) articles.
18316 The legal values are @code{nil} (maneuver to any article),
18317 @code{undownloaded} (maneuvering while unplugged ignores articles that
18318 have not been fetched), @code{always-undownloaded} (maneuvering always
18319 ignores articles that have not been fetched), @code{unfetched}
18320 (maneuvering ignores articles whose headers have not been fetched).
18325 @node Example Setup
18326 @subsection Example Setup
18328 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
18329 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
18330 @file{~/.gnus.el} file to get started.
18333 ;;; @r{Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @acronym{NNTP}}
18334 ;;; @r{from your ISP's server.}
18335 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
18337 ;;; @r{Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from}
18338 ;;; @r{your ISP's @acronym{POP} server.}
18339 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
18341 ;;; @r{Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.}
18342 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
18344 ;;; @r{Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.}
18345 ;;; (gnus-agentize) ; @r{The obsolete setting.}
18346 ;;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; @r{Now the default.}
18349 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
18350 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
18353 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
18354 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
18355 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
18356 @acronym{NNTP} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
18357 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
18360 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
18361 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
18362 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
18363 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
18364 back all the killed groups.)
18366 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
18367 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
18368 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
18371 @node Batching Agents
18372 @subsection Batching Agents
18373 @findex gnus-agent-batch
18375 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
18376 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
18377 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
18379 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
18380 following incantation:
18384 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f -l ~/.gnus.el gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
18388 @node Agent Caveats
18389 @subsection Agent Caveats
18391 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
18392 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
18396 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
18398 @strong{No}. If you want this behaviour, add
18399 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
18400 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
18402 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in
18403 the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
18405 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is @code{nil}.
18409 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
18410 articles; when it's plugged, it talks to your ISP and may also use the
18411 locally stored articles.
18418 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
18419 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
18420 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
18423 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
18424 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
18425 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
18426 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
18427 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
18429 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
18430 before generating the summary buffer.
18432 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
18433 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
18434 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
18436 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
18437 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
18438 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
18439 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
18442 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
18443 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
18444 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
18445 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
18446 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
18447 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
18448 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
18449 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
18450 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
18451 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
18452 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
18453 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
18454 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
18455 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
18456 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
18457 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
18458 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
18462 @node Summary Score Commands
18463 @section Summary Score Commands
18464 @cindex score commands
18466 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
18467 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
18468 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
18469 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
18470 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
18472 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
18473 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
18474 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
18475 score file the current one.
18477 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
18482 @kindex V s (Summary)
18483 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
18484 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
18487 @kindex V S (Summary)
18488 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
18489 Display the score of the current article
18490 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
18493 @kindex V t (Summary)
18494 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
18495 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
18496 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}). In the @code{*Score Trace*} buffer, you
18497 can use @kbd{q} to quit. @kbd{e} edits the corresponding score file.
18498 When point is on a string within the match element, @kbd{e} will try to
18499 bring you to this string in the score file.
18502 @kindex V w (Summary)
18503 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
18504 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
18507 @kindex V R (Summary)
18508 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
18509 Run the current summary through the scoring process
18510 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
18511 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
18512 effect you're having.
18515 @kindex V c (Summary)
18516 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
18517 Make a different score file the current
18518 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
18521 @kindex V e (Summary)
18522 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
18523 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
18524 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
18528 @kindex V f (Summary)
18529 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
18530 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
18531 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
18534 @kindex V F (Summary)
18535 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
18536 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
18537 after editing score files.
18540 @kindex V C (Summary)
18541 @findex gnus-score-customize
18542 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
18543 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
18547 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
18552 @kindex V m (Summary)
18553 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
18554 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
18555 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
18558 @kindex V x (Summary)
18559 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
18560 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
18561 expunge all articles below this score
18562 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
18565 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
18566 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
18569 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
18570 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
18574 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
18575 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
18577 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
18578 keys are available:
18582 Score on the author name.
18585 Score on the subject line.
18588 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
18591 Score on the @code{References} line.
18597 Score on the number of lines.
18600 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
18603 Score on an ``extra'' header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
18604 if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
18607 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
18608 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
18609 @file{ADAPT} files.)
18618 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
18624 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
18625 what headers you are scoring on.
18637 Substring matching.
18640 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
18669 Greater than number.
18674 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
18675 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
18676 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
18681 Temporary score entry.
18684 Permanent score entry.
18687 Immediately scoring.
18691 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
18692 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
18693 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
18697 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
18698 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
18699 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
18700 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
18702 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
18703 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
18704 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
18705 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
18706 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
18708 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
18709 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
18710 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
18711 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
18712 current score file.
18714 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
18715 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
18716 pretend they are keymaps or not.
18719 @node Group Score Commands
18720 @section Group Score Commands
18721 @cindex group score commands
18723 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
18728 @kindex W f (Group)
18729 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
18730 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
18731 all the time. This command will flush the cache
18732 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
18736 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
18738 @findex gnus-batch-score
18739 @cindex batch scoring
18741 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
18745 @node Score Variables
18746 @section Score Variables
18747 @cindex score variables
18751 @item gnus-use-scoring
18752 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
18753 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
18754 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
18756 @item gnus-kill-killed
18757 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
18758 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
18759 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
18760 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
18761 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
18762 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
18763 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
18765 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
18766 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
18767 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
18768 initialized from the @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
18769 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
18771 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
18772 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
18773 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
18774 (@file{SCORE} by default.)
18776 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
18777 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
18778 @cindex score cache
18779 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
18780 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
18781 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely
18782 to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
18783 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
18784 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
18785 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
18788 @item gnus-save-score
18789 @vindex gnus-save-score
18790 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
18791 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
18792 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
18794 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
18795 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
18796 across group visits.
18798 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
18799 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
18800 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
18801 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
18802 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
18803 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
18804 manually entered data.
18806 @item gnus-summary-default-score
18807 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
18808 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
18810 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
18811 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
18812 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
18813 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
18814 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
18815 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
18817 @item gnus-score-over-mark
18818 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
18819 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
18820 default. Default is @samp{+}.
18822 @item gnus-score-below-mark
18823 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
18824 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
18825 default. Default is @samp{-}.
18827 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
18828 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
18829 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
18830 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
18832 Predefined functions available are:
18835 @item gnus-score-find-single
18836 @findex gnus-score-find-single
18837 Only apply the group's own score file.
18839 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
18840 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
18841 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
18842 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
18843 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
18844 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
18845 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
18846 then a regexp match is done.
18848 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
18849 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
18851 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
18852 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
18853 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
18854 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
18856 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
18857 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
18858 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
18859 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
18860 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
18864 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
18865 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
18866 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
18867 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
18868 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
18869 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
18870 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
18873 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
18874 overall score file, you could use the value
18876 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
18877 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
18880 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
18881 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
18882 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
18883 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
18884 are expired. It's 7 by default.
18886 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
18887 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
18888 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
18889 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
18890 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
18891 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
18892 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
18893 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
18895 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
18896 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
18897 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
18899 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
18900 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
18901 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be
18902 simplified for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
18903 threading---according to the current value of
18904 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions}. If the scoring entry uses
18905 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
18906 simplified in this manner.
18911 @node Score File Format
18912 @section Score File Format
18913 @cindex score file format
18915 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
18916 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
18917 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
18919 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
18923 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
18925 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
18927 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
18929 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
18934 (mark-and-expunge -10)
18938 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
18939 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
18940 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
18941 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
18945 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
18946 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
18948 Even though this looks much like Lisp code, nothing here is actually
18949 @code{eval}ed. The Lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
18950 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
18952 Six keys are supported by this alist:
18957 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
18958 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
18959 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
18960 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
18961 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
18962 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
18963 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
18964 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
18965 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
18966 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
18967 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
18968 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
18969 to articles that matches these score entries.
18971 Following this key is an arbitrary number of score entries, where each
18972 score entry has one to four elements.
18976 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
18977 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
18981 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
18982 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
18983 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
18984 is successful. If this element is not present, the
18985 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
18986 instead. This is 1000 by default.
18989 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
18990 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
18991 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
18992 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
18993 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
18996 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
18997 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
18998 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
18999 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
19002 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
19003 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
19004 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
19005 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
19006 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
19007 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
19008 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
19009 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
19010 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
19011 instead, if you feel like.
19014 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
19015 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
19016 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
19017 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
19018 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin host,
19019 if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks NNTP-Posting-Host in overviews:
19022 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s "NNTP-Posting-Host")
19026 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
19027 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
19029 These predicates are true if
19032 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
19035 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
19036 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
19043 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
19044 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
19045 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
19046 it's not. I think.)
19048 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
19049 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
19050 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
19051 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
19054 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
19055 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
19056 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
19057 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
19058 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
19059 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
19060 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
19064 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
19065 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
19066 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
19067 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
19068 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
19069 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
19070 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
19071 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
19074 @item Head, Body, All
19075 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
19079 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
19080 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
19081 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
19082 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
19083 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
19084 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
19085 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
19089 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
19090 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
19091 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
19092 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
19093 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
19094 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
19095 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
19096 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
19097 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
19098 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
19099 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
19103 @cindex score file atoms
19105 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
19106 lower than this number will be marked as read.
19109 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
19110 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
19112 @item mark-and-expunge
19113 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
19114 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
19117 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
19118 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
19119 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
19120 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
19121 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
19124 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
19125 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
19128 @item exclude-files
19129 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
19130 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
19134 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
19135 ignored when handling global score files.
19138 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
19139 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
19140 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
19141 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
19144 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
19145 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
19146 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
19147 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
19149 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
19153 (mark-and-expunge -100)
19156 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
19157 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
19158 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
19159 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
19160 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
19162 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
19163 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
19164 scoring rules exist.
19167 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
19168 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
19169 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
19170 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
19171 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
19172 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
19173 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
19174 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
19175 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
19176 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
19177 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
19181 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
19182 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
19183 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
19184 file for a number of groups.
19187 @cindex local variables
19188 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(@var{var}
19189 @var{value})} pairs. Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the
19190 current summary buffer, and set to the value specified. This is a
19191 convenient, if somewhat strange, way of setting variables in some
19192 groups if you don't like hooks much. Note that the @var{value} won't
19197 @node Score File Editing
19198 @section Score File Editing
19200 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
19201 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
19202 with a mode for that.
19204 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
19205 additional commands:
19210 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
19211 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
19212 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
19213 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
19216 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
19217 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
19218 Insert the current date in numerical format
19219 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
19220 you were wondering.
19223 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
19224 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
19225 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
19226 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
19227 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
19232 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
19234 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
19235 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
19237 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
19238 e} to begin editing score files.
19241 @node Adaptive Scoring
19242 @section Adaptive Scoring
19243 @cindex adaptive scoring
19245 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
19246 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
19247 stupidity, to be precise.
19249 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
19250 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
19251 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
19252 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
19253 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
19254 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
19255 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
19256 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
19257 variable to @code{(word line)}.
19259 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
19260 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
19261 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
19262 might look something like this:
19265 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
19266 '((gnus-unread-mark)
19267 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
19268 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
19269 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
19270 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
19271 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
19272 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
19273 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
19274 (gnus-ancient-mark)
19275 (gnus-low-score-mark)
19276 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
19279 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
19280 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
19281 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
19282 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
19283 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
19284 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
19287 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
19288 will be applied to each article.
19290 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
19291 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{e}) will have a
19292 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
19293 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
19295 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
19296 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
19297 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
19298 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
19300 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
19301 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
19302 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
19303 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
19305 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
19306 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
19307 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
19308 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
19309 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
19310 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
19312 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
19313 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
19314 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
19316 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
19317 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
19318 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
19320 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
19321 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
19322 let you use different rules in different groups.
19324 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
19325 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
19326 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
19329 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
19330 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
19331 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
19332 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
19333 the length of the match is less than
19334 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
19335 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
19338 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
19339 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
19340 headers. If you adapt on words, the
19341 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
19342 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
19345 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
19346 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
19347 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
19348 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
19349 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
19352 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
19353 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
19354 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
19355 score with 30 points.
19357 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
19358 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
19359 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
19360 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
19361 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
19363 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
19364 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
19365 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
19366 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
19367 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
19369 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
19370 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
19371 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
19372 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
19374 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
19375 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
19376 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
19377 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
19379 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
19380 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
19381 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
19382 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
19383 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
19385 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
19386 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
19387 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
19389 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
19390 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
19391 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
19392 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
19395 @node Home Score File
19396 @section Home Score File
19398 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
19399 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
19400 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
19401 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
19403 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
19404 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
19405 could perhaps use the same home score file.
19407 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
19408 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
19413 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
19417 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
19418 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
19422 A list. The elements in this list can be:
19426 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
19427 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
19430 A function. If the function returns non-@code{nil}, the result will
19431 be used as the home score file.
19434 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
19437 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
19442 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
19445 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19446 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
19449 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
19450 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
19452 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
19454 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19455 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
19458 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
19459 Other functions include
19462 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
19463 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
19464 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
19465 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
19469 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
19470 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
19471 their own home score files:
19474 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19475 ;; @r{All groups that match the regexp @code{"\\.emacs"}}
19476 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
19477 ;; @r{All the comp groups in one score file}
19478 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
19481 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
19482 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
19483 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
19484 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
19485 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
19487 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
19488 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
19489 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
19490 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
19491 precedence over this variable.
19494 @node Followups To Yourself
19495 @section Followups To Yourself
19497 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
19498 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
19499 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
19500 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
19501 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
19502 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
19506 @item gnus-score-followup-article
19507 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
19508 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
19511 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
19512 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
19513 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
19517 @vindex message-sent-hook
19518 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
19519 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
19521 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
19525 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
19526 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
19530 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
19531 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
19534 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
19535 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
19540 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
19544 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
19545 is system-dependent.
19548 @node Scoring On Other Headers
19549 @section Scoring On Other Headers
19550 @cindex scoring on other headers
19552 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
19553 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
19554 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
19555 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
19556 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
19558 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
19559 mail groups, you have greater control. In the @pxref{To From
19560 Newsgroups} section of the manual, it's explained in greater detail what
19561 this mechanism does, but here's a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on
19562 how to allow scoring on the @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
19564 Put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
19567 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
19568 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
19571 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
19572 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
19573 time if you have much mail.
19575 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
19576 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
19582 @section Scoring Tips
19583 @cindex scoring tips
19589 @cindex scoring crossposts
19590 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
19591 the @code{Xref} header.
19593 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
19596 @item Multiple crossposts
19597 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
19598 more than, say, 3 groups:
19601 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
19605 @item Matching on the body
19606 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
19607 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
19608 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
19609 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
19610 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
19611 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
19612 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
19615 @item Marking as read
19616 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
19617 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
19618 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
19622 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
19624 @item Negated character classes
19625 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
19626 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
19627 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
19631 @node Reverse Scoring
19632 @section Reverse Scoring
19633 @cindex reverse scoring
19635 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
19636 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
19637 like this in your score file:
19641 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
19646 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
19647 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
19650 @node Global Score Files
19651 @section Global Score Files
19652 @cindex global score files
19654 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
19655 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
19656 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
19658 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
19659 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
19660 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
19662 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
19663 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
19664 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
19665 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
19666 files are applicable to which group.
19668 To use the score file
19669 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
19670 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
19674 (setq gnus-global-score-files
19675 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
19676 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
19679 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
19681 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
19682 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
19683 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
19684 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
19686 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
19687 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
19689 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
19690 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
19691 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
19692 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
19693 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
19694 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
19696 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
19702 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
19704 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
19706 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
19708 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
19709 lowered out of existence.
19711 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
19712 articles completely.
19715 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
19716 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
19717 old articles for a long time.
19720 @dots{} I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
19721 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
19722 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
19723 holding our breath yet?
19727 @section Kill Files
19730 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
19731 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
19732 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
19734 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
19735 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
19736 files into score files.
19738 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
19739 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
19740 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
19741 that isn't a very good idea.
19743 Normal kill files look like this:
19746 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19747 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
19751 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
19752 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
19754 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
19755 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
19758 Two summary functions for editing a @sc{gnus} kill file:
19763 @kindex M-k (Summary)
19764 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
19765 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
19768 @kindex M-K (Summary)
19769 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
19770 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
19773 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
19778 @kindex M-k (Group)
19779 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
19780 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
19783 @kindex M-K (Group)
19784 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
19785 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
19788 Kill file variables:
19791 @item gnus-kill-file-name
19792 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
19793 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
19794 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
19795 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
19796 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
19797 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
19799 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
19800 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
19801 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
19802 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
19805 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
19806 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
19807 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
19808 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
19809 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
19810 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
19811 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
19812 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
19813 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
19815 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
19816 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
19817 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
19822 @node Converting Kill Files
19823 @section Converting Kill Files
19825 @cindex converting kill files
19827 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
19828 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
19829 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
19832 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
19833 You can fetch it from
19834 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
19836 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
19837 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
19838 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
19846 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/, GroupLens} is a
19847 collaborative filtering system that helps you work together with other
19848 people to find the quality news articles out of the huge volume of
19849 news articles generated every day.
19851 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
19852 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
19853 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
19854 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
19855 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
19856 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
19857 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
19858 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
19861 @sc{Note:} Unfortunately the GroupLens system seems to have shut down,
19862 so this section is mostly of historical interest.
19865 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
19866 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
19867 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
19868 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
19872 @node Using GroupLens
19873 @subsection Using GroupLens
19875 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local
19876 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html, Better Bit
19877 Bureau (BBB)} is the only better bit in town at the moment.
19879 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
19883 @item gnus-use-grouplens
19884 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
19885 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
19886 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
19888 @item grouplens-pseudonym
19889 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
19890 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
19891 with the Better Bit Bureau.
19893 @item grouplens-newsgroups
19894 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
19895 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
19899 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
19900 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
19901 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
19902 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
19903 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
19904 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
19907 @node Rating Articles
19908 @subsection Rating Articles
19910 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
19911 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
19912 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
19913 yourself is, ``on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
19916 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
19921 @kindex r (GroupLens)
19922 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
19923 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
19926 @kindex k (GroupLens)
19927 @findex grouplens-score-thread
19928 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
19929 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
19930 threads in rec.humor.
19934 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
19935 the score of the article you're reading.
19940 @kindex n (GroupLens)
19941 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
19942 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
19945 @kindex , (GroupLens)
19946 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
19947 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
19951 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
19952 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
19955 @node Displaying Predictions
19956 @subsection Displaying Predictions
19958 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
19959 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
19960 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
19961 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
19962 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
19964 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
19965 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
19966 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
19967 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
19968 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
19969 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
19970 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
19971 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
19972 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
19973 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
19974 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
19975 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
19976 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
19978 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
19979 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
19980 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
19981 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
19983 The following are valid values for that variable.
19986 @item prediction-spot
19987 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
19990 @item confidence-interval
19991 A numeric confidence interval.
19993 @item prediction-bar
19994 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
19996 @item confidence-bar
19997 Numerical confidence.
19999 @item confidence-spot
20000 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
20002 @item prediction-num
20003 Plain-old numeric value.
20005 @item confidence-plus-minus
20006 Prediction +/- confidence.
20011 @node GroupLens Variables
20012 @subsection GroupLens Variables
20016 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
20017 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
20018 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
20019 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
20022 @item grouplens-bbb-host
20023 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
20026 @item grouplens-bbb-port
20027 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
20029 @item grouplens-score-offset
20030 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
20031 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
20034 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
20035 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
20036 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
20041 @node Advanced Scoring
20042 @section Advanced Scoring
20044 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
20045 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
20046 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
20047 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
20048 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
20050 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
20054 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
20055 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
20056 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
20060 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
20061 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
20063 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
20064 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
20065 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
20066 non-@code{nil} value.
20068 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
20069 operator, and various match operators.
20076 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
20077 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
20078 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
20083 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
20084 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
20085 then this operator will return @code{false}.
20090 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
20091 logical negation of the value of its argument.
20095 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
20096 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
20097 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
20098 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
20099 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
20100 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
20101 the ancestry you want to go.
20103 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
20104 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
20105 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
20106 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
20107 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
20110 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
20111 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
20113 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
20114 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
20117 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
20118 when he's talking about Gnus:
20123 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20124 ("subject" "Gnus"))
20131 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
20135 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20142 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
20143 really don't want to read what he's written:
20147 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20148 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
20152 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
20153 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
20154 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
20161 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
20162 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
20163 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
20164 ("body" "white.*socks"))
20168 The possibilities are endless.
20171 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
20172 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
20174 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
20175 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
20176 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
20177 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
20178 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
20179 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
20180 @samp{subject}) first.
20182 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
20183 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
20194 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
20195 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
20201 ("subject" "Gnus")))
20208 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
20209 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
20214 @section Score Decays
20215 @cindex score decays
20218 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
20219 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
20220 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
20221 use them in any sensible way.
20223 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
20224 @findex gnus-decay-score
20225 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
20226 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
20227 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
20228 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
20229 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
20230 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
20231 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
20232 definition of that function:
20235 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
20237 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
20238 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
20241 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
20243 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
20245 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
20248 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
20249 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
20250 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
20251 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
20255 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
20258 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
20261 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
20265 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
20266 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
20267 the new score, which should be an integer.
20269 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
20270 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
20275 @include message.texi
20276 @chapter Emacs MIME
20277 @include emacs-mime.texi
20279 @include sieve.texi
20281 @c @include pgg.texi
20289 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
20290 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
20291 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
20292 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
20293 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
20294 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
20295 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
20296 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
20297 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
20298 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
20299 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
20300 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
20301 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
20302 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
20303 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
20304 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
20305 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
20306 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
20307 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
20311 @node Process/Prefix
20312 @section Process/Prefix
20313 @cindex process/prefix convention
20315 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
20316 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
20318 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
20319 command to be performed on.
20323 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
20324 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
20325 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
20326 with the current one.
20328 @vindex transient-mark-mode
20329 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
20330 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
20332 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
20333 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
20336 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
20337 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
20339 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
20342 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
20343 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
20344 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
20345 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
20347 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
20348 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
20349 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
20350 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
20351 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
20352 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
20353 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
20354 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
20356 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
20357 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
20358 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
20359 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
20360 expirable, you could say @kbd{M P b M-& E}.
20364 @section Interactive
20365 @cindex interaction
20369 @item gnus-novice-user
20370 @vindex gnus-novice-user
20371 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
20372 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
20373 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
20374 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
20377 @item gnus-expert-user
20378 @vindex gnus-expert-user
20379 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
20380 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
20381 matter how strange.
20383 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
20384 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
20385 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
20386 is @code{t} by default.
20388 @item gnus-interactive-exit
20389 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
20390 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20395 @node Symbolic Prefixes
20396 @section Symbolic Prefixes
20397 @cindex symbolic prefixes
20399 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
20400 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
20401 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
20402 rule of 900 to the current article.
20404 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
20405 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
20406 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
20407 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
20408 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
20409 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
20410 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
20412 @kindex M-i (Summary)
20413 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
20414 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
20415 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
20416 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
20417 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
20418 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
20419 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
20420 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
20422 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
20423 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
20424 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
20426 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
20430 @node Formatting Variables
20431 @section Formatting Variables
20432 @cindex formatting variables
20434 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
20435 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
20436 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
20437 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
20438 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
20441 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
20442 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
20443 lots of percentages everywhere.
20446 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
20447 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
20448 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
20449 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
20450 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
20451 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
20452 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
20453 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
20456 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
20457 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
20458 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
20459 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
20460 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
20461 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
20462 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
20463 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
20465 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
20466 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
20468 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
20469 @findex gnus-update-format
20470 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
20471 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
20472 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
20473 examine the resulting Lisp code to be run to generate the line.
20477 @node Formatting Basics
20478 @subsection Formatting Basics
20480 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
20481 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
20482 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
20484 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
20485 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
20486 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
20487 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
20488 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
20491 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
20492 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
20493 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
20494 less than 4 characters wide.
20496 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
20497 @samp{%&user-date;}.
20500 @node Mode Line Formatting
20501 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
20503 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
20504 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
20505 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
20506 with the following two differences:
20511 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
20514 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
20515 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
20516 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
20517 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
20518 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
20519 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
20520 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
20525 @node Advanced Formatting
20526 @subsection Advanced Formatting
20528 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
20529 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
20530 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
20531 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
20533 These are the valid modifiers:
20538 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
20542 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
20547 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
20550 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
20555 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
20558 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
20561 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
20564 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
20570 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
20575 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
20576 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
20577 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
20578 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
20579 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
20580 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
20581 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
20583 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
20584 last operation, padding.
20586 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
20587 If @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} is set to @code{nil} (@code{t} by
20588 default) with your strong personality, and use a lots of these advanced
20589 thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets quite slow. This can be helped
20590 enormously by running @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with
20591 the look of your lines.
20592 @xref{Compilation}.
20595 @node User-Defined Specs
20596 @subsection User-Defined Specs
20598 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
20599 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
20600 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
20601 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
20602 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
20603 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
20604 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
20605 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
20606 should protect against that.
20608 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
20609 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
20611 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
20612 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
20613 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
20614 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
20618 @node Formatting Fonts
20619 @subsection Formatting Fonts
20621 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
20622 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
20623 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
20624 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
20627 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
20628 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
20629 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
20630 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
20631 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
20632 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
20634 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
20635 special @code{balloon-help} property set to
20636 @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get
20637 @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*}
20638 variables should be either strings or symbols naming functions that
20639 return a string. When the mouse passes over text with this property
20640 set, a balloon window will appear and display the string. Please
20641 refer to @ref{Tooltips, ,Tooltips, emacs, The Emacs Manual},
20642 (in GNU Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in
20643 XEmacs) for more information on this. (For technical reasons, the
20644 guillemets have been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this
20647 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
20650 ;; @r{Create three face types.}
20651 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
20652 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
20654 ;; @r{We want the article count to be in}
20655 ;; @r{a bold and green face. So we create}
20656 ;; @r{a new face called @code{my-green-bold}.}
20657 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
20658 ;; @r{Set the color.}
20659 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
20660 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
20662 ;; @r{Set the new & fancy format.}
20663 (setq gnus-group-line-format
20664 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
20667 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
20668 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
20670 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
20671 mode-line variables.
20673 @node Positioning Point
20674 @subsection Positioning Point
20676 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
20677 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
20678 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
20680 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
20682 @findex gnus-goto-colon
20683 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
20684 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
20686 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
20687 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
20688 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
20693 @subsection Tabulation
20695 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
20696 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
20697 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
20698 about lining up the following text afterwards.
20700 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs---@samp{%=}. There are two
20701 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
20703 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
20704 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
20705 This is the soft tabulator.
20707 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
20708 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
20709 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
20712 @node Wide Characters
20713 @subsection Wide Characters
20715 Fixed width fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
20716 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
20717 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
20719 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
20720 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
20721 these countries, that's not true.
20723 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
20724 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
20725 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
20726 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
20730 @node Window Layout
20731 @section Window Layout
20732 @cindex window layout
20734 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
20736 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
20737 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
20738 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
20739 @code{t} by default.
20741 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
20742 glitches. Use at your own peril.
20744 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
20745 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
20746 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
20749 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
20750 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
20751 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
20755 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
20756 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
20757 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
20758 possible names is listed below.
20760 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
20761 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
20764 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
20768 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
20769 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
20770 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
20771 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
20772 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
20773 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
20774 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
20775 size spec per split.
20777 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
20778 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
20779 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
20780 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
20781 present) gets focus.
20783 Here's a more complicated example:
20786 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
20787 (summary 0.25 point)
20788 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
20792 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
20793 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
20794 occupy, not a percentage.
20796 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
20797 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
20798 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
20799 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
20800 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
20803 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
20806 (article (horizontal 1.0
20811 (summary 0.25 point)
20816 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
20817 @code{horizontal} thingie?
20819 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
20820 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
20821 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
20822 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
20823 the screen is to be given to this strip.
20825 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
20826 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
20827 lines from the splits.
20829 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
20834 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
20835 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
20836 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
20837 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
20838 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
20839 size = number | frame-params
20840 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
20844 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
20845 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
20846 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
20847 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
20849 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
20850 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
20851 @cindex window height
20852 @cindex window width
20853 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
20854 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
20855 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
20856 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
20857 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
20858 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
20860 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
20861 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
20862 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
20863 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
20865 @findex gnus-configure-frame
20866 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
20867 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
20868 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
20869 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
20870 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
20871 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
20872 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
20873 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
20874 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
20875 configuration list.
20878 (gnus-configure-frame
20882 (article 0.3 point))
20890 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
20891 @code{frame} split:
20894 (gnus-configure-frame
20897 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
20899 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
20900 (user-position . t)
20901 (left . -1) (top . 1))
20906 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
20907 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
20908 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
20909 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
20910 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
20911 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
20912 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
20913 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
20915 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
20916 be found in its default value.
20918 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
20919 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
20920 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
20924 (message (horizontal 1.0
20925 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
20927 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
20932 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
20933 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
20934 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
20939 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
20940 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
20941 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
20942 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
20943 (name . "Message"))
20944 (message 1.0 point))))
20947 @findex gnus-add-configuration
20948 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
20949 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
20950 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
20951 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
20954 (gnus-add-configuration
20955 '(article (vertical 1.0
20957 (summary .25 point)
20961 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
20962 @file{~/.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
20963 Gnus has been loaded.
20965 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
20966 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
20967 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
20968 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
20969 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
20971 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
20972 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
20973 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
20976 @subsection Example Window Configurations
20980 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
20981 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
20996 (gnus-add-configuration
20999 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
21001 (summary 0.16 point)
21004 (gnus-add-configuration
21007 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
21008 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
21014 @node Faces and Fonts
21015 @section Faces and Fonts
21020 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
21021 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
21022 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
21027 @section Compilation
21028 @cindex compilation
21029 @cindex byte-compilation
21031 @findex gnus-compile
21033 Remember all those line format specification variables?
21034 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
21035 on. By default, T-gnus will use the byte-compiled codes of these
21036 variables and we can keep a slow-down to a minimum. However, if you set
21037 @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} to @code{nil} (@code{t} by default),
21038 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
21039 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
21040 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
21043 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
21044 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
21045 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
21046 you'll get top speed again. Note that T-gnus will not save these
21047 compiled specs in the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
21050 @item gnus-compile-user-specs
21051 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
21052 If it is non-nil, the user-defined format specs will be byte-compiled
21053 automatically. The default value of this variable is @code{t}. It has
21054 an effect on the values of @code{gnus-*-line-format-spec}.
21059 @section Mode Lines
21062 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
21063 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
21064 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
21065 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
21066 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
21067 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
21068 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
21071 @cindex display-time
21073 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
21074 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
21075 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
21076 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
21077 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
21078 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
21079 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
21080 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
21083 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
21085 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
21086 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
21088 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
21089 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
21090 (length display-time-string)))))
21093 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
21094 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
21095 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
21096 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
21097 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
21100 @node Highlighting and Menus
21101 @section Highlighting and Menus
21103 @cindex highlighting
21106 @vindex gnus-visual
21107 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
21108 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
21109 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
21112 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
21113 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
21116 @item group-highlight
21117 Do highlights in the group buffer.
21118 @item summary-highlight
21119 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
21120 @item article-highlight
21121 Do highlights in the article buffer.
21123 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
21125 Create menus in the group buffer.
21127 Create menus in the summary buffers.
21129 Create menus in the article buffer.
21131 Create menus in the browse buffer.
21133 Create menus in the server buffer.
21135 Create menus in the score buffers.
21137 Create menus in all buffers.
21140 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
21141 buffers, you could say something like:
21144 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
21147 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
21150 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
21153 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
21154 in all Gnus buffers.
21156 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
21159 @item gnus-mouse-face
21160 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
21161 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
21162 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
21166 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
21170 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
21171 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
21172 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
21174 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
21175 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
21176 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
21178 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
21179 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
21180 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
21182 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
21183 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
21184 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
21186 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
21187 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
21188 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
21190 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
21191 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
21192 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
21203 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
21204 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
21205 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
21206 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
21207 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
21211 @vindex gnus-carpal
21212 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
21213 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
21214 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
21219 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
21220 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
21221 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
21223 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
21224 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
21225 Face used on buttons.
21227 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
21228 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
21229 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
21231 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
21232 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
21233 Buttons in the group buffer.
21235 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
21236 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
21237 Buttons in the summary buffer.
21239 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
21240 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
21241 Buttons in the server buffer.
21243 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
21244 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
21245 Buttons in the browse buffer.
21248 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
21249 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
21250 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
21258 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
21259 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
21260 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
21261 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
21262 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
21264 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
21265 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
21266 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
21268 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
21269 been idle for thirty minutes:
21272 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
21275 Here's a handler that scans for @acronym{PGP} headers every hour when
21279 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
21282 This @var{time} parameter and that @var{idle} parameter work together
21283 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
21284 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
21286 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
21287 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
21288 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
21289 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
21291 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
21292 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
21293 @var{idle} minutes.
21295 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
21296 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
21299 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
21300 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
21301 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
21303 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
21304 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
21305 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
21306 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
21308 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
21309 your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21311 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
21313 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
21316 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
21317 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
21318 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
21319 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
21320 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
21321 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
21322 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
21323 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
21324 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
21325 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
21326 @file{~/.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
21328 @findex gnus-demon-init
21329 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
21330 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
21331 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
21332 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
21333 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
21335 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
21336 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
21337 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
21346 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
21347 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
21349 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
21350 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
21351 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
21352 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
21355 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
21356 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
21357 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
21358 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
21360 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
21361 this will make spam disappear.
21363 There are some variables to customize, of course:
21366 @item gnus-use-nocem
21367 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
21368 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
21371 @item gnus-nocem-groups
21372 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
21373 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
21376 ("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
21377 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")
21380 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
21381 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
21382 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
21383 people you want to listen to. The default is
21385 ("Automoose-1" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
21386 "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo" "hweede@@snafu.de")
21388 fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
21390 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at@*
21391 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
21393 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
21394 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
21395 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
21396 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
21397 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
21398 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
21399 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
21400 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
21401 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
21402 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
21404 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
21405 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
21408 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
21411 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
21412 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
21415 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
21418 The specs are applied left-to-right.
21421 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
21422 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
21424 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
21425 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
21426 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
21427 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
21429 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
21430 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
21433 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
21435 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
21443 This might be dangerous, though.
21445 @item gnus-nocem-directory
21446 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
21447 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is@*
21448 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
21450 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
21451 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
21452 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
21453 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
21454 might then see old spam.
21456 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
21457 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
21458 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
21459 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
21460 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
21463 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
21464 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
21465 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
21466 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
21470 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
21471 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
21472 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
21473 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
21480 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
21481 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
21482 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
21484 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
21485 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
21486 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
21487 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
21488 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
21489 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
21490 @code{undo} function.
21492 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
21493 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
21494 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
21495 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
21496 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
21497 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
21498 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
21499 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
21500 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
21501 never be totally undoable.
21503 @findex gnus-undo-mode
21504 @vindex gnus-use-undo
21506 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
21507 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
21508 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
21509 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
21513 @node Predicate Specifiers
21514 @section Predicate Specifiers
21515 @cindex predicate specifiers
21517 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
21518 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
21519 to type all that much.
21521 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
21526 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
21527 gnus-article-unread-p)
21530 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
21531 functions all take one parameter.
21533 @findex gnus-make-predicate
21534 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
21535 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
21536 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
21541 @section Moderation
21544 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
21545 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
21546 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
21549 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
21553 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
21556 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
21558 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
21563 You split your incoming mail by matching on
21564 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
21565 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
21568 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
21569 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
21572 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
21573 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
21577 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
21580 (setq gnus-moderated-list
21581 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
21585 @node Image Enhancements
21586 @section Image Enhancements
21588 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21@footnote{Emacs 21 on MS Windows doesn't
21589 support images yet.}, is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has
21590 taken advantage of that.
21593 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
21594 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
21595 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
21596 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
21597 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
21605 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
21606 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
21607 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
21611 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
21612 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
21613 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
21621 Decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
21622 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
21623 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
21624 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
21626 The variable that controls this is the
21627 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
21628 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
21629 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
21630 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
21631 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
21633 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
21634 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
21635 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
21636 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
21639 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
21640 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
21641 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
21642 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
21643 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
21644 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
21645 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
21646 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
21648 (Note: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
21651 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
21652 easier insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages.
21654 @findex gnus-random-x-face
21655 @vindex gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command
21656 @vindex gnus-x-face-directory
21657 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
21658 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
21659 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
21660 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
21661 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
21662 header data as a string.
21664 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
21665 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
21666 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
21667 randomly generated data.
21669 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
21670 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command
21671 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
21672 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
21673 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
21675 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
21676 like the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21679 (setq message-required-news-headers
21680 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21681 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
21684 Using the last function would be something like this:
21687 (setq message-required-news-headers
21688 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21689 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
21690 (gnus-x-face-from-file
21691 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
21699 @c #### FIXME: faces and x-faces'implementations should really be harmonized.
21701 @code{Face} headers are essentially a funkier version of @code{X-Face}
21702 ones. They describe a 48x48 pixel colored image that's supposed to
21703 represent the author of the message.
21706 @findex gnus-article-display-face
21707 The contents of a @code{Face} header must be a base64 encoded PNG image.
21708 See @url{http://quimby.gnus.org/circus/face/} for the precise
21711 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
21712 easier insertion of Face headers in outgoing messages.
21714 @findex gnus-convert-png-to-face
21715 @code{gnus-convert-png-to-face} takes a 48x48 PNG image, no longer than
21716 726 bytes long, and converts it to a face.
21718 @findex gnus-face-from-file
21719 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-face-command
21720 @code{gnus-face-from-file} takes a JPEG file as the parameter, and then
21721 converts the file to Face format by using the
21722 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-face-command} shell command.
21724 Here's how you would typically use this function. Put something like the
21725 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21728 (setq message-required-news-headers
21729 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21730 (list '(Face . (lambda ()
21731 (gnus-face-from-file "~/face.jpg"))))))
21736 @subsection Smileys
21741 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
21746 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
21747 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
21749 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
21750 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21753 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
21756 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{8-)}, @samp{:-(} and
21757 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
21758 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
21759 text and maps that to file names.
21761 @vindex smiley-regexp-alist
21762 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist}
21763 variable. The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched;
21764 the second element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by
21765 the picture; and the third element is the name of the file to be
21768 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
21773 @item smiley-data-directory
21774 @vindex smiley-data-directory
21775 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
21777 @item gnus-smiley-file-types
21778 @vindex gnus-smiley-file-types
21779 List of suffixes on smiley file names to try.
21793 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
21794 good way to do so. It's also a great way to impress people staring
21795 over your shoulder as you read news.
21797 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
21806 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
21807 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
21808 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
21809 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
21810 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
21811 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
21812 @code{GIF} formats.
21815 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
21816 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases,
21817 point your Web browser at
21818 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
21820 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
21821 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
21823 To enable displaying picons, simply make sure that
21824 @code{gnus-picon-databases} points to the directory containing the
21827 The following variables offer control over where things are located.
21831 @item gnus-picon-databases
21832 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
21833 The location of the picons database. This is a list of directories
21834 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
21835 subdirectories. Defaults to @code{("/usr/lib/picon"
21836 "/usr/local/faces")}.
21838 @item gnus-picon-news-directories
21839 @vindex gnus-picon-news-directories
21840 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
21841 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
21843 @item gnus-picon-user-directories
21844 @vindex gnus-picon-user-directories
21845 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for user
21846 faces. @code{("users" "usenix" "local" "misc")} is the default.
21848 @item gnus-picon-domain-directories
21849 @vindex gnus-picon-domain-directories
21850 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
21851 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
21852 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
21854 @item gnus-picon-file-types
21855 @vindex gnus-picon-file-types
21856 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
21857 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not built-in your Emacs.
21863 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
21866 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21867 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21868 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
21869 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
21870 unusual directory structure.
21872 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21873 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21874 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
21875 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
21877 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21878 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21879 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
21880 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
21881 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
21882 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
21884 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21885 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21886 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
21891 @subsubsection Toolbar
21895 @item gnus-use-toolbar
21896 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
21897 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
21898 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
21899 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
21901 @item gnus-group-toolbar
21902 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
21903 The toolbar in the group buffer.
21905 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
21906 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
21907 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
21909 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21910 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21911 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
21922 @node Fuzzy Matching
21923 @section Fuzzy Matching
21924 @cindex fuzzy matching
21926 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
21927 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
21929 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
21930 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
21931 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
21933 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
21934 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
21935 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
21936 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
21937 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
21940 @node Thwarting Email Spam
21941 @section Thwarting Email Spam
21945 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21947 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
21948 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
21949 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
21950 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
21951 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
21952 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
21953 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
21954 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
21957 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
21958 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
21959 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
21960 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
21961 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
21962 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
21964 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
21967 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
21968 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
21969 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
21970 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
21971 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
21972 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
21975 @node The problem of spam
21976 @subsection The problem of spam
21978 @cindex spam filtering approaches
21979 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
21981 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21983 First, some background on spam.
21985 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
21986 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it exists
21987 because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail, so only
21988 a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to make it
21989 worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most common
21990 spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for further
21991 spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers}, but terms like
21992 @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, and @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
21994 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
21995 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
21996 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
21997 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
21998 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
21999 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
22000 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
22001 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
22002 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
22005 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering. If you get 200
22006 spam messages per day from @samp{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you
22007 block @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about
22008 @samp{VIAGRA}, you discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the
22009 message. This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate
22010 e-mail. For instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest
22011 has been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it
22012 @strong{contained} words that were common in spam messages.
22013 Nevertheless, in isolated cases, with great care, direct filtering of
22014 mail can be useful.
22016 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
22017 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
22018 @var{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @var{X} in
22019 China, Ghana, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
22020 @var{N} systems enter @var{X} or the spam e-mail from @var{X} into
22021 a database. The criteria for spam detection vary---it may be the
22022 number of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When
22023 a user of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a
22024 message is spam, he consults one of those @var{N} systems.
22026 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
22027 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
22028 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
22029 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
22030 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
22031 sending spam, and their web sites have been shut down for some time
22032 because of the incident.
22034 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
22035 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
22036 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
22037 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
22038 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
22039 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
22040 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
22041 to store the database of spam analyses.
22043 @node Anti-Spam Basics
22044 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
22048 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
22050 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
22051 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
22053 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
22054 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
22055 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
22056 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
22057 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
22058 part of the mail address.)
22061 (setq message-default-news-headers
22062 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
22065 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
22066 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
22071 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
22072 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
22073 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
22079 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
22080 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
22081 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
22082 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
22084 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @acronym{SMTP} server
22085 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
22086 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
22087 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
22088 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
22089 your fancy split rule in this way:
22094 (to "larsi" "misc")
22098 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
22099 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
22100 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
22101 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
22102 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
22104 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
22105 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
22106 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
22107 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
22112 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
22113 @cindex SpamAssassin
22114 @cindex Vipul's Razor
22117 The days where the hints in the previous section was sufficient in
22118 avoiding spam are coming to an end. There are many tools out there
22119 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
22120 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
22121 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
22122 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
22123 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
22125 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
22126 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
22127 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
22128 Specifiers}) follow.
22132 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
22135 :postscript "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
22138 Once you manage to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
22139 the mail contain e.g.@: a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
22140 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
22143 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
22147 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
22150 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
22151 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
22155 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
22156 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
22157 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
22158 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
22161 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
22163 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
22165 (let ((buf (or (get-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
22166 (get-buffer " *nnml move*"))))
22168 (progn (message "Oops, cannot find message buffer") nil)
22170 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
22171 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
22175 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
22176 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
22177 spam. And here is the nifty function:
22180 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
22181 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
22183 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
22184 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
22185 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
22189 @subsection Hashcash
22192 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
22193 costly for each message they send. This has the obvious drawback that
22194 you cannot rely on everyone in the world using this technique,
22195 since it is not part of the Internet standards, but it may be useful
22196 in smaller communities.
22198 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
22199 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
22200 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
22201 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
22202 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
22203 instead requires that everyone you communicate with supports the
22204 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
22205 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
22206 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
22207 one of them separately.
22210 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
22211 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
22212 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:}
22213 header. For more details, and for the external application
22214 @code{hashcash} you need to install to use this feature, see
22215 @uref{http://www.cypherspace.org/~adam/hashcash/}. Even more
22216 information can be found at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
22218 If you wish to call hashcash for each message you send, say something
22222 (require 'hashcash)
22223 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'mail-add-payment)
22226 The @file{hashcash.el} library can be found in the Gnus development
22227 contrib directory or at
22228 @uref{http://users.actrix.gen.nz/mycroft/hashcash.el}.
22230 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
22234 @item hashcash-default-payment
22235 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
22236 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
22237 should consist of. By default this is 0, meaning nothing will be
22238 done. Suggested useful values include 17 to 29.
22240 @item hashcash-payment-alist
22241 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
22242 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
22243 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(@var{addr}
22244 @var{amount})} cells, where @var{addr} is the receiver (email address
22245 or newsgroup) and @var{amount} is the number of bits in the collision
22246 that is needed. It can also contain @samp{(@var{addr} @var{string}
22247 @var{amount})} cells, where the @var{string} is the string to use
22248 (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
22252 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed.
22256 Currently there is no built in functionality in Gnus to verify
22257 hashcash cookies, it is expected that this is performed by your hand
22258 customized mail filtering scripts. Improvements in this area would be
22259 a useful contribution, however.
22261 @node Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
22262 @subsection Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
22263 @cindex spam filtering
22266 The idea behind @file{spam.el} is to have a control center for spam detection
22267 and filtering in Gnus. To that end, @file{spam.el} does two things: it
22268 filters incoming mail, and it analyzes mail known to be spam or ham.
22269 @dfn{Ham} is the name used throughout @file{spam.el} to indicate
22272 So, what happens when you load @file{spam.el}? First of all, you get
22273 the following keyboard commands:
22283 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
22284 @code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}.
22286 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{$} mark.
22287 Whenever you see a spam article, make sure to mark its summary line
22288 with @kbd{M-d} before leaving the group. This is done automatically
22289 for unread articles in @emph{spam} groups.
22295 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
22296 @code{spam-bogofilter-score}.
22298 You must have Bogofilter installed for that command to work properly.
22304 Also, when you load @file{spam.el}, you will be able to customize its
22305 variables. Try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{spam} variable
22308 @vindex gnus-spam-process-newsgroups
22309 The concepts of ham processors and spam processors are very important.
22310 Ham processors and spam processors for a group can be set with the
22311 @code{spam-process} group parameter, or the
22312 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. Ham processors take
22313 mail known to be non-spam (@emph{ham}) and process it in some way so
22314 that later similar mail will also be considered non-spam. Spam
22315 processors take mail known to be spam and process it so similar spam
22316 will be detected later.
22318 @vindex gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
22319 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
22320 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
22321 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
22322 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
22323 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
22324 by customizing the corresponding variable
22325 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
22326 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
22327 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
22328 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
22329 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
22330 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
22331 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
22334 @vindex gnus-spam-mark
22336 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
22337 they get the @samp{$} mark (@code{gnus-spam-mark}) when you enter the
22338 group. If you have seen a message, had it marked as spam, then
22339 unmarked it, it won't be marked as spam when you enter the group
22340 thereafter. You can disable that behavior, so all unread messages
22341 will get the @samp{$} mark, if you set the
22342 @code{spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam} parameter to nil. You should
22343 remove the @samp{$} mark when you are in the group summary buffer for
22344 every message that is not spam after all. To remove the @samp{$}
22345 mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to ``unread'' the article, or @kbd{d} for
22346 declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a group, all
22347 spam-marked (@samp{$}) articles are sent to a spam processor which
22348 will study them as spam samples.
22350 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
22351 @code{ham-marks} group parameter gets overridden below, marks @samp{R}
22352 and @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
22353 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
22354 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
22355 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
22356 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
22357 should then adjust the @code{ham-marks} group parameter.
22360 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
22361 marks you want to consider ham. By default, the list contains the
22362 deleted, read, killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks.
22366 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
22367 marks you want to consider spam. By default, the list contains only
22371 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
22372 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
22373 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
22374 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
22375 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
22376 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{$},
22379 @vindex gnus-ham-process-destinations
22380 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
22381 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
22382 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
22383 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
22384 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
22385 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
22386 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
22387 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with
22388 @code{customize-variable gnus-ham-process-destinations}). The ultimate
22389 location is a group name. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
22390 parameter is not set, ham articles are left in place. If the
22391 @code{spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group} parameter is
22392 set, the ham articles are marked as unread before being moved.
22394 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
22395 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
22397 @vindex gnus-spam-process-destinations
22398 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
22399 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
22400 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
22401 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
22402 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
22403 customize this variable with @code{customize-variable
22404 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). The ultimate location is a group
22405 name. If the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set,
22406 the spam articles are only expired.
22408 To use the @file{spam.el} facilities for incoming mail filtering, you
22409 must add the following to your fancy split list
22410 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}:
22416 Note that the fancy split may be called @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
22417 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on whether you use the nnmail or
22418 nnimap back ends to retrieve your mail.
22420 The @code{spam-split} function will process incoming mail and send the
22421 mail considered to be spam into the group name given by the variable
22422 @code{spam-split-group}. By default that group name is @samp{spam},
22423 but you can customize @code{spam-split-group}.
22425 You can also give @code{spam-split} a parameter,
22426 e.g. @samp{'spam-use-regex-headers}. Why is this useful?
22428 Take these split rules (with @code{spam-use-regex-headers} and
22429 @code{spam-use-blackholes} set):
22432 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
22433 (any "ding" "ding")
22439 Now, the problem is that you want all ding messages to make it to the
22440 ding folder. But that will let obvious spam (for example, spam
22441 detected by SpamAssassin, and @code{spam-use-regex-headers}) through,
22442 when it's sent to the ding list. On the other hand, some messages to
22443 the ding list are from a mail server in the blackhole list, so the
22444 invocation of @code{spam-split} can't be before the ding rule.
22446 You can let SpamAssassin headers supercede ding rules, but all other
22447 @code{spam-split} rules (including a second invocation of the
22448 regex-headers check) will be after the ding rule:
22451 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
22452 (: spam-split 'spam-use-regex-headers)
22453 (any "ding" "ding")
22459 Basically, this lets you invoke specific @code{spam-split} checks
22460 depending on your particular needs. You don't have to throw all mail
22461 into all the spam tests. Another reason why this is nice is that
22462 messages to mailing lists you have rules for don't have to have
22463 resource-intensive blackhole checks performed on them. You could also
22464 specify different spam checks for your nnmail split vs. your nnimap
22467 You still have to have specific checks such as
22468 @code{spam-use-regex-headers} set to t, even if you specifically
22469 invoke @code{spam-split} with the check. The reason is that when
22470 loading @file{spam.el}, some conditional loading is done depending on
22471 what @code{spam-use-xyz} variables you have set.
22473 @emph{Note for IMAP users}
22475 The boolean variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body} needs to be
22476 set, if you want to split based on the whole message instead of just
22477 the headers. By default, the nnimap back end will only retrieve the
22478 message headers. If you use @code{spam-check-bogofilter},
22479 @code{spam-check-ifile}, or @code{spam-check-stat} (the splitters that
22480 can benefit from the full message body), you should set this variable.
22481 It is not set by default because it will slow @acronym{IMAP} down, and
22482 that is not an appropriate decision to make on behalf of the user.
22484 @xref{Splitting in IMAP}.
22486 @emph{TODO: Currently, spam.el only supports insertion of articles
22487 into a back end. There is no way to tell spam.el that an article is no
22488 longer spam or ham.}
22490 @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
22491 statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
22494 The following are the methods you can use to control the behavior of
22495 @code{spam-split} and their corresponding spam and ham processors:
22498 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
22499 * BBDB Whitelists::
22500 * Gmane Spam Reporting::
22501 * Anti-spam Hashcash Payments::
22503 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
22505 * ifile spam filtering::
22506 * spam-stat spam filtering::
22508 * Extending the spam elisp package::
22511 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
22512 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
22513 @cindex spam filtering
22514 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
22515 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
22518 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
22520 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
22521 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
22522 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
22523 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
22528 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
22530 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
22531 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
22532 whitelist will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
22533 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the whitelist, their
22534 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
22538 @defvar spam-use-whitelist-exclusive
22540 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists as an
22541 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
22542 unless the sender is in the whitelist. Use with care.
22546 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
22548 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22549 customizing the group parameters or the
22550 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22551 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
22552 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
22556 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
22558 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22559 customizing the group parameters or the
22560 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22561 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
22562 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
22563 whitelist. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
22564 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22568 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
22569 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
22570 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
22571 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
22572 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
22574 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
22575 legitimate. All messages from whitelisted addresses are considered
22576 non-spam. Also see @ref{BBDB Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the
22577 Emacs regular expression syntax.
22579 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
22580 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
22581 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
22582 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
22583 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
22584 @file{blacklist} respectively.
22586 @node BBDB Whitelists
22587 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
22588 @cindex spam filtering
22589 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
22590 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
22593 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
22595 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
22596 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted
22597 addresses, without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded
22598 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Messages whose senders are
22599 not in the BBDB will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
22600 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the BBDB, their
22601 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
22605 @defvar spam-use-BBDB-exclusive
22607 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use the BBDB as an
22608 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
22609 unless the sender is in the BBDB. Use with care. Only sender
22610 addresses in the BBDB will be allowed through; all others will be
22611 classified as spammers.
22615 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
22617 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22618 customizing the group parameters or the
22619 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22620 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
22621 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
22622 BBDB. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
22623 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22627 @node Gmane Spam Reporting
22628 @subsubsection Gmane Spam Reporting
22629 @cindex spam reporting
22630 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
22631 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
22634 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane
22636 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22637 customizing the group parameters or the
22638 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22639 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
22640 articles groups will be reported to the Gmane administrators.
22644 @node Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
22645 @subsubsection Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
22646 @cindex spam filtering
22647 @cindex hashcash, spam filtering
22650 @defvar spam-use-hashcash
22652 Similar to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
22653 Whitelists}), but uses hashcash tokens for whitelisting messages
22654 instead of the sender address. You must have the @code{hashcash.el}
22655 package loaded for @code{spam-use-hashcash} to work properly.
22656 Messages without a hashcash payment token will be sent to the next
22657 spam-split rule. This is an explicit filter, meaning that unless a
22658 hashcash token is found, the messages are not assumed to be spam or
22664 @subsubsection Blackholes
22665 @cindex spam filtering
22666 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
22669 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
22671 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
22672 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
22673 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
22674 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
22675 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
22676 contains outdated servers.
22678 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
22679 @file{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
22680 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil}. It is not recommended at
22681 this time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil} despite the
22682 possible performance improvements, because some users may be unable to
22683 use it, but you can try it and see if it works for you.
22687 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
22689 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
22693 @defvar spam-blackhole-good-server-regex
22695 A regular expression for IPs that should not be checked against the
22696 blackhole server list. When set to @code{nil}, it has no effect.
22700 @defvar spam-use-dig
22702 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
22703 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
22707 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
22708 ham processor for blackholes.
22710 @node Regular Expressions Header Matching
22711 @subsubsection Regular Expressions Header Matching
22712 @cindex spam filtering
22713 @cindex regular expressions header matching, spam filtering
22716 @defvar spam-use-regex-headers
22718 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus check the
22719 message headers against lists of regular expressions when you set this
22720 option. The variables @code{spam-regex-headers-spam} and
22721 @code{spam-regex-headers-ham} hold the list of regular expressions.
22722 Gnus will check against the message headers to determine if the
22723 message is spam or ham, respectively.
22727 @defvar spam-regex-headers-spam
22729 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
22730 the message, positively identify it as spam.
22734 @defvar spam-regex-headers-ham
22736 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
22737 the message, positively identify it as ham.
22741 Regular expression header checks are done only on incoming mail.
22742 There is no specific spam or ham processor for regular expressions.
22745 @subsubsection Bogofilter
22746 @cindex spam filtering
22747 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
22750 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
22752 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
22755 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{$} mark for spam
22756 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
22757 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
22758 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
22759 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
22760 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
22762 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on a specific
22763 threshold. That threshold can be customized, consult the Bogofilter
22766 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
22767 processing will be turned off.
22769 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
22773 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
22775 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
22776 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
22777 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
22778 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
22779 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
22780 installation documents for details.
22782 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
22786 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
22787 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22788 customizing the group parameters or the
22789 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22790 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
22791 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
22794 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
22795 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22796 customizing the group parameters or the
22797 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22798 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
22799 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
22800 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
22801 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22804 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
22806 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
22807 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
22808 database directory.
22812 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to @command{ifile} in intent and
22813 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
22814 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
22815 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
22816 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
22817 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
22819 @node ifile spam filtering
22820 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
22821 @cindex spam filtering
22822 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
22825 @defvar spam-use-ifile
22827 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use @command{ifile}, a
22828 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
22832 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
22834 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
22835 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
22836 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
22840 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
22842 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
22843 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
22844 the default value of @samp{spam}.
22847 @defvar spam-ifile-database-path
22849 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
22850 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
22854 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
22855 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
22856 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
22857 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
22860 @node spam-stat spam filtering
22861 @subsubsection spam-stat spam filtering
22862 @cindex spam filtering
22863 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
22867 @xref{Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat}.
22869 @defvar spam-use-stat
22871 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use
22872 spam-stat.el, an Emacs Lisp statistical analyzer.
22876 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
22877 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22878 customizing the group parameters or the
22879 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22880 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
22881 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
22884 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
22885 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22886 customizing the group parameters or the
22887 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22888 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
22889 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
22890 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
22891 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22894 This enables @file{spam.el} to cooperate with @file{spam-stat.el}.
22895 @file{spam-stat.el} provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database,
22896 which unlike ifile or Bogofilter does not require external programs.
22897 A spam and a ham processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for
22898 @code{spam-split} are provided.
22901 @subsubsection Using SpamOracle with Gnus
22902 @cindex spam filtering
22906 An easy way to filter out spam is to use SpamOracle. SpamOracle is an
22907 statistical mail filtering tool written by Xavier Leroy and needs to be
22908 installed separately.
22910 There are several ways to use SpamOracle with Gnus. In all cases, your
22911 mail is piped through SpamOracle in its @emph{mark} mode. SpamOracle will
22912 then enter an @samp{X-Spam} header indicating whether it regards the
22913 mail as a spam mail or not.
22915 One possibility is to run SpamOracle as a @code{:prescript} from the
22916 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}, (@pxref{SpamAssassin}). This method has
22917 the advantage that the user can see the @emph{X-Spam} headers.
22919 The easiest method is to make @file{spam.el} (@pxref{Filtering Spam
22920 Using The Spam ELisp Package}) call SpamOracle.
22922 @vindex spam-use-spamoracle
22923 To enable SpamOracle usage by @file{spam.el}, set the variable
22924 @code{spam-use-spamoracle} to @code{t} and configure the
22925 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy} as described in
22926 the section @xref{Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package}. In
22927 this example the @samp{INBOX} of an nnimap server is filtered using
22928 SpamOracle. Mails recognized as spam mails will be moved to
22929 @code{spam-split-group}, @samp{Junk} in this case. Ham messages stay
22933 (setq spam-use-spamoracle t
22934 spam-split-group "Junk"
22935 nnimap-split-inbox '("INBOX")
22936 nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
22937 nnimap-split-fancy '(| (: spam-split) "INBOX"))
22940 @defvar spam-use-spamoracle
22941 Set to @code{t} if you want Gnus to enable spam filtering using
22945 @defvar spam-spamoracle-binary
22946 Gnus uses the SpamOracle binary called @file{spamoracle} found in the
22947 user's PATH. Using the variable @code{spam-spamoracle-binary}, this
22951 @defvar spam-spamoracle-database
22952 By default, SpamOracle uses the file @file{~/.spamoracle.db} as a database to
22953 store its analyses. This is controlled by the variable
22954 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} which defaults to @code{nil}. That means
22955 the default SpamOracle database will be used. In case you want your
22956 database to live somewhere special, set
22957 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} to this path.
22960 SpamOracle employs a statistical algorithm to determine whether a
22961 message is spam or ham. In order to get good results, meaning few
22962 false hits or misses, SpamOracle needs training. SpamOracle learns the
22963 characteristics of your spam mails. Using the @emph{add} mode
22964 (training mode) one has to feed good (ham) and spam mails to
22965 SpamOracle. This can be done by pressing @kbd{|} in the Summary buffer
22966 and pipe the mail to a SpamOracle process or using @file{spam.el}'s
22967 spam- and ham-processors, which is much more convenient. For a
22968 detailed description of spam- and ham-processors, see @xref{Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package}.
22970 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle
22971 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22972 customizing the group parameter or the
22973 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
22974 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles will be
22975 sent to SpamOracle as spam samples.
22978 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle
22979 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22980 customizing the group parameter or the
22981 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
22982 to a grup's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked articles in
22983 @emph{ham} groups will be sent to the SpamOracle as samples of ham
22984 messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam} or
22985 @emph{unclassified} groups.
22988 @emph{Example:} These are the Group Parameters of an group that has been
22989 classified as a ham group, meaning that it should only contain ham
22992 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham)
22994 (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle)))
22996 For this group the `gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle' is
22997 installed. If the group contains spam message (e.g. because SpamOracle
22998 has not had enough sample messages yet) and the user marks some
22999 messages as spam messages, these messages will be processed by
23000 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle}. This processor sends
23001 the messages to SpamOracle as new samples for spam.
23003 @node Extending the spam elisp package
23004 @subsubsection Extending the spam elisp package
23005 @cindex spam filtering
23006 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
23007 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
23009 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
23010 incoming mail, provide the following:
23018 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
23019 "True if blackbox should be used.")
23024 (spam-use-blackbox . spam-check-blackbox)
23026 to @code{spam-list-of-checks}.
23031 Write the @code{spam-check-blackbox} function. It should return
23032 @samp{nil} or @code{spam-split-group}. See the existing
23033 @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can do.
23035 Make sure to add @code{spam-use-blackbox} to
23036 @code{spam-list-of-statistical-checks} if Blackbox is a statistical
23037 mail analyzer that needs the full message body to operate.
23041 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
23048 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
23049 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
23052 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
23053 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
23054 Only applicable to spam groups.")
23056 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
23057 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
23058 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
23066 (defun spam-blackbox-register-spam-routine ()
23067 (spam-generic-register-routine
23068 ;; @r{the spam function}
23070 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
23071 (when (stringp from)
23072 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer from))))
23073 ;; @r{the ham function}
23076 (defun spam-blackbox-register-ham-routine ()
23077 (spam-generic-register-routine
23078 ;; @r{the spam function}
23080 ;; @r{the ham function}
23082 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
23083 (when (stringp from)
23084 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender from))))))
23087 Write the @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender} and
23088 @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer} functions. You can add
23089 more complex code than fetching the message sender, but keep in mind
23090 that retrieving the whole message takes significantly longer than the
23091 sender through @code{spam-fetch-field-from-fast}, because the message
23092 senders are kept in memory by Gnus.
23097 @node Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
23098 @subsection Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
23099 @cindex Paul Graham
23100 @cindex Graham, Paul
23101 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
23102 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
23103 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
23105 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
23106 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
23107 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
23108 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
23109 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
23110 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
23111 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
23112 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
23113 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
23116 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
23117 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
23118 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
23119 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
23120 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
23121 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
23122 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
23123 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
23125 Gnus supports this kind of filtering. But it needs some setting up.
23126 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
23127 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
23128 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
23129 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
23132 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
23133 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
23134 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
23137 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
23138 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
23140 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
23141 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
23142 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
23143 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
23144 need several hundred emails in both collections.
23146 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
23147 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
23148 per mail. Use the following:
23150 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
23151 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
23152 is treated as one spam mail.
23155 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
23156 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
23157 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
23160 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
23161 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds
23162 the the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
23163 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
23164 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds the the group
23165 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
23167 When you are using @acronym{IMAP}, you won't have the mails available
23168 locally, so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent
23169 to cache the articles. Then you can use directories such as
23170 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
23171 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
23174 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics---the
23175 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
23176 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
23177 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
23180 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
23181 reset the dictionary.
23183 @defun spam-stat-reset
23184 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
23187 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
23188 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
23189 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
23190 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
23191 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
23192 only non-spam mails.
23194 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
23195 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
23196 to update the dictionary incrementally.
23199 @defun spam-stat-save
23200 Save the dictionary.
23203 @defvar spam-stat-file
23204 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
23205 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
23208 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
23209 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
23211 In order to use @code{spam-stat} to split your mail, you need to add the
23212 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23215 (require 'spam-stat)
23219 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
23222 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
23223 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
23224 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
23225 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
23227 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
23228 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
23229 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
23230 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
23233 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
23234 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
23238 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
23239 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
23242 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
23243 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
23244 expression are considered potential spam.
23247 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
23248 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
23249 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
23253 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
23254 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
23255 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
23256 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
23257 mails, when creating the dictionary!
23260 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
23261 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
23262 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
23266 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
23267 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
23268 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
23269 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
23270 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
23274 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
23275 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
23276 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
23277 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
23282 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
23283 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
23285 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
23287 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
23288 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
23289 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
23292 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
23293 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
23294 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
23297 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
23298 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
23299 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
23300 already been processed as non-spam.
23303 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
23304 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
23305 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
23306 been processed as spam.
23309 @defun spam-stat-save
23310 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
23311 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
23314 @defun spam-stat-load
23315 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
23316 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
23319 @defun spam-stat-score-word
23320 Return the spam score for a word.
23323 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
23324 Return the spam score for a buffer.
23327 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
23328 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
23329 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
23332 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
23333 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23336 (require 'spam-stat)
23340 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
23343 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
23344 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
23345 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
23346 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
23347 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
23348 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
23349 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
23350 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
23351 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
23352 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
23353 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
23354 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
23355 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
23356 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
23359 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
23362 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
23363 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
23364 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
23365 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
23366 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
23367 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
23370 @node Various Various
23371 @section Various Various
23377 @item gnus-home-directory
23378 @vindex gnus-home-directory
23379 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
23380 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
23382 @item gnus-directory
23383 @vindex gnus-directory
23384 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
23385 this variable, which defaults to the @env{SAVEDIR} environment
23386 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
23388 Note that gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
23389 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
23390 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
23391 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
23393 @item gnus-default-directory
23394 @vindex gnus-default-directory
23395 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
23396 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
23397 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
23398 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
23399 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
23400 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
23403 @vindex gnus-verbose
23404 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
23405 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
23406 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
23407 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
23408 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
23410 @item gnus-verbose-backends
23411 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
23412 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
23413 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
23415 @item nnheader-max-head-length
23416 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
23417 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
23418 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
23419 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
23420 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
23421 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
23422 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
23423 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
23424 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
23426 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
23427 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
23428 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
23429 read when doing the operation described above.
23431 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
23432 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
23434 @cindex invalid characters in file names
23435 @cindex characters in file names
23436 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
23437 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
23438 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
23442 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
23447 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
23448 Windows (phooey) systems.
23450 @item gnus-hidden-properties
23451 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
23452 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
23453 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
23454 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
23456 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
23457 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
23458 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
23459 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
23460 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
23462 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
23463 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
23464 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
23466 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
23467 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
23469 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
23470 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
23471 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
23472 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
23475 @acronym{IMAP} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
23483 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
23484 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
23486 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
23488 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
23494 Not because of victories @*
23497 but for the common sunshine,@*
23499 the largess of the spring.
23503 but for the day's work done@*
23504 as well as I was able;@*
23505 not for a seat upon the dais@*
23506 but at the common table.@*
23511 @chapter Appendices
23514 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
23515 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
23516 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
23517 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
23518 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
23519 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
23520 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
23521 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
23522 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
23529 @cindex installing under XEmacs
23531 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
23532 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
23533 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{w3}, @samp{mh-e},
23534 @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{rmail}, @samp{eterm}, @samp{mail-lib},
23535 @samp{xemacs-base}, @samp{sh-script} and @samp{fsf-compat}. The
23536 @samp{misc-games} package is required for Morse decoding.
23543 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
23544 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
23546 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
23547 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
23548 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
23549 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
23550 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
23552 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
23553 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
23554 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
23555 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
23556 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
23557 appropriate name, don't you think?)
23559 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
23560 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
23561 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
23562 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
23565 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
23566 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
23567 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
23568 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
23569 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
23570 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
23571 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
23572 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
23573 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
23577 @node Gnus Versions
23578 @subsection Gnus Versions
23580 @cindex September Gnus
23582 @cindex Quassia Gnus
23583 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
23586 @cindex Gnus versions
23588 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
23589 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
23590 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
23592 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
23593 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
23595 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
23596 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
23598 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
23599 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
23601 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
23602 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
23605 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
23607 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
23608 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
23609 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
23610 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
23611 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
23612 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
23615 @node Other Gnus Versions
23616 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
23619 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
23620 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
23621 Japan. It's based on a library called @acronym{SEMI}, which provides
23622 @acronym{MIME} capabilities.
23624 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
23625 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
23626 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
23627 @acronym{MIME} and multilingualization things, especially important for
23634 What's the point of Gnus?
23636 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
23637 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
23638 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
23639 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
23640 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
23641 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
23642 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
23643 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
23644 keep track of millions of people who post?
23646 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
23647 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
23648 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
23649 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
23650 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
23651 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
23652 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
23653 every one of you to explore and invent.
23655 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
23656 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
23659 @node Compatibility
23660 @subsection Compatibility
23662 @cindex compatibility
23663 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
23664 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
23665 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
23670 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
23674 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
23677 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
23680 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
23681 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
23682 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
23683 important variables have their values copied into their global
23684 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
23685 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
23687 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
23688 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
23689 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
23690 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
23691 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
23695 @cindex highlighting
23696 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
23697 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
23698 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
23699 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
23700 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
23701 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
23704 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
23705 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
23706 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
23707 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
23709 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
23710 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
23711 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
23712 to stop doing it the old way.
23714 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
23716 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
23718 @cindex reporting bugs
23720 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
23721 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
23722 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
23724 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
23725 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
23726 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
23727 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
23732 @subsection Conformity
23734 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
23735 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
23743 There are no known breaches of this standard.
23747 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
23749 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
23750 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
23751 We do have some breaches to this one.
23757 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
23758 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
23759 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
23760 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
23761 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
23766 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
23767 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
23768 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
23769 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
23771 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
23772 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
23773 All the various @acronym{MIME} RFCs are supported.
23775 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
23776 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
23778 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
23781 RFC 1991 is the original @acronym{PGP} message specification,
23782 published as an informational RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now
23783 called Open PGP, and put on the Standards Track. Both document a
23784 non-@acronym{MIME} aware @acronym{PGP} format. Gnus supports both
23785 encoding (signing and encryption) and decoding (verification and
23788 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
23789 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
23790 1991) describes the @acronym{MIME}-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
23791 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
23793 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
23794 RFC 2633 describes the @acronym{S/MIME} format.
23796 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
23797 RFC 1730 is @acronym{IMAP} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060
23798 (@acronym{IMAP} 4 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5
23799 authentication for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2086 describes access control
23800 lists (ACLs) for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2359 describes a @acronym{IMAP}
23801 protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper @acronym{TLS}
23802 integration (STARTTLS) with @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 1731 describes the
23803 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @acronym{IMAP}.
23807 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
23808 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
23813 @subsection Emacsen
23819 Gnus should work on :
23827 XEmacs 21.1.1 and up.
23831 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
23832 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
23833 Emacs versions. However, T-gnus does support ``Mule 2.3 based on Emacs
23834 19.34'' and possibly the versions of XEmacs prior to 21.1.1, e.g. 20.4.
23835 See the file ``README'' in the T-gnus distribution for more details.
23837 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
23838 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
23839 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
23843 @node Gnus Development
23844 @subsection Gnus Development
23846 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
23847 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
23848 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
23849 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
23850 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
23851 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
23852 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
23853 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
23855 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
23856 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
23857 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
23858 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
23859 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
23862 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
23863 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
23864 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
23865 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
23866 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
23868 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
23869 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
23870 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
23871 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
23872 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
23873 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
23874 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
23875 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
23876 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
23877 can't be assumed to do so.
23882 @subsection Contributors
23883 @cindex contributors
23885 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
23886 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
23887 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
23888 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
23889 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
23890 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
23891 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
23892 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
23893 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
23894 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
23896 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for@dots{} oops,
23902 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
23905 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
23906 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @acronym{MIME} and
23907 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
23908 functionality and stuff.
23911 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
23912 well as numerous other things).
23915 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
23918 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
23921 Justin Sheehy--the @acronym{FAQ} maintainer.
23924 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
23927 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
23928 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
23931 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
23934 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
23935 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
23938 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
23941 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
23944 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
23947 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
23950 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
23951 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
23954 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
23957 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
23960 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
23963 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
23967 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
23970 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
23973 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
23976 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
23977 well as autoconf support.
23981 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
23982 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
23984 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
23999 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
24001 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka
24005 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
24015 Alexei V. Barantsev,
24030 Massimo Campostrini,
24035 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
24036 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
24040 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
24043 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
24049 Michael Welsh Duggan,
24054 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
24058 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
24066 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
24068 Michelangelo Grigni,
24072 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
24074 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c Hayashi
24076 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
24083 François Felix Ingrand,
24084 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c Ichikawa
24085 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
24087 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
24097 Peter Skov Knudsen,
24098 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
24100 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
24101 Thor Kristoffersen,
24104 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
24122 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
24123 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
24130 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
24135 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
24139 John McClary Prevost,
24145 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
24150 Christian von Roques,
24153 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
24160 Philippe Schnoebelen,
24162 Randal L. Schwartz,
24176 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
24181 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
24201 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
24202 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
24203 (550kB and counting).
24205 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
24208 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
24209 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
24213 @subsection New Features
24214 @cindex new features
24217 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
24218 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
24219 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
24220 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
24221 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
24222 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10.
24225 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
24226 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
24227 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
24230 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
24232 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
24237 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
24238 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
24241 Local spool and several @acronym{NNTP} servers can be used at once
24242 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
24245 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
24248 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
24249 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
24250 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
24253 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
24254 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
24255 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
24256 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
24259 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
24260 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
24263 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
24264 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
24265 (@pxref{The Active File}).
24268 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
24269 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
24272 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
24273 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
24274 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
24277 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
24278 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
24279 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
24282 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{~/.gnus.el}) to avoid
24283 cluttering up the @file{.emacs} file.
24286 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
24287 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
24290 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
24291 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
24294 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
24295 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
24298 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
24299 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
24302 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
24303 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
24306 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
24309 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
24310 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
24313 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
24314 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
24317 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
24318 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
24321 Gnus can fetch @acronym{FAQ}s and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
24324 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
24325 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
24328 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
24332 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
24336 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
24337 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
24340 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
24346 @node September Gnus
24347 @subsubsection September Gnus
24351 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
24355 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
24360 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
24361 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
24365 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
24366 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
24370 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
24374 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
24375 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
24378 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
24382 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
24385 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
24388 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
24391 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
24395 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
24396 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
24399 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
24403 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
24407 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
24411 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
24415 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
24418 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
24419 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
24422 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
24426 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
24427 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
24430 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
24433 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
24434 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
24435 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
24438 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
24442 The Gnus cache is much faster.
24445 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
24449 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
24450 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
24453 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
24454 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
24457 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
24458 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
24461 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
24462 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
24463 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
24466 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
24467 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
24470 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
24473 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
24476 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
24479 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
24482 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
24483 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
24486 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
24490 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
24493 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
24498 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
24501 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
24505 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
24508 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
24512 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
24515 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
24518 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
24519 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
24522 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
24523 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
24527 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
24528 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
24531 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
24535 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
24536 buffer to allow easier treatment.
24539 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
24542 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
24546 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
24550 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
24551 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
24554 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
24558 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
24559 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
24562 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
24563 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
24566 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
24570 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
24573 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
24576 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
24582 @subsubsection Red Gnus
24584 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
24588 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
24595 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
24598 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
24599 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
24602 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
24603 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
24607 Article washing status can be displayed in the
24608 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
24611 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
24614 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
24615 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
24618 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
24622 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
24623 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
24627 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
24628 Server Internals}).
24631 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
24635 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
24638 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
24639 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
24642 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
24643 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
24644 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
24647 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
24648 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
24651 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
24652 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
24655 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
24659 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
24660 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
24663 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
24664 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
24667 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
24671 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
24674 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
24678 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
24679 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
24682 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
24683 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
24686 A new command for reading collections of documents
24687 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
24688 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
24691 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
24695 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @acronym{NNTP}
24696 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
24699 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
24700 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
24701 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
24704 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
24705 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
24709 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
24713 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
24717 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
24722 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
24726 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
24730 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
24731 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
24734 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
24740 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
24742 New features in Gnus 5.6:
24747 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
24748 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
24749 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
24752 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
24753 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
24754 group, which is created automatically.
24757 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
24761 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
24764 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
24765 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
24768 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
24772 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
24775 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
24776 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
24779 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
24782 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section ``Symbolic
24783 Prefixes'' in the Gnus manual for details.
24786 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
24787 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the @file{all.SCORE} file.
24790 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
24791 control over simplification.
24794 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
24797 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
24801 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
24804 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
24807 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
24808 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
24809 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
24812 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
24813 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
24816 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
24820 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
24821 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
24824 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
24825 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @acronym{NNTP} servers.
24828 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
24832 A history of where mails have been split is available.
24835 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
24838 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
24839 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
24842 A new function for citing in Message has been
24843 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
24846 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
24849 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
24853 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
24854 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
24857 The ``lapsed date'' article header can be kept continually
24858 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
24861 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
24864 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
24868 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
24869 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
24871 New features in Gnus 5.8:
24876 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
24877 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
24879 If you used procmail like in
24882 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
24883 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
24884 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
24885 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
24888 this now has changed to
24892 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
24896 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}.
24899 Gnus is now a @acronym{MIME}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
24900 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
24903 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
24904 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
24907 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
24908 called to position point.
24911 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
24912 summary buffers and @acronym{NOV} files.
24915 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
24916 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
24919 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
24920 subtly different manner.
24923 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
24924 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
24925 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
24928 Gnus can now read @acronym{IMAP} mail via @code{nnimap}.
24933 @subsubsection Oort Gnus
24936 New features in Gnus 5.10:
24941 The revised Gnus @acronym{FAQ} is included in the manual,
24942 @xref{Frequently Asked Questions}.
24945 Upgrading from previous (stable) version if you have used Oort.
24947 If you have tried Oort (the unstable Gnus branch leading to this
24948 release) but went back to a stable version, be careful when upgrading to
24949 this version. In particular, you will probably want to remove all
24950 @file{.marks} (nnml) and @file{.mrk} (nnfolder) files, so that flags are
24951 read from your @file{.newsrc.eld} instead of from the
24952 @file{.marks}/@file{.mrk} file where this release store flags. See a
24953 later entry for more information about marks. Note that downgrading
24954 isn't save in general.
24959 More buttons for URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man
24960 pages and Emacs or Gnus related references. @xref{Article Buttons}. The
24961 variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} can be used to control the
24962 appearance of all article buttons. @xref{Article Button Levels}.
24967 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} installs key bindings in dired buffers to send
24968 a file as an attachment (@kbd{C-c C-a}), open a file using the appropriate
24969 mailcap entry (@kbd{C-c C-l}), and print a file using the mailcap entry
24970 (@kbd{C-c P}). It is enabled with
24972 (add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-dired-mode)
24976 Gnus can display RSS newsfeeds as a newsgroup. @xref{RSS}.
24979 Single-part yenc encoded attachments can be decoded.
24984 The picons code has been reimplemented to work in GNU Emacs---some of
24985 the previous options have been removed or renamed.
24987 Picons are small ``personal icons'' representing users, domain and
24988 newsgroups, which can be displayed in the Article buffer.
24992 If the new option @code{gnus-treat-body-boundary} is non-@code{nil}, a
24993 boundary line is drawn at the end of the headers.
24996 Retrieval of charters and control messages
24998 There are new commands for fetching newsgroup charters (@kbd{H c}) and
24999 control messages (@kbd{H C}).
25004 You can delay the sending of a message with @kbd{C-c C-j} in the Message
25005 buffer. The messages are delivered at specified time. This is useful
25006 for sending yourself reminders. @xref{Delayed Articles}.
25009 If @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled, attachments are automatically
25010 decompressed when activated.
25013 If the new option @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is non-@code{nil},
25014 the nnml back end allows compressed message files.
25017 Signed article headers (X-PGP-Sig) can be verified with @kbd{W p}.
25020 The Summary Buffer uses an arrow in the fringe to indicate the current
25021 article. Use @code{(setq gnus-summary-display-arrow nil)} to disable it.
25024 Warn about email replies to news
25026 Do you often find yourself replying to news by email by mistake? Then
25027 the new option @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} is just the thing for
25031 If the new option @code{gnus-summary-display-while-building} is
25032 non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer is shown and updated as it's being
25036 The new @code{recent} mark @samp{.} indicates newly arrived messages (as
25037 opposed to old but unread messages).
25040 The new option @code{gnus-gcc-mark-as-read} automatically marks
25041 Gcc articles as read.
25044 The nndoc back end now supports mailman digests and exim bounces.
25047 Gnus supports RFC 2369 mailing list headers, and adds a number of
25048 related commands in mailing list groups. @xref{Mailing List}.
25051 The Date header can be displayed in a format that can be read aloud
25052 in English. @xref{Article Date}.
25055 The envelope sender address can be customized when using Sendmail.
25056 @xref{Mail Variables, Mail Variables,, message, Message Manual}.
25059 diffs are automatically highlighted in groups matching
25060 @code{mm-uu-diff-groups-regexp}
25063 @acronym{TLS} wrapper shipped with Gnus
25065 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is now supported in @acronym{IMAP} and
25066 @acronym{NNTP} via @file{tls.el} and GNUTLS. The old
25067 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} support via (external third party)
25068 @file{ssl.el} and OpenSSL still works.
25071 New @file{make.bat} for compiling and installing Gnus under MS Windows
25073 Use @file{make.bat} if you want to install Gnus under MS Windows, the
25074 first argument to the batch-program should be the directory where
25075 @file{xemacs.exe} respectively @file{emacs.exe} is located, iff you want
25076 to install Gnus after compiling it, give @file{make.bat} @code{/copy} as
25077 the second parameter.
25079 @file{make.bat} has been rewritten from scratch, it now features
25080 automatic recognition of XEmacs and GNU Emacs, generates
25081 @file{gnus-load.el}, checks if errors occur while compilation and
25082 generation of info files and reports them at the end of the build
25083 process. It now uses @code{makeinfo} if it is available and falls
25084 back to @file{infohack.el} otherwise. @file{make.bat} should now
25085 install all files which are necessary to run Gnus and be generally a
25086 complete replacement for the @code{configure; make; make install}
25087 cycle used under Unix systems.
25089 The new @file{make.bat} makes @file{make-x.bat} superfluous, so it has
25093 Support for non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names
25095 Message supports non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To: and
25096 Cc: and will query you whether to perform encoding when you try to
25097 send a message. The variable @code{message-use-idna} controls this.
25098 Gnus will also decode non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To:
25099 and Cc: when you view a message. The variable @code{gnus-use-idna}
25103 Better handling of Microsoft citation styles
25105 Gnus now tries to recognize the mangled header block that some Microsoft
25106 mailers use to indicate that the rest of the message is a citation, even
25107 though it is not quoted in any way. The variable
25108 @code{gnus-cite-unsightly-citation-regexp} matches the start of these
25112 @code{gnus-article-skip-boring}
25114 If you set @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} to @code{t}, then Gnus will
25115 not scroll down to show you a page that contains only boring text,
25116 which by default means cited text and signature. You can customize
25117 what is skippable using @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}.
25119 This feature is especially useful if you read many articles that
25120 consist of a little new content at the top with a long, untrimmed
25121 message cited below.
25124 The format spec @code{%C} for positioning point has changed to @code{%*}.
25127 The new variable @code{gnus-parameters} can be used to set group parameters.
25129 Earlier this was done only via @kbd{G p} (or @kbd{G c}), which stored
25130 the parameters in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, but via this variable you can
25131 enjoy the powers of customize, and simplified backups since you set the
25132 variable in @file{~/.emacs} instead of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. The
25133 variable maps regular expressions matching group names to group
25136 (setq gnus-parameters
25138 (gnus-show-threads nil)
25139 (gnus-use-scoring nil))
25140 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
25141 (to-group . "\\1"))))
25145 Smileys (@samp{:-)}, @samp{;-)} etc) are now iconized for Emacs too.
25147 Put @code{(setq gnus-treat-display-smileys nil)} in @file{~/.emacs} to
25151 Gnus no longer generate the Sender: header automatically.
25153 Earlier it was generated iff the user configurable email address was
25154 different from the Gnus guessed default user address. As the guessing
25155 algorithm is rarely correct these days, and (more controversially) the
25156 only use of the Sender: header was to check if you are entitled to
25157 cancel/supersede news (which is now solved by Cancel Locks instead,
25158 see another entry), generation of the header has been disabled by
25159 default. See the variables @code{message-required-headers},
25160 @code{message-required-news-headers}, and
25161 @code{message-required-mail-headers}.
25164 Features from third party @file{message-utils.el} added to @file{message.el}.
25166 Message now asks if you wish to remove @samp{(was: <old subject>)} from
25167 subject lines (see @code{message-subject-trailing-was-query}). @kbd{C-c
25168 M-m} and @kbd{C-c M-f} inserts markers indicating included text.
25169 @kbd{C-c C-f a} adds a X-No-Archive: header. @kbd{C-c C-f x} inserts
25170 appropriate headers and a note in the body for cross-postings and
25171 followups (see the variables @code{message-cross-post-@var{*}}).
25174 References and X-Draft-Headers are no longer generated when you start
25175 composing messages and @code{message-generate-headers-first} is
25179 Improved anti-spam features.
25181 Gnus is now able to take out spam from your mail and news streams
25182 using a wide variety of programs and filter rules. Among the supported
25183 methods are RBL blocklists, bogofilter and white/blacklists. Hooks
25184 for easy use of external packages such as SpamAssassin and Hashcash
25185 are also new. @xref{Thwarting Email Spam}.
25188 Easy inclusion of X-Faces headers.
25191 Face headers handling.
25194 In the summary buffer, the new command @kbd{/ N} inserts new messages
25195 and @kbd{/ o} inserts old messages.
25198 Gnus decodes morse encoded messages if you press @kbd{W m}.
25201 Unread count correct in nnimap groups.
25203 The estimated number of unread articles in the group buffer should now
25204 be correct for nnimap groups. This is achieved by calling
25205 @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} from the
25206 @code{gnus-setup-news-hook} (called on startup) and
25207 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook}. (called after getting new
25208 mail). If you have modified those variables from the default, you may
25209 want to add @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} again. If
25210 you were happy with the estimate and want to save some (minimal) time
25211 when getting new mail, remove the function.
25214 Group Carbon Copy (GCC) quoting
25216 To support groups that contains SPC and other weird characters, groups
25217 are quoted before they are placed in the Gcc: header. This means
25218 variables such as @code{gnus-message-archive-group} should no longer
25219 contain quote characters to make groups containing SPC work. Also, if
25220 you are using the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar} (indicating Gcc
25221 into two groups) you must change it to return the list
25222 @code{("nnml:foo" "nnml:bar")}, otherwise the Gcc: line will be quoted
25223 incorrectly. Note that returning the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar}
25224 was incorrect earlier, it just didn't generate any problems since it
25225 was inserted directly.
25228 @file{~/News/overview/} not used.
25230 As a result of the following change, the @file{~/News/overview/}
25231 directory is not used any more. You can safely delete the entire
25237 The Gnus Agent has seen a major updated and is now enabled by default,
25238 and all nntp and nnimap servers from @code{gnus-select-method} and
25239 @code{gnus-secondary-select-method} are agentized by default. Earlier
25240 only the server in @code{gnus-select-method} was agentized by the
25241 default, and the agent was disabled by default. When the agent is
25242 enabled, headers are now also retrieved from the Agent cache instead
25243 of the back ends when possible. Earlier this only happened in the
25244 unplugged state. You can enroll or remove servers with @kbd{J a} and
25245 @kbd{J r} in the server buffer. Gnus will not download articles into
25246 the Agent cache, unless you instruct it to do so, though, by using
25247 @kbd{J u} or @kbd{J s} from the Group buffer. You revert to the old
25248 behaviour of having the Agent disabled with @code{(setq gnus-agent
25249 nil)}. Note that putting @code{(gnus-agentize)} in @file{~/.gnus.el}
25250 is not needed any more.
25253 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}
25255 The default value changed to @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%)
25256 %s\n}. Moreover @code{gnus-extra-headers},
25257 @code{nnmail-extra-headers} and @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses}
25258 changed their default so that the users name will be replaced by the
25259 recipient's name or the group name posting to for @acronym{NNTP}
25263 @file{deuglify.el} (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article})
25265 A new file from Raymond Scholz @email{rscholz@@zonix.de} for deuglifying
25266 broken Outlook (Express) articles.
25269 @code{(require 'gnus-load)}
25271 If you use a stand-alone Gnus distribution, you'd better add
25272 @code{(require 'gnus-load)} into your @file{~/.emacs} after adding the Gnus
25273 lisp directory into load-path.
25275 File @file{gnus-load.el} contains autoload commands, functions and variables,
25276 some of which may not be included in distributions of Emacsen.
25279 @code{gnus-slave-unplugged}
25281 A new command which starts Gnus offline in slave mode.
25284 @code{message-insinuate-rmail}
25286 Adding @code{(message-insinuate-rmail)} and @code{(setq
25287 mail-user-agent 'gnus-user-agent)} in @file{.emacs} convinces Rmail to
25288 compose, reply and forward messages in message-mode, where you can
25289 enjoy the power of @acronym{MML}.
25292 @code{message-minibuffer-local-map}
25294 The line below enables BBDB in resending a message:
25296 (define-key message-minibuffer-local-map [(tab)]
25297 'bbdb-complete-name)
25301 Externalizing and deleting of attachments.
25303 If @code{gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments} or
25304 @code{message-fcc-externalize-attachments} is non-@code{nil}, attach
25305 local files as external parts.
25307 The command @code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip} (bound to @kbd{C-o}
25308 on @acronym{MIME} buttons) saves a part and replaces the part with an
25309 external one. @code{gnus-mime-delete-part} (bound to @kbd{d} on
25310 @acronym{MIME} buttons) removes a part. It works only on back ends
25311 that support editing.
25314 @code{gnus-default-charset}
25316 The default value is determined from the
25317 @code{current-language-environment} variable, instead of
25318 @code{iso-8859-1}. Also the @samp{.*} item in
25319 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} is removed.
25322 @code{gnus-posting-styles}
25324 Add a new format of match like
25326 ((header "to" "larsi.*org")
25327 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
25329 The old format like the lines below is obsolete, but still accepted.
25331 (header "to" "larsi.*org"
25332 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
25336 @code{message-ignored-news-headers} and @code{message-ignored-mail-headers}
25338 @samp{X-Draft-From} and @samp{X-Gnus-Agent-Meta-Information} have been
25339 added into these two variables. If you customized those, perhaps you
25340 need add those two headers too.
25343 Gnus reads the @acronym{NOV} and articles in the Agent if plugged.
25345 If one reads an article while plugged, and the article already exists
25346 in the Agent, it won't get downloaded once more. @code{(setq
25347 gnus-agent-cache nil)} reverts to the old behavior.
25350 Gnus supports the ``format=flowed'' (RFC 2646) parameter. On
25351 composing messages, it is enabled by @code{use-hard-newlines}.
25352 Decoding format=flowed was present but not documented in earlier
25356 Gnus supports the generation of RFC 2298 Disposition Notification requests.
25358 This is invoked with the @kbd{C-c M-n} key binding from message mode.
25361 Gnus supports Maildir groups.
25363 Gnus includes a new back end @file{nnmaildir.el}. @xref{Maildir}.
25366 Printing capabilities are enhanced.
25368 Gnus supports Muttprint natively with @kbd{O P} from the Summary and
25369 Article buffers. Also, each individual @acronym{MIME} part can be
25370 printed using @kbd{p} on the @acronym{MIME} button.
25373 Message supports the Importance: (RFC 2156) header.
25375 In the message buffer, @kbd{C-c C-f C-i} or @kbd{C-c C-u} cycles through
25379 Gnus supports Cancel Locks in News.
25381 This means a header @samp{Cancel-Lock} is inserted in news posting. It is
25382 used to determine if you wrote an article or not (for cancelling and
25383 superseding). Gnus generates a random password string the first time
25384 you post a message, and saves it in your @file{~/.emacs} using the Custom
25385 system. While the variable is called @code{canlock-password}, it is not
25386 security sensitive data. Publishing your canlock string on the web
25387 will not allow anyone to be able to anything she could not already do.
25388 The behaviour can be changed by customizing @code{message-insert-canlock}.
25391 Gnus supports server-side mail filtering using Sieve.
25393 Sieve rules can be added as Group Parameters for groups, and the
25394 complete Sieve script is generated using @kbd{D g} from the Group
25395 buffer, and then uploaded to the server using @kbd{C-c C-l} in the
25396 generated Sieve buffer. @xref{Sieve Commands}, and the new Sieve
25397 manual @ref{Top, , Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
25400 Extended format specs.
25402 Format spec @samp{%&user-date;} is added into
25403 @code{gnus-summary-line-format-alist}. Also, user defined extended
25404 format specs are supported. The extended format specs look like
25405 @samp{%u&foo;}, which invokes function
25406 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{foo}}. Because @samp{&} is used as the
25407 escape character, old user defined format @samp{%u&} is no longer supported.
25410 @kbd{/ *} (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}) is rewritten.
25412 It was aliased to @kbd{Y c}
25413 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}). The new function filters
25414 out other articles.
25416 @item Some limiting commands accept a @kbd{C-u} prefix to negate the match.
25418 If @kbd{C-u} is used on subject, author or extra headers, i.e., @kbd{/
25419 s}, @kbd{/ a}, and @kbd{/ x}
25420 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-@{subject,author,extra@}}) respectively, the
25421 result will be to display all articles that do not match the expression.
25424 Group names are treated as UTF-8 by default.
25426 This is supposedly what USEFOR wanted to migrate to. See
25427 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist} and
25428 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist} for customization.
25431 The nnml and nnfolder back ends store marks for each groups.
25433 This makes it possible to take backup of nnml/nnfolder servers/groups
25434 separately of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, while preserving marks. It also
25435 makes it possible to share articles and marks between users (without
25436 sharing the @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file) within e.g. a department. It
25437 works by storing the marks stored in @file{~/.newsrc.eld} in a per-group
25438 file @file{.marks} (for nnml) and @file{@var{groupname}.mrk} (for
25439 nnfolder, named @var{groupname}). If the nnml/nnfolder is moved to
25440 another machine, Gnus will automatically use the @file{.marks} or
25441 @file{.mrk} file instead of the information in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
25442 The new server variables @code{nnml-marks-is-evil} and
25443 @code{nnfolder-marks-is-evil} can be used to disable this feature.
25446 The menu bar item (in Group and Summary buffer) named ``Misc'' has
25447 been renamed to ``Gnus''.
25450 The menu bar item (in Message mode) named ``@acronym{MML}'' has been
25451 renamed to ``Attachments''. Note that this menu also contains security
25452 related stuff, like signing and encryption (@pxref{Security, Security,,
25453 message, Message Manual}).
25456 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} and
25457 @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
25459 The regexps in these variables are compared with full group names
25460 instead of real group names in 5.8. Users who customize these
25461 variables should change those regexps accordingly. For example:
25463 ("^han\\>" euc-kr) -> ("\\(^\\|:\\)han\\>" euc-kr)
25467 Gnus supports @acronym{PGP} (RFC 1991/2440), @acronym{PGP/MIME} (RFC
25468 2015/3156) and @acronym{S/MIME} (RFC 2630-2633).
25470 It needs an external @acronym{S/MIME} and OpenPGP implementation, but no
25471 additional Lisp libraries. This add several menu items to the
25472 Attachments menu, and @kbd{C-c RET} key bindings, when composing
25473 messages. This also obsoletes @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook}.
25476 Gnus inlines external parts (message/external).
25479 @acronym{MML} (Mime compose) prefix changed from @kbd{M-m} to @kbd{C-c
25482 This change was made to avoid conflict with the standard binding of
25483 @code{back-to-indentation}, which is also useful in message mode.
25490 @section The Manual
25494 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
25495 either @code{texi2dvi}
25497 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
25498 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
25500 to get what you hold in your hands now.
25502 The following conventions have been used:
25507 This is a @samp{string}
25510 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
25513 This is a @file{file}
25516 This is a @code{symbol}
25520 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
25524 (setq flargnoze "yes")
25527 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
25530 (setq flumphel 'yes)
25533 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
25534 ever get them confused.
25538 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
25539 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
25540 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
25541 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
25542 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
25543 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
25544 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
25550 @node On Writing Manuals
25551 @section On Writing Manuals
25553 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
25554 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
25555 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
25556 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
25557 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
25558 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
25561 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
25562 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
25563 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
25566 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
25567 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
25572 @section Terminology
25574 @cindex terminology
25579 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
25580 News is generally fetched from a nearby @acronym{NNTP} server, and is
25581 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
25582 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
25583 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
25587 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
25588 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
25589 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
25590 not posting, and replying is not following up.
25594 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
25598 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
25603 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
25604 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
25605 commonly fetched via the protocol @acronym{NNTP}, whereas mail
25606 messages could be read from a file on the local disk. The internal
25607 architecture of Gnus thus comprises a `front end' and a number of
25608 `back ends'. Internally, when you enter a group (by hitting
25609 @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke a function in the front end in
25610 Gnus. The front end then `talks' to a back end and says things like
25611 ``Give me the list of articles in the foo group'' or ``Show me article
25614 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back
25615 end accesses news via @acronym{NNTP}, the @code{nnimap} back end
25616 accesses mail via @acronym{IMAP}) or a file format and directory
25617 layout (the @code{nnspool} back end accesses news via the common
25618 `spool directory' format, the @code{nnml} back end access mail via a
25619 file format and directory layout that's quite similar).
25621 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
25622 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
25623 access the articles.
25625 However, sometimes the term `back end' is also used where `server'
25626 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term `select
25627 method' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
25632 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
25633 default, way of getting news.
25637 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
25638 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
25643 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
25644 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
25648 A message that has been posted as news.
25651 @cindex mail message
25652 A message that has been mailed.
25656 A mail message or news article
25660 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
25665 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
25670 A line from the head of an article.
25674 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
25675 collection of @acronym{NOV} lines.
25677 @item @acronym{NOV}
25678 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
25679 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
25680 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
25681 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
25682 normal @sc{head} format.
25686 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
25687 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
25688 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
25689 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
25690 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
25691 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
25693 @item killed groups
25694 @cindex killed groups
25695 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
25696 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
25698 @item zombie groups
25699 @cindex zombie groups
25700 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
25703 @cindex active file
25704 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
25705 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
25706 is rather large, as you might surmise.
25709 @cindex bogus groups
25710 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
25711 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
25712 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
25715 @cindex activating groups
25716 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
25717 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
25718 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
25722 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
25724 @item select method
25725 @cindex select method
25726 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
25729 @item virtual server
25730 @cindex virtual server
25731 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
25732 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
25733 whole is a virtual server.
25737 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
25738 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
25741 @item ephemeral groups
25742 @cindex ephemeral groups
25743 @cindex temporary groups
25744 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
25745 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
25746 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
25749 @cindex solid groups
25750 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
25751 group buffer are solid groups.
25753 @item sparse articles
25754 @cindex sparse articles
25755 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
25756 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
25760 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
25761 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
25765 @cindex thread root
25766 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
25767 articles in the thread.
25771 An article that has responses.
25775 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
25779 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
25780 specified by RFC 1153.
25783 @cindex splitting, terminolgy
25784 @cindex mail sorting
25785 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
25786 The action of sorting your emails according to certain rules. Sometimes
25787 incorrectly called mail filtering.
25793 @node Customization
25794 @section Customization
25795 @cindex general customization
25797 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
25798 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
25799 for some quite common situations.
25802 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
25803 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
25804 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
25805 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
25809 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
25810 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
25812 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
25813 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
25814 Gnus has to get from the @acronym{NNTP} server.
25818 @item gnus-read-active-file
25819 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
25820 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
25821 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
25822 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
25823 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
25825 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
25826 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
25827 the @acronym{NNTP} server will not be very fast. Not all @acronym{NNTP} servers
25828 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
25832 @node Slow Terminal Connection
25833 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
25835 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
25836 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
25837 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
25841 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
25842 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
25843 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
25844 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
25845 horizontal and vertical recentering.
25847 @item gnus-visible-headers
25848 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
25849 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
25850 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
25851 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
25853 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
25855 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
25856 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
25857 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
25860 @item gnus-use-full-window
25861 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
25862 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
25863 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
25864 want to read them anyway.
25866 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
25867 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
25871 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
25872 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
25873 lines, which might save some time.
25877 @node Little Disk Space
25878 @subsection Little Disk Space
25881 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
25882 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
25886 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
25887 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
25888 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
25889 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
25892 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
25893 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
25894 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
25895 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
25898 @item gnus-save-killed-list
25899 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
25900 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
25901 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
25902 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
25908 @subsection Slow Machine
25909 @cindex slow machine
25911 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
25912 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
25914 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
25915 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
25917 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
25918 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
25919 summary buffer faster.
25923 @node Troubleshooting
25924 @section Troubleshooting
25925 @cindex troubleshooting
25927 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
25935 Make sure your computer is switched on.
25938 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
25939 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
25943 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
25944 like @samp{T-gnus 6.16.* (based on Gnus v5.10.*; for SEMI 1.1*, FLIM
25945 1.1*)} you have the right files loaded. If, on the other hand, you get
25946 something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp flee}, you have some old
25947 @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
25950 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a
25951 @acronym{FAQ} and a how-to.
25954 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
25955 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
25956 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
25957 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
25958 something like that.
25961 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
25964 @cindex reporting bugs
25966 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
25968 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
25969 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
25970 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
25971 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
25973 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
25974 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
25975 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
25976 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
25979 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
25980 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
25981 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
25982 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
25983 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
25984 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
25986 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
25987 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
25988 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
25992 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
25993 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
25996 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
25997 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
25998 edebug. Debugging Lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
25999 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
26000 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
26001 you discover some weird behaviour when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
26002 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
26003 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
26004 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
26005 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
26006 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
26007 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
26008 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
26009 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
26014 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate an elisp error but
26015 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
26016 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press @kbd{C-g} when things are
26017 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
26018 helps isolating the real problem areas).
26020 A fancier approach is to use the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is
26021 (or should be) fully documented elsewhere, but to get you started
26022 there are a few steps that need to be followed. First, instrument the
26023 part of Gnus you are interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x
26024 elp-instrument-package RET gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package
26025 RET message}. Then perform the operation that is slow and press
26026 @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will then see which operations that takes
26027 time, and can debug them further. If the entire operation takes much
26028 longer than the time spent in the slowest function in the profiler
26029 output, you probably profiled the wrong part of Gnus. To reset
26030 profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x
26031 elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove profiling, but given the
26032 complexities and dynamic code generation in Gnus, it might not always
26035 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
26036 @cindex ding mailing list
26037 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
26038 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful. You can also ask on
26039 @email{ding@@gnus.org, the ding mailing list}. Write to
26040 @email{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
26044 @node Gnus Reference Guide
26045 @section Gnus Reference Guide
26047 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
26048 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
26049 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
26050 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
26053 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
26054 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
26055 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
26056 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
26057 and general methods of operation.
26060 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
26061 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
26062 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
26063 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
26064 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
26065 * Group Info:: The group info format.
26066 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
26067 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
26068 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
26072 @node Gnus Utility Functions
26073 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
26074 @cindex Gnus utility functions
26075 @cindex utility functions
26077 @cindex internal variables
26079 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
26080 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
26081 Below is a list of the most common ones.
26085 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
26086 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
26087 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
26089 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
26090 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
26091 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
26093 @item gnus-group-real-name
26094 @findex gnus-group-real-name
26095 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
26098 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
26099 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
26100 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
26101 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
26103 @item gnus-get-info
26104 @findex gnus-get-info
26105 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
26107 @item gnus-group-unread
26108 @findex gnus-group-unread
26109 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
26113 @findex gnus-active
26114 The active entry for @var{group}.
26116 @item gnus-set-active
26117 @findex gnus-set-active
26118 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
26120 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
26121 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
26122 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
26125 @item gnus-continuum-version
26126 @findex gnus-continuum-version
26127 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
26128 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
26131 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
26132 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
26133 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
26135 @item gnus-news-group-p
26136 @findex gnus-news-group-p
26137 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
26139 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
26140 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
26141 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
26143 @item gnus-server-to-method
26144 @findex gnus-server-to-method
26145 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
26147 @item gnus-server-equal
26148 @findex gnus-server-equal
26149 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
26151 @item gnus-group-native-p
26152 @findex gnus-group-native-p
26153 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
26155 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
26156 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
26157 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
26159 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
26160 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
26161 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
26163 @item gnus-group-find-parameter
26164 @findex gnus-group-find-parameter
26165 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
26166 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
26168 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
26169 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
26170 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
26172 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
26173 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
26174 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
26176 @item gnus-check-backend-function
26177 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
26178 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
26179 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
26182 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
26186 @item gnus-read-method
26187 @findex gnus-read-method
26188 Prompts the user for a select method.
26193 @node Back End Interface
26194 @subsection Back End Interface
26196 Gnus doesn't know anything about @acronym{NNTP}, spools, mail or virtual
26197 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
26198 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
26199 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
26200 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
26201 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
26203 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
26204 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
26205 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
26206 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
26207 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
26208 been opened, the function should fail.
26210 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
26211 name. Take this example:
26215 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
26216 (nntp-port-number 4324))
26219 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
26220 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
26222 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
26223 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
26224 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
26226 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
26227 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
26228 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
26230 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
26231 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
26232 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
26233 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
26234 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
26235 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
26238 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
26239 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
26240 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
26241 ---they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
26244 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
26245 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
26246 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
26247 possible for later articles to `re-use' older article numbers without
26248 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
26249 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
26250 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
26251 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
26252 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
26253 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
26255 The previous paragraph already mentions all the `hard' restrictions that
26256 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
26257 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
26258 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
26259 the `no-reuse' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
26260 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
26261 of numbers as long as possible.
26263 Note that by convention, backends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
26264 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
26265 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
26267 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
26270 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
26273 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
26274 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
26275 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
26276 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
26277 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
26278 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
26282 @node Required Back End Functions
26283 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
26287 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
26289 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
26290 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
26291 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
26292 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
26294 The result data should either be HEADs or @acronym{NOV} lines, and the result
26295 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
26296 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
26297 of HEADs and @acronym{NOV} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
26299 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching ``extra
26300 headers'', in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
26301 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
26302 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
26303 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
26304 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
26305 number, do maximum fetches.
26307 Here's an example HEAD:
26310 221 1056 Article retrieved.
26311 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
26312 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
26313 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
26314 Subject: Re: Something very droll
26315 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
26316 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
26318 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
26319 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
26320 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
26324 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
26325 these in the data buffer.
26327 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
26331 head = error / valid-head
26332 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
26333 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
26334 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
26335 header = <text> eol
26339 (The version of BNF used here is the one used in RFC822.)
26341 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
26342 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
26346 nov-buffer = *nov-line
26347 nov-line = field 7*8[ <TAB> field ] eol
26348 field = <text except TAB>
26351 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
26355 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
26357 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
26358 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
26360 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
26361 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
26362 server. In fact, it should do so.
26364 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
26365 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
26368 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
26370 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
26371 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
26374 There should be no data returned.
26377 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
26379 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
26380 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
26381 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
26382 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
26384 There should be no data returned.
26387 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
26389 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
26390 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
26391 non-@code{nil} value. This function should under no circumstances
26392 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
26394 There should be no data returned.
26397 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
26399 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
26401 There should be no data returned.
26404 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
26406 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
26407 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
26408 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
26409 it would be nice if that were possible.
26411 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
26412 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
26413 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
26414 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
26415 into its article buffer.
26417 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
26418 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
26419 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
26420 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
26421 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
26422 on successful article retrieval.
26425 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
26427 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
26428 making @var{group} the current group.
26430 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
26433 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
26436 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
26439 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
26440 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
26441 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
26442 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
26443 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
26444 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
26445 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
26446 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
26447 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
26451 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
26452 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
26453 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
26457 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
26459 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
26460 a no-op on most back ends.
26462 There should be no data returned.
26465 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
26467 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
26470 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
26473 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
26474 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
26477 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
26478 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
26479 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
26480 and the highest as 0.
26483 active-file = *active-line
26484 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
26486 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
26489 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
26490 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
26491 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
26494 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
26496 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
26497 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
26498 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
26499 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
26500 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
26501 clear if the posting could not be completed.
26503 There should be no result data from this function.
26508 @node Optional Back End Functions
26509 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
26513 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
26515 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
26516 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
26517 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
26519 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
26520 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
26521 former is in the same format as the data from
26522 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
26523 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
26526 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
26530 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
26532 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
26533 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all
26534 the information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
26535 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
26536 should return a non-@code{nil} value.
26538 There should be no result data from this function.
26541 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
26543 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
26544 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
26545 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
26546 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
26547 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
26548 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
26549 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
26550 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
26552 There should be no result data from this function.
26555 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
26557 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
26558 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
26559 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @acronym{IMAP}) however carry
26560 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
26561 propagate the mark information to the server.
26563 @var{action} is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
26566 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
26569 @var{range} is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.
26570 @var{action} is @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove
26571 marks (preserving all marks not mentioned). @var{mark} is a list of
26572 marks; where each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are
26573 @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
26574 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
26575 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
26576 possible, not limit itself to these.
26578 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
26579 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
26580 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
26581 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
26583 An example action list:
26586 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
26587 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
26588 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
26591 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
26592 mark on (currently not used for anything).
26594 There should be no result data from this function.
26596 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
26598 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
26599 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
26600 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
26601 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
26602 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
26604 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
26605 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
26606 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
26609 There should be no result data from this function.
26612 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
26614 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
26615 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
26616 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query
26617 the @acronym{POP} server when this function is invoked. The
26618 @var{group} doesn't have to be heeded---if the back end decides that
26619 it is too much work just scanning for a single group, it may do a
26620 total scan of all groups. It would be nice, however, to keep things
26621 local if that's practical.
26623 There should be no result data from this function.
26626 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
26628 The result data from this function should be a description of
26632 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
26634 description = <text>
26637 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
26639 The result data from this function should be the description of all
26640 groups available on the server.
26643 description-buffer = *description-line
26647 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
26649 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
26650 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
26651 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
26652 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
26653 in the active buffer format.
26655 It is okay for this function to return `too many' groups; some back ends
26656 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
26657 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
26658 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
26659 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
26660 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
26661 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
26664 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
26666 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
26668 There should be no return data.
26671 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
26673 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
26674 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
26675 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
26676 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
26677 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
26680 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
26683 There should be no result data returned.
26686 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM &optional LAST)
26688 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
26689 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
26691 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
26692 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
26693 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
26694 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
26695 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
26696 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
26698 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
26699 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
26702 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
26703 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
26705 The group should exist before the backend is asked to accept the
26706 article for that group.
26708 There should be no data returned.
26711 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
26713 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
26714 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
26715 this function in short order.
26717 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
26718 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
26720 There should be no data returned.
26723 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
26725 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
26726 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
26728 There should be no data returned.
26731 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
26733 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
26734 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
26735 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
26737 There should be no data returned.
26740 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
26742 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
26743 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
26745 There should be no data returned.
26750 @node Error Messaging
26751 @subsubsection Error Messaging
26753 @findex nnheader-report
26754 @findex nnheader-get-report
26755 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
26756 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
26757 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
26758 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
26759 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
26760 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
26763 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
26765 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
26768 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
26769 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
26770 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
26771 takes one argument---the server symbol.
26773 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
26774 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
26775 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
26778 @node Writing New Back Ends
26779 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
26781 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
26782 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
26783 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
26784 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
26785 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
26788 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
26789 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
26790 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
26792 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
26793 package called @code{nnoo}.
26795 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
26796 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
26802 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
26803 parameters. For instance:
26806 (nnoo-declare nndir
26810 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
26811 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
26814 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
26815 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
26816 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
26818 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
26819 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
26820 a function in those back ends.
26823 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
26824 "Where nndir will look for groups."
26825 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
26828 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
26829 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
26830 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
26832 @item nnoo-define-basics
26833 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
26837 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
26841 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
26842 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
26843 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
26845 @item nnoo-map-functions
26846 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
26847 functions from the parent back ends.
26850 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
26851 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
26852 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
26855 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
26856 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
26857 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
26858 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
26861 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
26862 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
26863 haven't already been defined.
26869 nnmh-request-newgroups)
26873 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
26874 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
26875 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
26880 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
26883 ;;; @r{nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus}
26884 ;; @r{Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.}
26888 (require 'nnheader)
26892 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
26894 (nnoo-declare nndir
26897 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
26898 "Where nndir will look for groups."
26899 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
26901 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
26902 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
26905 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
26907 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
26908 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
26909 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
26911 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
26912 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
26914 ;;; @r{Interface functions.}
26916 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
26918 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
26919 (setq nndir-directory
26920 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
26922 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
26923 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
26924 (push `(nndir-current-group
26925 ,(file-name-nondirectory
26926 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
26928 (push `(nndir-top-directory
26929 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
26931 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
26933 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
26934 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
26935 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
26936 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
26937 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
26941 nnmh-status-message
26943 nnmh-request-newgroups))
26949 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
26950 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
26952 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
26953 @findex gnus-declare-backend
26954 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
26955 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
26956 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
26958 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
26959 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
26964 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
26967 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
26969 The abilities can be:
26973 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
26975 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
26977 This back end supports both mail and news.
26979 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
26982 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
26983 articles and groups.
26985 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
26986 true for almost all back ends.
26987 @item prompt-address
26988 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
26989 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
26990 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
26994 @node Mail-like Back Ends
26995 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
26997 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
26998 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
26999 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
27000 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
27003 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
27004 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
27005 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
27008 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
27009 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
27012 This function takes four parameters.
27016 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
27019 @item exit-function
27020 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
27022 @item temp-directory
27023 Where the temporary files should be stored.
27026 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
27027 performed for one group only.
27030 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
27031 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
27032 find the article number assigned to this article.
27034 The function also uses the following variables:
27035 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
27036 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
27037 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
27038 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
27042 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
27043 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
27047 @node Score File Syntax
27048 @subsection Score File Syntax
27050 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
27051 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
27052 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
27054 Here's a typical score file:
27058 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
27065 BNF definition of a score file:
27068 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
27069 element = rule / atom
27070 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
27071 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
27072 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
27073 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
27075 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
27076 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
27077 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
27078 date-header = "date"
27079 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
27080 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
27081 score = "nil" / <integer>
27082 date = "nil" / <natural number>
27083 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
27084 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
27085 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
27086 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
27087 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
27088 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
27089 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
27090 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
27091 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
27092 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
27093 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
27094 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
27095 exclude-files / read-only / touched
27096 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
27097 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
27098 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
27099 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
27100 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
27101 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
27102 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
27103 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
27104 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
27105 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
27106 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
27107 eval = "eval" space <form>
27108 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
27111 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
27114 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
27115 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
27116 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
27117 one looong line, then that's ok.
27119 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
27120 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
27124 @subsection Headers
27126 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
27127 corresponds to the @acronym{NOV} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
27128 almost suspect that the author looked at the @acronym{NOV} specification and
27129 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
27131 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
27132 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
27133 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
27134 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
27135 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
27136 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
27137 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
27139 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
27140 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
27141 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
27142 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
27143 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
27145 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
27146 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
27152 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
27153 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
27155 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
27156 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
27157 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
27158 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
27160 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
27164 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
27167 is transformed into
27170 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
27173 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
27174 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
27177 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
27180 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
27181 is slightly tricky:
27184 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
27190 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
27193 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
27199 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
27206 and is equal to the previous range.
27208 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
27209 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
27210 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
27214 range = simple-range / normal-range
27215 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
27216 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
27217 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
27218 number *[ " " contents ]
27221 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
27222 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
27223 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
27224 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
27225 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
27230 @subsection Group Info
27232 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
27233 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
27234 describes the group.
27236 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
27237 second is a more complex one:
27240 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
27242 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
27243 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
27245 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
27248 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
27249 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
27250 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
27251 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
27252 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
27253 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
27254 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
27255 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
27256 this section is about.
27258 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
27259 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
27260 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
27262 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
27265 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
27266 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
27267 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
27268 group = quote <string> quote
27269 ralevel = rank / level
27270 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
27271 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
27272 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
27274 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
27275 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
27276 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
27277 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
27280 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
27281 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
27284 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
27285 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
27288 @item gnus-info-group
27289 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
27290 @findex gnus-info-group
27291 @findex gnus-info-set-group
27292 Get/set the group name.
27294 @item gnus-info-rank
27295 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
27296 @findex gnus-info-rank
27297 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
27298 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
27300 @item gnus-info-level
27301 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
27302 @findex gnus-info-level
27303 @findex gnus-info-set-level
27304 Get/set the group level.
27306 @item gnus-info-score
27307 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
27308 @findex gnus-info-score
27309 @findex gnus-info-set-score
27310 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
27312 @item gnus-info-read
27313 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
27314 @findex gnus-info-read
27315 @findex gnus-info-set-read
27316 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
27318 @item gnus-info-marks
27319 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
27320 @findex gnus-info-marks
27321 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
27322 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
27324 @item gnus-info-method
27325 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
27326 @findex gnus-info-method
27327 @findex gnus-info-set-method
27328 Get/set the group select method.
27330 @item gnus-info-params
27331 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
27332 @findex gnus-info-params
27333 @findex gnus-info-set-params
27334 Get/set the group parameters.
27337 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
27338 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
27340 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
27341 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
27342 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
27343 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
27346 @node Extended Interactive
27347 @subsection Extended Interactive
27348 @cindex interactive
27349 @findex gnus-interactive
27351 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
27352 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
27353 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
27356 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
27357 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
27362 The best thing to do would have been to implement
27363 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
27364 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
27365 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
27366 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
27367 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
27368 @code{interactive}.
27370 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
27375 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
27376 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
27380 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
27381 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
27382 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
27385 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
27389 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
27393 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
27399 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
27400 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
27404 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
27405 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
27406 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
27408 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
27409 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
27410 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
27411 Gnus, that's very useful.
27413 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
27414 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
27415 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
27416 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
27417 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
27418 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
27419 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
27420 following function:
27423 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
27427 (,function ,@@args))
27431 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
27432 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
27433 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
27436 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
27437 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
27438 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
27440 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
27441 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
27442 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
27445 @node Various File Formats
27446 @subsection Various File Formats
27449 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
27450 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
27454 @node Active File Format
27455 @subsubsection Active File Format
27457 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
27458 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
27461 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
27464 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
27465 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
27466 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
27467 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
27468 no.general 1000 900 y
27471 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
27474 active = *group-line
27475 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
27476 group = <non-white-space string>
27478 high-number = <non-negative integer>
27479 low-number = <positive integer>
27480 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
27483 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
27484 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
27487 @node Newsgroups File Format
27488 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
27490 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
27491 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
27492 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
27495 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
27496 Here's the definition:
27500 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
27501 group = <non-white-space string>
27503 description = <string>
27508 @node Emacs for Heathens
27509 @section Emacs for Heathens
27511 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
27512 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
27513 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
27514 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
27515 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
27516 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
27517 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
27521 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
27522 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
27527 @subsection Keystrokes
27531 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
27534 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
27537 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
27538 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
27539 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
27540 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
27541 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
27542 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
27544 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
27545 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
27546 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
27547 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
27548 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
27549 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
27550 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
27552 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
27553 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
27554 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
27555 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
27556 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
27557 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
27558 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
27560 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
27561 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
27562 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
27563 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
27564 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
27570 @subsection Emacs Lisp
27572 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
27573 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
27574 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
27575 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
27577 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
27578 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
27579 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
27580 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
27581 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
27582 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
27583 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
27586 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
27587 write the following:
27590 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
27593 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
27594 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
27595 you can go and fill your @file{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
27598 If you have put that thing in your @file{.emacs} file, it will be read
27599 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
27600 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
27601 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
27602 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
27604 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
27605 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
27606 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
27610 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
27614 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
27617 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
27618 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
27621 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
27624 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
27625 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
27628 @include gnus-faq.texi
27648 @c Local Variables:
27650 @c coding: iso-8859-1