4 @settitle T-gnus 6.15 Manual
10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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284 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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293 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
295 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
298 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
299 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
300 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
301 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
302 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
303 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
304 License'' in the Emacs manual.
306 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
307 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
308 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
310 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
311 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
312 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
313 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
321 This file documents gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
323 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
324 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
326 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
327 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
328 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
329 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
330 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
331 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
332 License'' in the Emacs manual.
334 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
335 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
336 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
338 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
339 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
340 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
341 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
347 @title T-gnus 6.15 Manual
349 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
352 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
353 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
355 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
357 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
358 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
359 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
360 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
361 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
362 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
363 License'' in the Emacs manual.
365 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
366 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
367 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
369 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
370 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
371 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
372 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
381 @top The gnus Newsreader
385 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using gnus. The news
386 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
387 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
390 T-gnus provides @sc{mime} features based on @sc{semi} API. So T-gnus
391 supports your right to read strange messages including big images or
392 other various kinds of formats. T-gnus also supports
393 internationalization/localization and multiscript features based on MULE
394 API. So T-gnus does not discriminate various language communities.
395 Oh, if you are a Klingon, please wait Unicode Next Generation.
397 This manual corresponds to T-gnus 6.15.
408 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
409 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
411 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
412 being accused of plagiarism:
414 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
415 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
416 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
417 can even read news with it!
419 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
420 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
421 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend gnus to make it behave
422 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
423 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
429 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
430 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
431 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
432 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
433 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
434 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
435 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
436 * Various:: General purpose settings.
437 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
438 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
439 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
440 * Key Index:: Key Index.
442 Other related manuals
444 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
445 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; MIME-specific parts.
446 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
447 * PGG:(pgg). PGP/MIME with Gnus.
450 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
454 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
455 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
456 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
457 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
458 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
459 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
460 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
461 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
462 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
463 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
464 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
468 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
469 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
470 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
474 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
475 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
476 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
477 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
478 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
479 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
480 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
481 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
482 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
483 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
484 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
485 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
486 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
487 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
488 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
489 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
490 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
494 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
495 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
496 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
500 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
501 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
502 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
503 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
504 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
508 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
509 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
510 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
511 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
512 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
516 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
517 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
518 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
519 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
520 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
521 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
522 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
523 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
524 * Threading:: How threads are made.
525 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
526 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
527 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
528 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
529 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
530 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
531 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
532 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
533 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
534 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
535 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
536 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
537 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
538 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
539 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
540 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
541 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
542 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
543 or reselecting the current group.
544 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
545 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
546 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
547 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
549 Summary Buffer Format
551 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
552 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
553 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
554 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
558 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
559 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
561 Reply, Followup and Post
563 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
564 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
565 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
566 * Canceling and Superseding::
570 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
571 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
572 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
574 * Generic Marking Commands::
575 * Setting Process Marks::
579 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
580 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
581 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
585 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
586 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
588 Customizing Threading
590 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
591 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
592 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
593 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
597 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
598 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
599 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
600 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
601 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
602 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
606 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
607 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
608 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
612 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
613 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
614 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
615 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
616 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
617 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
618 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
619 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
620 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
621 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
623 Alternative Approaches
625 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
626 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
628 Various Summary Stuff
630 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
631 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
632 * Summary Generation Commands::
633 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
637 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
638 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
639 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
640 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
641 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
645 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
646 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
647 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
648 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
649 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
650 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
651 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
652 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
656 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
657 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
658 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
659 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
660 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
661 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
662 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
663 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
667 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
668 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
669 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
670 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
671 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
672 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
673 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
677 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
678 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
682 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
683 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
684 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
688 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
689 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
690 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
691 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
692 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
693 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
694 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
695 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
696 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
697 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
698 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
699 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
700 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
704 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
705 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
706 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
708 Choosing a Mail Back End
710 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
711 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
712 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
713 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
714 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
715 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
720 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
721 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
722 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
723 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
724 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
725 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
729 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
730 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
731 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
732 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
733 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
737 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
738 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
739 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
740 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
741 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
745 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
749 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
750 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
751 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
755 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
756 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
760 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
761 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
762 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
763 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
764 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
765 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
766 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
767 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
768 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
769 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
770 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
771 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
775 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
776 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
777 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
781 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
782 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
783 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
787 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
788 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
789 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
790 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
791 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
792 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
793 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
794 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
795 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
796 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
797 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
798 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
799 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
800 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
801 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
802 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
803 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
807 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
808 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
809 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
810 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
814 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
815 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
816 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
820 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
821 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
822 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
823 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
824 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
825 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
826 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
827 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
828 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
829 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
830 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
831 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
832 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
833 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
834 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
835 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
836 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
837 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
838 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
842 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
843 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
844 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
845 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
846 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
847 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
848 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
849 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
853 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
854 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
855 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
856 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
860 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
861 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
862 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
863 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
864 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
865 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
869 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
870 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
871 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
872 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
873 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
874 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
875 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
876 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
877 * Frequently Asked Questions::
881 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
882 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
883 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
884 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
885 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
886 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
887 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
888 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
889 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
893 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
894 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
895 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
896 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
897 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
901 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
902 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
903 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
904 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
908 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
909 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
910 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
911 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
912 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
913 * Group Info:: The group info format.
914 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
915 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
916 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
920 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
921 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
922 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
923 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
924 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
925 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
929 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
930 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
934 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
935 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
941 @chapter Starting gnus
946 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting gnus
947 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
950 @findex gnus-other-frame
951 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
952 If you want to start gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
953 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
955 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
956 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
957 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
959 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
960 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
963 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
964 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
965 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
966 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
967 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
968 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
969 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
970 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
971 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
972 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
973 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
977 @node Finding the News
978 @section Finding the News
981 @vindex gnus-select-method
983 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where gnus should look for
984 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
985 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
986 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
989 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
990 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
993 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
996 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
999 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
1002 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1003 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1004 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1006 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1008 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
1009 If this variable is not set, gnus will take a look at the
1010 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1011 gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1012 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
1013 that fails as well, gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
1015 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1016 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1017 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1018 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1020 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1021 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1022 You can also make gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1023 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1024 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), gnus will let you choose between the servers
1025 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1026 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1027 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1028 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1031 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1033 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
1034 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1035 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1036 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1037 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1038 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1040 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1042 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1043 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1044 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1045 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1046 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1047 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1050 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1051 you would typically set this variable to
1054 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1058 @node The First Time
1059 @section The First Time
1060 @cindex first time usage
1062 If no startup files exist, gnus will try to determine what groups should
1063 be subscribed by default.
1065 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1066 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, gnus
1067 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1068 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1071 Since she hasn't, gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1072 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1073 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1075 You'll also be subscribed to the gnus documentation group, which should
1076 help you with most common problems.
1078 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, gnus will just
1079 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1083 @node The Server is Down
1084 @section The Server is Down
1085 @cindex server errors
1087 If the default server is down, gnus will understandably have some
1088 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1089 the news groups, you may want to start gnus anyway.
1091 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1092 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1093 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1094 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1095 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1096 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1097 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1099 @findex gnus-no-server
1100 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1102 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1103 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1104 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start gnus. That might come in handy
1105 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1106 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1107 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1108 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1112 @section Slave Gnusae
1115 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one gnus at the
1116 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1117 are using the two different gnusae to read from two different servers),
1118 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1120 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1121 @file{.newsrc} file.
1123 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the gnus
1124 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1125 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1126 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1127 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1128 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1129 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1132 Anyway, you start one gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1133 however you do it). Each subsequent slave gnusae should be started with
1134 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1135 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1136 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master gnus
1137 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1138 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1139 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1141 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1142 information in the normal (i.e., master) @file{.newsrc} file.
1144 If the @file{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1145 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1146 file. If you answer "yes", the unsaved changes to the master will be
1147 incorporated into the slave. If you answer "no", the slave may see some
1148 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1150 @node Fetching a Group
1151 @section Fetching a Group
1152 @cindex fetching a group
1154 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1155 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1156 group and I don't care whether gnus has been started or not''. This is
1157 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1158 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1159 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1165 @cindex subscription
1167 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1168 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1169 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1170 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1171 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1172 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1173 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1174 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1175 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1178 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1179 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1180 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1184 @node Checking New Groups
1185 @subsection Checking New Groups
1187 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1188 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1189 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1190 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, gnus will ask the
1191 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1192 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1193 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1194 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1195 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1196 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1198 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1199 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1200 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1201 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1202 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1203 work. I could write a function to make gnus guess whether the server
1204 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1205 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1206 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1207 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1208 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1210 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, gnus will
1211 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1212 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1213 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1214 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1215 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1218 @node Subscription Methods
1219 @subsection Subscription Methods
1221 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1222 What gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1223 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1225 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1226 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1228 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1232 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1233 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1234 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1235 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1236 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1238 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1239 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1240 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1241 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1243 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1244 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1245 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1247 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1248 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1249 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1250 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1251 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1252 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1253 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1254 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1255 up. Or something like that.
1257 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1258 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1259 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that gnus will ask
1260 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1261 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1263 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1264 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1265 Kill all new groups.
1267 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1268 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1269 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1270 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1271 topic parameter that looks like
1277 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1280 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1285 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1286 A closely related variable is
1287 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1288 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will ask you in a
1289 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1290 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1293 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1294 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1295 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1296 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1299 @node Filtering New Groups
1300 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1302 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1303 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1304 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1307 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1310 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1311 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1312 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1313 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1314 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1315 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1316 subscribing these groups.
1317 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1318 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1320 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1321 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1322 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1323 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1324 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1325 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1326 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1327 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1329 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1330 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1331 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1332 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1333 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1334 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1335 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1336 that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1337 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1338 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1341 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1342 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1345 @node Changing Servers
1346 @section Changing Servers
1347 @cindex changing servers
1349 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1350 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1351 very flaky and you want to use another.
1353 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1354 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1358 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1359 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1360 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1361 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1364 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1365 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1366 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1367 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1369 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1370 @findex gnus-change-server
1371 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1372 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1373 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1374 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1375 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1377 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1378 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1379 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1380 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1381 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1383 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1384 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1385 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1386 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1387 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1388 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1390 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1391 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1392 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1393 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1395 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1396 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1397 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1398 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1399 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1400 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1401 cache for all groups).
1405 @section Startup Files
1406 @cindex startup files
1411 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1412 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1414 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1415 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1416 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1417 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1418 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1419 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1420 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1422 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1423 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1424 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1425 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1426 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1427 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1429 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1430 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1431 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1432 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1433 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from gnus faster.
1434 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1435 gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1436 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes gnus ignore the
1437 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1438 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1440 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1441 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1442 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1443 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1444 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1445 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1446 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1447 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1448 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1449 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1450 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1451 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1453 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1454 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1455 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1456 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1458 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1459 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1460 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1461 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1462 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1463 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1464 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1465 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1466 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1467 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1470 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1471 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1473 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1474 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1477 @vindex gnus-init-file
1478 @vindex gnus-site-init-file
1479 When gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1480 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1481 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1482 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1483 @file{site-init} files with gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1484 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1485 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1486 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1487 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1493 @cindex dribble file
1496 Whenever you do something that changes the gnus data (reading articles,
1497 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1498 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1499 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1500 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1503 If gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1504 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1507 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1508 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, gnus won't create and
1509 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1511 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1512 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1513 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, gnus will dribble
1514 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1515 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1516 file permissions as the @file{.newsrc} file.
1518 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1519 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1520 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1523 @node The Active File
1524 @section The Active File
1526 @cindex ignored groups
1528 When gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1529 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1530 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1532 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1533 Before examining the active file, gnus deletes all lines that match the
1534 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1535 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make gnus
1536 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1537 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1538 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1541 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1542 @c if you set it to anything else.
1544 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1546 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1547 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent gnus from
1548 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1550 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1551 you actually subscribe to.
1553 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1554 variable to @code{nil} will probably make gnus slower, not faster. At
1555 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow gnus down
1556 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1558 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1559 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1560 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1561 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1562 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1563 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1565 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1566 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1567 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1570 If this variable is @code{nil}, gnus will ask for group info in total
1571 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1572 @sc{nntp} server, gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1573 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1574 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1575 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1577 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1578 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1580 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1581 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1583 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1584 secondary select methods.
1587 @node Startup Variables
1588 @section Startup Variables
1592 @item gnus-load-hook
1593 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1594 A hook run while gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1595 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1596 times you start gnus.
1598 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1599 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1600 A hook run after starting up gnus successfully.
1602 @item gnus-startup-hook
1603 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1604 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1606 @item gnus-started-hook
1607 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1608 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1611 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1612 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1613 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1614 generating the group buffer.
1616 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1617 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1618 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1619 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1620 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1621 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1622 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1623 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1625 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1626 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1627 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1628 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1629 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1630 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @file{.emacs} instead.
1632 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1633 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1634 Message displayed by gnus when no groups are available.
1636 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1637 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1638 If non-@code{nil}, play the gnus jingle at startup.
1640 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1641 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1642 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1643 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1649 @chapter Group Buffer
1650 @cindex group buffer
1652 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1654 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1655 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1656 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1657 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1658 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1659 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1660 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1661 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1662 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1663 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1664 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1665 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1666 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1667 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1668 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1669 @c human rights at 9...
1672 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1673 is the first buffer shown when gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1674 long as gnus is active.
1678 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1679 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1680 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1681 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1682 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1683 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1684 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1685 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1691 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1692 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1693 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1694 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1695 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1696 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1697 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1698 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1699 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1700 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1701 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1702 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1703 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1704 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1705 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1706 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1707 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1711 @node Group Buffer Format
1712 @section Group Buffer Format
1715 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1716 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1717 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1721 @node Group Line Specification
1722 @subsection Group Line Specification
1723 @cindex group buffer format
1725 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1726 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1728 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1731 25: news.announce.newusers
1732 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1737 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1738 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1739 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1740 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1742 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1743 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1744 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1745 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1746 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1747 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1749 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1751 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1752 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1753 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1754 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1755 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1757 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1758 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1759 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1761 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1766 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1769 Whether the group is subscribed.
1772 Level of subscribedness.
1775 Number of unread articles.
1778 Number of dormant articles.
1781 Number of ticked articles.
1784 Number of read articles.
1787 Number of unseen articles.
1790 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1791 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1793 Gnus uses this estimation because the @sc{nntp} protocol provides
1794 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1795 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1796 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1797 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1798 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1799 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1800 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1803 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1806 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1815 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1816 comment element in the group parameters.
1819 Newsgroup description.
1822 @samp{m} if moderated.
1825 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1831 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1837 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1841 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1844 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1845 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1846 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1847 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1848 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1851 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1853 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1857 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1860 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1864 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1865 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1866 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1867 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1868 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1869 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1874 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1875 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1876 group, or a bogus native group.
1879 @node Group Modeline Specification
1880 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1881 @cindex group modeline
1883 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1884 The mode line can be changed by setting
1885 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1886 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1890 The native news server.
1892 The native select method.
1896 @node Group Highlighting
1897 @subsection Group Highlighting
1898 @cindex highlighting
1899 @cindex group highlighting
1901 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1902 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1903 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1904 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1905 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1907 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1911 (cond (window-system
1912 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1913 (defface my-group-face-1
1914 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1915 (defface my-group-face-2
1916 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1917 (defface my-group-face-3
1918 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1919 (defface my-group-face-4
1920 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1921 (defface my-group-face-5
1922 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1924 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1925 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1926 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1927 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1928 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1929 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1932 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1934 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1941 The number of unread articles in the group.
1945 Whether the group is a mail group.
1947 The level of the group.
1949 The score of the group.
1951 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1953 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1954 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1956 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1957 topic being inserted.
1960 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1961 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal gnus
1962 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1964 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1965 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1966 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1967 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1968 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1971 @node Group Maneuvering
1972 @section Group Maneuvering
1973 @cindex group movement
1975 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1976 expected, hopefully.
1982 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1983 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1984 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1990 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1991 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1992 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1996 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1997 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2001 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2002 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2006 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2007 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2008 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2012 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2013 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2014 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2017 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2023 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2024 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2025 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2030 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2031 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2032 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2036 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2037 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2038 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2041 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2042 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2043 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2044 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2048 @node Selecting a Group
2049 @section Selecting a Group
2050 @cindex group selection
2055 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2056 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2057 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2058 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2059 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2060 this command, gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2061 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
2062 determines the number of articles gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
2063 positive, gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
2064 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
2066 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2067 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2068 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2070 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2071 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2076 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2077 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2078 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2079 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2080 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2084 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2085 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2086 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2087 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2088 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2089 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2090 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2091 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2092 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2093 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2096 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2097 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2098 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2099 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2100 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2103 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2104 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2105 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2106 doing any processing of its contents
2107 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2108 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2109 manner will have no permanent effects.
2113 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2114 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what gnus should consider
2115 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
2116 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, gnus will query the user
2117 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2118 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2119 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2120 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2123 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2124 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2125 @vindex gnus-auto-select-subject
2126 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2127 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2128 Which article this is is controlled by the
2129 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2135 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2138 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2141 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2143 @item unseen-or-unread
2144 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2145 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2149 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2153 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2154 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2156 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2157 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2158 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2159 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2163 @node Subscription Commands
2164 @section Subscription Commands
2165 @cindex subscription
2173 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2174 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2175 Toggle subscription to the current group
2176 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2182 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2183 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2184 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2185 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2191 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2192 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2193 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2199 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2200 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2203 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2204 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2205 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2206 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2207 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2213 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2214 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2218 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2219 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2222 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2223 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2224 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2225 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2226 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2227 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2228 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2229 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2230 @file{.newsrc} file.
2234 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2244 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2245 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2246 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2247 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2248 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2249 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2254 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2255 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2256 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2260 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2261 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2262 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2264 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2265 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2266 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2267 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2268 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2269 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2276 @section Group Levels
2280 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2281 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2282 can ask gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2283 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2284 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2286 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2292 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2293 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2294 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2295 prompted for a level.
2298 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2299 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2300 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2301 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2302 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2303 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2304 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2305 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2306 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2307 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2308 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2309 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2310 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2311 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2312 reasons of efficiency.
2314 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2315 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2317 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2318 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2319 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2320 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2321 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2322 groups are hidden, in a way.
2324 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2325 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2326 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2327 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2328 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2329 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2331 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2332 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2333 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2334 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2335 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2336 list of killed groups.)
2338 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2339 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2340 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2342 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2343 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2344 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2345 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2346 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2347 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2348 relevant valid ranges.
2350 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2351 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2352 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2353 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2354 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2355 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2358 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2359 one with the best level.
2361 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2362 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2363 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2366 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2367 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2368 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2369 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2372 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2373 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2374 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2375 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2377 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2378 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2379 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2380 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2381 to 5. The default is 6.
2385 @section Group Score
2390 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2391 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2392 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2395 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2396 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2397 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2398 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2399 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2400 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2401 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2402 least significant part.))
2404 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2405 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2406 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2407 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2408 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2409 action after each summary exit, you can add
2410 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2411 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2412 slow things down somewhat.
2415 @node Marking Groups
2416 @section Marking Groups
2417 @cindex marking groups
2419 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2420 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2421 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2422 bidding on those groups.
2424 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2425 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2426 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2434 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2435 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2441 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2442 Remove the mark from the current group
2443 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2447 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2448 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2452 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2453 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2457 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2458 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2462 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2463 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2464 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2467 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2469 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2470 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2471 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2472 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2473 the command to be executed.
2476 @node Foreign Groups
2477 @section Foreign Groups
2478 @cindex foreign groups
2480 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2481 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2482 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2483 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2490 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2491 @cindex making groups
2492 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2493 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2494 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2498 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2499 @cindex renaming groups
2500 Rename the current group to something else
2501 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2502 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2508 @findex gnus-group-customize
2509 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2513 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2514 @cindex renaming groups
2515 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2516 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2520 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2521 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2522 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2526 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2527 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2528 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2532 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2534 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2535 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2540 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2541 Make the gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2545 @cindex (ding) archive
2546 @cindex archive group
2547 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2548 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2549 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2550 Make a gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2551 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2552 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2553 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2557 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2559 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2560 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2561 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2562 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2566 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2568 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2569 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2570 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2574 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2575 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2577 Make a group based on some file or other
2578 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2579 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2580 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2581 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2582 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2583 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2584 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2585 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2586 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2590 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2591 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2592 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2593 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2597 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2601 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2602 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2603 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2604 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2605 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2606 @xref{Web Searches}.
2608 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2609 to a particular group by using a match string like
2610 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2613 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2614 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2615 This function will delete the current group
2616 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2617 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2618 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2619 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2620 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2624 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2625 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2626 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2630 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2631 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2632 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2635 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2638 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2639 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2640 gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2641 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2642 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2643 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2647 @node Group Parameters
2648 @section Group Parameters
2649 @cindex group parameters
2651 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2652 Here's an example group parameter list:
2655 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2659 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2660 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2661 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2662 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2664 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2665 is an alist of regexps and values.
2667 The following group parameters can be used:
2672 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2675 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2678 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2679 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2680 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2681 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2682 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2684 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2685 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2686 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2687 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2688 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2689 list address instead.
2691 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2695 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2698 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2701 It is totally ignored
2702 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2703 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2705 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2706 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2707 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2708 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2709 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2711 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2712 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2713 sending the message.
2715 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2716 @cindex Mail List Groups
2717 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2718 entering summary buffer.
2720 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2725 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2726 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2727 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2728 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2729 headers for your posts to these lists. Look here @pxref{(message)Mailing
2730 Lists} for a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2732 See also @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses}, the function that
2733 directly uses this group parameter.
2737 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2738 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2739 of whether it has any unread articles.
2741 @item broken-reply-to
2742 @cindex broken-reply-to
2743 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2744 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2745 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2746 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2747 broken behavior. So there!
2751 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2752 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2756 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, gnus
2757 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2758 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2763 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2764 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2765 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2766 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2767 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2768 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2769 (@pxref{Archived Messages}). CAVEAT:: It yields an error putting
2770 @code{(gcc-self . t)} in groups of a @code{nntp} server or so, because
2771 a @code{nntp} server doesn't accept articles.
2775 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2776 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2777 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2779 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2782 @cindex total-expire
2783 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2784 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2785 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2786 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2789 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2793 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2794 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2795 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2796 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2797 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2798 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2799 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2802 @cindex score file group parameter
2803 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2804 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2805 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2808 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2809 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2810 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2811 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2814 @cindex admin-address
2815 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2816 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2817 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2818 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2822 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2823 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2827 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2830 Display the last INTEGER articles in the group. This is the same as
2831 entering the group with C-u INTEGER.
2834 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2838 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2840 Here are some examples:
2844 Display only unread articles.
2847 Display everything except expirable articles.
2849 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2850 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2854 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2855 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2856 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2857 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2858 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2862 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2863 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2864 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2868 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2869 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2870 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2874 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2875 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2876 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2878 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2880 @item ignored-charsets
2881 @cindex ignored-charset
2882 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2883 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2884 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2886 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2889 @cindex posting-style
2890 You can store additional posting style information for this group
2891 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2892 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2893 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2894 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2896 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2897 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2898 like this in the group parameters:
2903 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
2904 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2909 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2910 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2914 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2915 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2916 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2917 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2918 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2922 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2923 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2924 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2925 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
2927 For example, if the INBOX.list.sieve group has the @code{(sieve
2928 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
2929 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
2930 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
2933 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
2934 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
2938 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, , Top, sieve,
2941 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2942 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2943 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2944 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2945 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2946 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2947 @code{eval}ed there.
2949 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
2950 A use for this feature, is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
2951 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
2952 @samp{nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps} has the tag
2953 @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this tag can be
2954 removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for the group by
2955 putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")} into the group
2956 parameters for the group.
2959 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2960 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2961 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2962 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2963 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2967 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2968 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2969 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2970 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2971 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2973 @vindex gnus-parameters
2974 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
2975 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
2979 (setq gnus-parameters
2981 (gnus-show-threads nil)
2982 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
2983 (gnus-summary-line-format
2984 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
2988 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
2992 (gnus-use-scoring t))
2996 (broken-reply-to . t))))
2999 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
3000 the @code{to-group} example shows.
3003 @node Listing Groups
3004 @section Listing Groups
3005 @cindex group listing
3007 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3015 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3016 List all groups that have unread articles
3017 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3018 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3019 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
3020 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3027 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3028 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3029 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3030 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3031 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3032 unsubscribed groups).
3036 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3037 List all unread groups on a specific level
3038 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3039 with no unread articles.
3043 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3044 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3045 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3046 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3051 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3052 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3056 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3057 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3058 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3062 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3063 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3067 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3068 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3069 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3070 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3071 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3072 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3073 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3074 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3078 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3079 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3080 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3084 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3085 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3086 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3090 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3091 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3095 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3096 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3100 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3101 List groups limited within the current selection
3102 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3106 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3107 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3111 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3112 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3116 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3117 @cindex visible group parameter
3118 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3119 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3120 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3121 get the same effect.
3123 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3124 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3125 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3126 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3127 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3130 @node Sorting Groups
3131 @section Sorting Groups
3132 @cindex sorting groups
3134 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3135 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3136 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3137 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3138 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3139 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3144 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3145 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3146 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3148 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3149 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3150 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3152 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3153 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3154 Sort by group level.
3156 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3157 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3158 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3160 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3161 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3162 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3163 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3165 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3166 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3167 Sort by number of unread articles.
3169 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3170 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3171 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3173 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3174 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3175 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3180 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3181 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3185 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3186 some sorting criteria:
3190 @kindex G S a (Group)
3191 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3192 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3193 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3196 @kindex G S u (Group)
3197 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3198 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3199 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3202 @kindex G S l (Group)
3203 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3204 Sort the group buffer by group level
3205 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3208 @kindex G S v (Group)
3209 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3210 Sort the group buffer by group score
3211 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3214 @kindex G S r (Group)
3215 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3216 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3217 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3220 @kindex G S m (Group)
3221 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3222 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name
3223 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3226 @kindex G S n (Group)
3227 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3228 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3229 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3233 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3234 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3236 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3237 commands will sort in reverse order.
3239 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3243 @kindex G P a (Group)
3244 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3245 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3246 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3249 @kindex G P u (Group)
3250 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3251 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3252 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3255 @kindex G P l (Group)
3256 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3257 Sort the groups by group level
3258 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3261 @kindex G P v (Group)
3262 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3263 Sort the groups by group score
3264 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3267 @kindex G P r (Group)
3268 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3269 Sort the groups by group rank
3270 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3273 @kindex G P m (Group)
3274 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3275 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name
3276 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3279 @kindex G P n (Group)
3280 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3281 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3282 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3285 @kindex G P s (Group)
3286 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3287 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3291 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3295 @node Group Maintenance
3296 @section Group Maintenance
3297 @cindex bogus groups
3302 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3303 Find bogus groups and delete them
3304 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3308 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3309 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3310 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3311 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3312 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3316 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3317 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3318 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3319 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3320 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3321 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3324 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3325 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3326 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3327 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3332 @node Browse Foreign Server
3333 @section Browse Foreign Server
3334 @cindex foreign servers
3335 @cindex browsing servers
3340 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3341 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3342 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3343 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3346 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3347 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3348 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3349 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3351 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3356 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3357 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3361 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3362 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3365 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3366 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3367 Enter the current group and display the first article
3368 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3371 @kindex RET (Browse)
3372 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3373 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3377 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3378 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3379 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3385 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3386 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3390 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3391 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3395 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3396 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3397 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3402 @section Exiting gnus
3403 @cindex exiting gnus
3405 Yes, gnus is ex(c)iting.
3410 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3411 Suspend gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit gnus,
3412 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3413 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3417 @findex gnus-group-exit
3418 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3419 Quit gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3423 @findex gnus-group-quit
3424 Quit gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3425 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3428 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3429 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3430 @vindex gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook
3431 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend gnus and
3432 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit gnus, while
3433 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3438 If you wish to completely unload gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3439 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3440 trying to customize meta-variables.
3445 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3446 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3447 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3453 @section Group Topics
3456 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3457 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3458 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3459 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3460 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3461 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3465 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3466 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3477 2: alt.religion.emacs
3480 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3482 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3483 13: comp.sources.unix
3486 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3488 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3489 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3490 is a toggling command.)
3492 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3493 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and
3494 now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3495 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3498 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3499 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3500 @file{~/.gnus} file:
3503 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3507 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3508 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3509 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3510 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3511 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3515 @node Topic Commands
3516 @subsection Topic Commands
3517 @cindex topic commands
3519 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3520 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3521 definitions slightly.
3523 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3524 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3525 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3526 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3527 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3528 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3530 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3537 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3538 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3539 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3543 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3545 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3546 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3547 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3548 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3551 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3552 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3553 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3554 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3558 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3559 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3560 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3561 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3567 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3568 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3569 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3573 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3574 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3575 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3578 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3579 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the `cut' part of cut and paste. Then,
3580 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the `Gnus'
3581 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the `paste' part of cut and
3582 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3584 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3585 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3589 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3590 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3597 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3599 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3600 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3601 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3602 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3603 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3604 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3608 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3614 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3615 Move the current group to some other topic
3616 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3617 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3621 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3622 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3626 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3627 Copy the current group to some other topic
3628 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3629 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3633 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3634 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3635 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3639 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3640 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3641 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3645 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3646 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3647 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3648 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3649 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3650 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3651 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3654 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3655 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3659 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3660 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3661 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3665 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3666 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3667 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3671 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3672 Toggle hiding empty topics
3673 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3677 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3678 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3679 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3680 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3683 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3684 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3685 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3686 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3687 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3690 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3691 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3692 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3693 expiry process (if any)
3694 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3698 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3699 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3702 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3703 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3704 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3708 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3709 List all groups that gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3710 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3713 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3714 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3715 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3718 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3719 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3720 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3724 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3725 @cindex group parameters
3726 @cindex topic parameters
3728 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3729 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3734 @node Topic Variables
3735 @subsection Topic Variables
3736 @cindex topic variables
3738 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3739 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3741 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3742 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3743 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3756 Number of groups in the topic.
3758 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3760 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3763 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3764 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3765 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3768 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3769 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3771 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3772 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3773 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3777 @subsection Topic Sorting
3778 @cindex topic sorting
3780 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3786 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3787 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3788 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3789 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3792 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3793 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3794 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3795 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3798 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3799 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3800 Sort the current topic by group level
3801 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3804 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3805 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3806 Sort the current topic by group score
3807 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3810 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3811 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3812 Sort the current topic by group rank
3813 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3816 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3817 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3818 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3819 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3822 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3823 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3824 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3825 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3829 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
3830 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
3831 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
3832 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
3836 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
3837 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
3841 @node Topic Topology
3842 @subsection Topic Topology
3843 @cindex topic topology
3846 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3852 2: alt.religion.emacs
3855 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3857 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3858 13: comp.sources.unix
3861 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3862 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3863 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3868 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3869 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3873 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3874 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3875 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3876 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3877 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3878 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3880 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3881 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3882 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3885 @node Topic Parameters
3886 @subsection Topic Parameters
3887 @cindex topic parameters
3889 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3890 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3891 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3893 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3898 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3899 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3900 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3903 @item subscribe-level
3904 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
3905 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
3906 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
3910 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3911 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3912 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3913 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3919 2: alt.religion.emacs
3923 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3925 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3926 13: comp.sources.unix
3930 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3931 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3932 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3933 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3934 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3935 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3937 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3938 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3939 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3940 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3941 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3943 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3944 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3945 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3946 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3947 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3948 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3949 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3950 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3953 @node Misc Group Stuff
3954 @section Misc Group Stuff
3957 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3958 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3959 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3960 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3961 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
3968 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3969 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3970 @xref{Server Buffer}.
3974 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3975 Start composing a message (a news by default)
3976 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
3977 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
3978 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
3979 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
3980 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3984 @findex gnus-group-mail
3985 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
3986 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
3987 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
3988 @xref{Composing Messages}.
3992 @findex gnus-group-news
3993 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
3994 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
3995 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3997 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
3998 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
3999 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
4000 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
4001 for this to work though.
4005 Variables for the group buffer:
4009 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
4010 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
4011 is called after the group buffer has been
4014 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4015 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4016 is called after the group buffer is
4017 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4020 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4021 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4022 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4023 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4025 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4026 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4027 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4028 whether they are empty or not.
4030 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4031 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4032 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
4033 non-ASCII group names.
4037 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4038 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4041 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4042 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4043 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4044 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
4045 is used to show non-ASCII group names. @code{((".*" utf-8))} is the
4046 default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the default is
4051 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4052 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
4057 @node Scanning New Messages
4058 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4059 @cindex new messages
4060 @cindex scanning new news
4066 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4067 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4068 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4069 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4070 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4071 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4076 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4077 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4078 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4079 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4080 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4081 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4082 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4084 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4085 @cindex activating groups
4087 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4088 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4093 @findex gnus-group-restart
4094 Restart gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4095 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4096 gnus variables, and then starts gnus all over again.
4100 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4101 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4103 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4104 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4108 @node Group Information
4109 @subsection Group Information
4110 @cindex group information
4111 @cindex information on groups
4118 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4119 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4122 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
4123 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
4124 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
4125 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
4126 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4127 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
4128 for fetching the file.
4130 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, gnus will attempt to go
4131 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4135 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4136 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4138 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4139 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4142 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4143 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4144 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4148 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4149 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4150 @cindex control message
4151 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4152 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4153 group if given a prefix argument.
4155 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-@code{nil},
4156 Gnus will open the control messages in a browser using
4157 @code{browse-url}. Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp}
4158 and displayed in an ephemeral group.
4160 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4161 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode}
4162 (@pxref{(emacs)Compressed Files}).
4166 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4168 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4169 @cindex describing groups
4170 @cindex group description
4171 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4172 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4173 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4177 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4178 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4179 prefix, force gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4186 @findex gnus-version
4187 Display current gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4191 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4192 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4195 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4198 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4199 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4203 @node Group Timestamp
4204 @subsection Group Timestamp
4206 @cindex group timestamps
4208 It can be convenient to let gnus keep track of when you last read a
4209 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4210 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4213 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4216 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4218 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4219 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4222 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4223 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4226 This will result in lines looking like:
4229 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4230 0: custom 19961002T012713
4233 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4234 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4238 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4239 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4242 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4243 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4247 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4248 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4249 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4250 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4252 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4258 @subsection File Commands
4259 @cindex file commands
4265 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4266 @vindex gnus-init-file
4267 @cindex reading init file
4268 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4269 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4273 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4274 @cindex saving .newsrc
4275 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4276 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4277 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4280 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4281 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4282 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4287 @node Sieve Commands
4288 @subsection Sieve Commands
4289 @cindex group sieve commands
4291 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4292 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4293 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4294 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4295 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4297 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4298 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4299 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4300 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4301 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4302 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4303 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4304 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4305 regenerate the Sieve script.
4307 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4308 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4309 is generated. If it is non-@code{nil} (the default) articles is
4310 placed in all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article
4311 is only placed in the group with the first matching rule. For
4312 example, the group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4313 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4314 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is @code{nil}. (When
4315 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-@code{nil}, it looks the same
4316 except that the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4319 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4320 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4325 @xref{Top, ,Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4331 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4332 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4333 @cindex generating sieve script
4334 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4335 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4339 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4340 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4341 @cindex updating sieve script
4342 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4343 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4344 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4349 @node Summary Buffer
4350 @chapter Summary Buffer
4351 @cindex summary buffer
4353 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4354 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4356 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4357 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4359 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4362 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4363 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4364 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4365 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4366 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4367 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4368 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4369 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4370 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4371 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4372 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4373 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4374 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4375 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4376 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4377 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4378 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4379 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4380 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4381 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4382 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4383 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4384 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4385 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4386 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4387 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4388 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4389 or reselecting the current group.
4390 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4391 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4392 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4393 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4397 @node Summary Buffer Format
4398 @section Summary Buffer Format
4399 @cindex summary buffer format
4403 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4404 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4405 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4411 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4412 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4413 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4414 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4417 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4418 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4419 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4420 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4421 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4422 @code{From} header. Three pre-defined functions exist:
4423 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4424 fast, and too simplistic solution;
4425 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works nicely, but is
4426 slower; and @code{std11-extract-address-components}, which works very
4427 nicely, but is slower. The default function will return the wrong
4428 answer in 5% of the cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the
4429 other function instead:
4432 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4433 'mail-extract-address-components)
4436 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4437 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4438 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4439 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4442 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4443 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4445 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4446 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4447 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4448 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4449 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4451 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4452 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4453 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4454 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4455 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4456 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4458 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4460 The following format specification characters and extended format
4461 specification(s) are understood:
4467 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4468 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4470 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4471 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4472 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4474 Full @code{From} header.
4476 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4478 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4481 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4482 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4483 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4484 may be more thorough.
4486 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4489 Number of lines in the article.
4491 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4492 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4494 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4495 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4497 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4499 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4500 lines. A thread could be drawn like this:
4513 You can customize the appearance with the following options. Note
4514 that it is possible to make the thread display look really neat by
4515 replacing the default ASCII characters with graphic line-drawing
4518 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4519 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4520 Used for the root of a thread. If @code{nil}, use subject
4521 instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4523 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4524 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4525 Used for a thread with just one message. If @code{nil}, use subject
4526 instead. The default is @samp{}.
4528 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4529 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4530 Used for drawing a vertical line. The default is @samp{| }.
4532 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4533 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4534 Used for indenting. The default is @samp{ }.
4536 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4537 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4538 Used for a leaf with brothers. The default is @samp{+-> }.
4540 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4541 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4542 Used for a leaf without brothers. The default is @samp{\-> }
4547 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4548 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4550 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4551 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4553 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4554 for adopted articles.
4556 One space for each thread level.
4558 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4560 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4563 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4564 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4565 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4568 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4570 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4571 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4572 default level. If the difference between
4573 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4574 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4582 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4584 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4590 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4591 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4593 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4594 article has any children.
4600 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4601 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4603 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4604 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4605 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4606 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4607 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4608 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4611 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4612 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4613 There can only be one such area.
4615 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4616 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, gnus will
4617 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4618 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4619 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4620 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4622 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4623 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4625 This restriction may disappear in later versions of gnus.
4628 @node To From Newsgroups
4629 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4633 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4634 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4635 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4636 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4637 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4641 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4642 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4643 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4647 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4648 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4651 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4652 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4655 @findex gnus-extra-header
4656 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4657 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4658 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4661 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4665 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4666 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4667 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4668 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4669 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4670 headers are used instead.
4674 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4675 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4676 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
4677 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
4678 this variable, by entering the server buffer using `^', and then `g' on
4679 the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause regeneration.
4681 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4682 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4683 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4684 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4686 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4690 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4692 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4693 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4694 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4695 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4699 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4702 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
4703 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
4706 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4707 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4708 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
4714 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4715 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4718 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4719 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4721 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4722 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4723 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4724 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4726 Here are the elements you can play with:
4732 Unprefixed group name.
4734 Current article number.
4736 Current article score.
4740 Number of unread articles in this group.
4742 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4745 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4746 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4747 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4748 and no unselected ones.
4750 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4751 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4753 Subject of the current article.
4755 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4757 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4759 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4761 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4763 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4765 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4769 @node Summary Highlighting
4770 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4774 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4775 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4776 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4777 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4778 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4780 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4781 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4782 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4783 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4785 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4786 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4787 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4788 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4790 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4791 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4792 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4793 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4794 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4795 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4798 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4799 ((> score default) . bold))
4801 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4802 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4806 @node Summary Maneuvering
4807 @section Summary Maneuvering
4808 @cindex summary movement
4810 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4811 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4813 None of these commands select articles.
4818 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4819 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4820 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4821 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4822 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4826 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4827 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4828 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4829 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4830 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4833 @kindex G g (Summary)
4834 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4835 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4836 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4839 If gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4840 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4841 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4842 to the group buffer.
4844 Variables related to summary movement:
4848 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4849 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4850 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4851 no more unread articles after the current one, gnus will offer to go to
4852 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4853 empty, gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4854 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, gnus will select the
4855 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
4856 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
4857 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
4858 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
4859 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
4860 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
4861 @pxref{Group Levels}.
4863 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4864 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4865 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4866 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4867 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4868 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4869 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4871 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4873 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4874 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4875 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4876 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4877 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4879 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4880 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4881 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4882 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4883 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4884 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4885 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4886 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4889 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4890 the given number of lines from the top.
4895 @node Choosing Articles
4896 @section Choosing Articles
4897 @cindex selecting articles
4900 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4901 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4905 @node Choosing Commands
4906 @subsection Choosing Commands
4908 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4909 and they all select and display an article.
4911 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4912 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4916 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4917 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4918 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4919 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4921 If you have an article window open already and you press @kbd{SPACE}
4922 again, the article will be scrolled. This lets you conveniently
4923 @kbd{SPACE} through an entire newsgroup. @pxref{Paging the Article}.
4928 @kindex G n (Summary)
4929 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4930 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4931 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4936 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4937 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4938 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4943 @kindex G N (Summary)
4944 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4945 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4950 @kindex G P (Summary)
4951 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4952 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4955 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4956 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4957 Go to the next article with the same subject
4958 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4961 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4962 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4963 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4964 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4968 @kindex G f (Summary)
4970 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4971 Go to the first unread article
4972 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4976 @kindex G b (Summary)
4978 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4979 Go to the unread article with the highest score
4980 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
4981 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
4986 @kindex G l (Summary)
4987 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4988 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4991 @kindex G o (Summary)
4992 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4994 @cindex article history
4995 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4996 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4997 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4998 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4999 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
5000 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
5005 @kindex G j (Summary)
5006 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
5007 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
5008 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
5013 @node Choosing Variables
5014 @subsection Choosing Variables
5016 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
5019 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5020 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5021 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
5022 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
5023 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
5024 the server and display it in the article buffer.
5026 @item gnus-select-article-hook
5027 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
5028 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
5029 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article. If you would
5030 like each article to be saved in the Agent as you read it, putting
5031 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this hook will do so.
5033 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
5034 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
5035 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
5036 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
5037 @findex gnus-unread-mark
5038 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
5039 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
5040 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
5041 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
5042 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
5043 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
5044 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
5045 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
5046 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
5051 @node Paging the Article
5052 @section Scrolling the Article
5053 @cindex article scrolling
5058 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5059 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5060 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5061 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5062 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5064 @vindex gnus-article-boring-faces
5065 If the rest of the article consists only of citations and signature,
5066 then it will be skipped; the next article will be shown instead. You
5067 can customize what is considered uninteresting with
5068 @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}, or set it to @code{nil} to disable
5069 this feature. You can manually view the article's pages, no matter how
5070 boring, using @kbd{C-v} in the article buffer.
5073 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5074 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5075 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5078 @kindex RET (Summary)
5079 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5080 Scroll the current article one line forward
5081 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5084 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5085 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5086 Scroll the current article one line backward
5087 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5091 @kindex A g (Summary)
5093 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5094 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5095 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5096 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5097 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5098 the way it came from the server.
5100 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5101 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5102 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5105 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5110 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5115 @kindex A < (Summary)
5116 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5117 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5118 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5123 @kindex A > (Summary)
5124 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5125 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5129 @kindex A s (Summary)
5131 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5132 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5133 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5137 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5138 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5143 @node Reply Followup and Post
5144 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5147 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5148 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5149 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5150 * Canceling and Superseding::
5154 @node Summary Mail Commands
5155 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5157 @cindex composing mail
5159 Commands for composing a mail message:
5165 @kindex S r (Summary)
5167 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5168 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5169 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5170 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5171 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5176 @kindex S R (Summary)
5177 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5178 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5179 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5180 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5181 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5184 @kindex S w (Summary)
5185 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5186 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5187 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5188 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5189 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
5192 @kindex S W (Summary)
5193 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5194 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5195 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5196 the process/prefix convention.
5199 @kindex S v (Summary)
5200 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5201 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5202 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5203 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5204 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5205 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5208 @kindex S V (Summary)
5209 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5210 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5211 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5212 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5215 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5216 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5217 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5218 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5221 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5222 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5223 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5224 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5225 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5229 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5230 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5231 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5232 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5233 Forward the current article to some other person
5234 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5235 headers of the forwarded article.
5240 @kindex S m (Summary)
5241 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5242 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5243 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5244 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5245 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5250 @kindex S i (Summary)
5251 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5252 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5253 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5254 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5256 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5257 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
5258 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5259 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5260 for this to work though.
5263 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5264 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5265 @cindex bouncing mail
5266 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5267 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5268 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5269 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5270 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5271 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, gnus will try to fetch
5272 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5273 very well fail, though.
5276 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5277 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5278 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5279 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5280 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5281 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5282 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5283 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5284 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5285 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5287 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5288 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5289 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5290 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5291 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5293 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5294 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5297 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5298 @findex gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward
5299 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5300 result using mail (@code{gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward}). This
5301 command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5304 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5305 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5306 @cindex crossposting
5307 @cindex excessive crossposting
5308 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5309 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5311 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5312 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5313 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5314 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5315 command understands the process/prefix convention
5316 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5320 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5321 Manual}, for more information.
5324 @node Summary Post Commands
5325 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5327 @cindex composing news
5329 Commands for posting a news article:
5335 @kindex S p (Summary)
5336 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5337 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5338 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5339 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5340 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5345 @kindex S f (Summary)
5346 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5347 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5348 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5352 @kindex S F (Summary)
5354 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5355 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5356 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5357 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5358 process/prefix convention.
5361 @kindex S n (Summary)
5362 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5363 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5364 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5367 @kindex S N (Summary)
5368 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5369 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5370 message through mail and include the original message
5371 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5372 the process/prefix convention.
5375 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5376 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5377 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5378 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5379 headers of the forwarded article.
5382 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5383 @findex gnus-summary-digest-post-forward
5385 @cindex making digests
5386 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5387 (@code{gnus-summary-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
5388 process/prefix convention.
5391 @kindex S u (Summary)
5392 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5393 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5394 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5395 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5398 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5399 Manual}, for more information.
5402 @node Summary Message Commands
5403 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5407 @kindex S y (Summary)
5408 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5409 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5410 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5411 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5412 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5417 @node Canceling and Superseding
5418 @subsection Canceling Articles
5419 @cindex canceling articles
5420 @cindex superseding articles
5422 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5423 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5425 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5427 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5429 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5430 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5431 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5432 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5433 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5434 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5436 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5437 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5440 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5441 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5442 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5444 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5445 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5446 your original article.
5448 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5450 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5451 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5452 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5455 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5456 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5457 have posted almost the same article twice.
5459 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5460 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5461 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5462 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5463 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5464 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5465 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5466 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5467 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5468 canceled/superseded.
5470 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5472 @node Delayed Articles
5473 @section Delayed Articles
5474 @cindex delayed sending
5475 @cindex send delayed
5477 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5478 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5479 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5480 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5483 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5486 @findex gnus-delay-article
5487 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5488 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5489 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5490 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5494 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5495 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5496 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5497 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5500 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5501 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5502 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5505 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5506 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5507 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5508 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5509 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5510 that means a time tomorrow.
5513 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5514 couple of variables:
5517 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5518 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5519 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5520 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5522 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5523 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5524 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5525 formats described above.
5527 @item gnus-delay-group
5528 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5529 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5530 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5531 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5533 @item gnus-delay-header
5534 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5535 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5536 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5537 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5540 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5541 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5542 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5543 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5544 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5546 @findex gnus-delay-send-queue
5547 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5548 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5549 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5550 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5551 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5552 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5555 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5556 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5558 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5559 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
5560 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-@code{nil},
5561 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
5562 argument is ignored.
5564 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
5565 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
5566 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
5570 @node Marking Articles
5571 @section Marking Articles
5572 @cindex article marking
5573 @cindex article ticking
5576 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5578 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5579 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5580 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5582 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5585 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5586 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5587 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5591 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
5595 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5596 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5597 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5601 @node Unread Articles
5602 @subsection Unread Articles
5604 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5609 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5610 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5612 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5613 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5614 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5615 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5616 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5617 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5618 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5621 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5622 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5624 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5625 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5626 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5627 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5631 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5632 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5634 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5639 @subsection Read Articles
5640 @cindex expirable mark
5642 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5647 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5648 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5649 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5652 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5653 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5656 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5657 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5658 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5661 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5662 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5665 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5666 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5669 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5670 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5673 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5674 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5677 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5678 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5681 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5682 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5685 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5686 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5690 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5691 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5692 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5696 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5697 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5699 One more special mark, though:
5703 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5704 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5706 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5707 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5708 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5709 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by gnus at
5715 @subsection Other Marks
5716 @cindex process mark
5719 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5725 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5726 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5727 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5728 in the article, and gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5729 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5732 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5733 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5734 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5735 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5738 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5739 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5740 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5743 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5744 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5745 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5748 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5749 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5750 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5751 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5754 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5755 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
5756 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5757 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
5758 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
5759 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
5762 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5763 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
5764 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5765 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
5768 @vindex gnus-downloaded-mark
5769 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, articles may be
5770 downloaded for unplugged (offline) viewing. If you are using the
5771 @samp{%O} spec, these articles get the @samp{+} mark in that spec.
5772 (The variable @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} controls which character to
5776 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
5777 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, some articles might
5778 not have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you
5779 are unplugged (offline). If you are using the @samp{%O} spec, these
5780 articles get the @samp{-} mark in that spec. (The variable
5781 @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls which character to use.)
5784 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
5785 The Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics} downloads some articles
5786 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
5787 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
5788 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
5789 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
5793 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5794 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5795 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5796 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5797 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5800 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5801 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5802 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5803 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5804 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5805 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5809 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5810 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5811 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5813 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5814 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5815 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5819 @subsection Setting Marks
5820 @cindex setting marks
5822 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5827 @kindex M c (Summary)
5828 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5829 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5830 @cindex mark as unread
5831 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5832 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5838 @kindex M t (Summary)
5839 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5840 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5841 @xref{Article Caching}.
5846 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5847 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5848 Mark the current article as dormant
5849 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5853 @kindex M d (Summary)
5855 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5856 Mark the current article as read
5857 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5861 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5862 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5863 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5868 @kindex M k (Summary)
5869 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5870 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5871 and then select the next unread article
5872 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5876 @kindex M K (Summary)
5877 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5878 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5879 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5880 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5883 @kindex M C (Summary)
5884 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5885 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5886 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5889 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5890 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5891 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5892 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5895 @kindex M H (Summary)
5896 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5897 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
5898 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5901 @kindex M h (Summary)
5902 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
5903 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
5904 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
5907 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5908 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5909 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5910 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5913 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5914 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5915 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5916 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5920 @kindex M e (Summary)
5922 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5923 Mark the current article as expirable
5924 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5927 @kindex M b (Summary)
5928 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5929 Set a bookmark in the current article
5930 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5933 @kindex M B (Summary)
5934 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5935 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5936 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5939 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5940 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5941 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5942 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5945 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5946 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5947 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5948 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5951 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5952 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5953 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5954 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5955 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5958 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5959 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5960 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5961 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5962 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5963 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5964 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5965 The default is @code{t}.
5968 @node Generic Marking Commands
5969 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5971 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5972 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5973 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5974 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5975 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5978 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5979 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5982 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5983 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5984 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5985 to list in this manual.
5987 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5988 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5989 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5990 article, you could say something like:
5993 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5994 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5995 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
6001 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6002 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
6006 @node Setting Process Marks
6007 @subsection Setting Process Marks
6008 @cindex setting process marks
6010 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
6011 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
6012 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
6013 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
6014 commands into the cache. For more information,
6015 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
6022 @kindex M P p (Summary)
6023 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6024 Mark the current article with the process mark
6025 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
6026 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6030 @kindex M P u (Summary)
6031 @kindex M-# (Summary)
6032 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
6033 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6036 @kindex M P U (Summary)
6037 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6038 Remove the process mark from all articles
6039 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6042 @kindex M P i (Summary)
6043 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
6044 Invert the list of process marked articles
6045 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
6048 @kindex M P R (Summary)
6049 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6050 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6051 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6054 @kindex M P G (Summary)
6055 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6056 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6057 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6060 @kindex M P r (Summary)
6061 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6062 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6066 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6067 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6070 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6071 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6072 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6073 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6076 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6077 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6078 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6079 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6082 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6083 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6084 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6085 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6088 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6089 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6090 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6093 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6094 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6095 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6096 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6099 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6100 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6101 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6104 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6105 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6106 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6107 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6110 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6111 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6112 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6113 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6116 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6117 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6118 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6119 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6122 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6123 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6124 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6125 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6129 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
6130 set process marks based on article body contents.
6137 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6138 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6139 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6142 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6143 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6144 additional articles.
6150 @kindex / / (Summary)
6151 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6152 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6153 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6157 @kindex / a (Summary)
6158 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6159 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6160 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6164 @kindex / x (Summary)
6165 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6166 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6167 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6168 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6173 @kindex / u (Summary)
6175 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6176 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6177 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6178 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6179 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6182 @kindex / m (Summary)
6183 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6184 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6185 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6188 @kindex / t (Summary)
6189 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6190 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6191 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6192 articles younger than that number of days.
6195 @kindex / n (Summary)
6196 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6197 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
6198 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
6199 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6202 @kindex / w (Summary)
6203 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6204 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6205 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6209 @kindex / . (Summary)
6210 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6211 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6212 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6215 @kindex / v (Summary)
6216 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6217 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6218 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6221 @kindex / p (Summary)
6222 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6223 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6224 group parameter predicate
6225 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). See @pxref{Group
6226 Parameters} for more on this predicate.
6230 @kindex M S (Summary)
6231 @kindex / E (Summary)
6232 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6233 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6234 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6237 @kindex / D (Summary)
6238 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6239 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6240 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6243 @kindex / * (Summary)
6244 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6245 Include all cached articles in the limit
6246 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6249 @kindex / d (Summary)
6250 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6251 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6252 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6255 @kindex / M (Summary)
6256 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6257 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6260 @kindex / T (Summary)
6261 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6262 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6265 @kindex / c (Summary)
6266 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6267 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
6268 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6271 @kindex / C (Summary)
6272 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6273 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6274 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6275 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6278 @kindex / N (Summary)
6279 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6280 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6281 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6284 @kindex / o (Summary)
6285 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6286 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6287 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6295 @cindex article threading
6297 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6298 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6299 hierarchical fashion.
6301 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6302 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6303 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6304 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6305 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6306 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6307 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
6309 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6313 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6316 A tree-like article structure.
6319 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6322 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6323 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6324 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6325 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6326 called loose threads.
6328 @item thread gathering
6329 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6331 @item sparse threads
6332 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6333 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6339 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6340 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6344 @node Customizing Threading
6345 @subsection Customizing Threading
6346 @cindex customizing threading
6349 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6350 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6351 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6352 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
6357 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6360 @cindex loose threads
6363 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6364 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6365 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6366 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6367 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6368 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6370 When there is no real root of a thread, gnus will have to fudge
6371 something. This variable says what fudging method gnus should use.
6372 There are four possible values:
6376 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6377 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6378 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6379 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6380 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6385 @cindex adopting articles
6390 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6391 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6392 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6393 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6396 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6397 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6398 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6399 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6400 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6401 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6402 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6403 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6404 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6405 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to @code{t}.
6408 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6409 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6410 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6414 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6415 display them after one another.
6418 Don't gather loose threads.
6421 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6422 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6423 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6424 variable is @code{nil}, gnus requires an exact match between the
6425 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6426 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6427 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6428 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6429 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6430 variable to a really low number, you'll find that gnus will gather
6431 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6433 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6434 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, gnus will
6435 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6438 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6439 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6440 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6441 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6442 simplification is used.
6444 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6445 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6446 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6447 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6449 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6451 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6457 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6458 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6459 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6460 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6465 (mapconcat 'identity
6466 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6468 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6471 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6474 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6475 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6476 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6477 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6478 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6479 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6481 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6484 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6485 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6486 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6488 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6489 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6492 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6493 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6494 Remove excessive whitespace.
6496 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6497 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6498 Remove all whitespace.
6501 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6504 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6505 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6506 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6507 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6508 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6509 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6510 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6511 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6513 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6514 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6515 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6516 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6517 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6518 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6519 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6520 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6521 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6525 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6526 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6527 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6528 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6530 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6531 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6532 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6535 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6539 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6540 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6546 @node Filling In Threads
6547 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6550 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6551 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6552 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6553 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
6554 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
6555 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
6556 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
6557 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
6558 fetching old headers only works if the back end you are using carries
6559 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
6560 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
6561 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do
6564 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6565 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6566 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6568 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6569 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6570 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6571 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6572 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6573 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6574 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where gnus guesses that an article
6575 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6576 lines. If you select a gap, gnus will try to fetch the article in
6577 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, gnus will display all these
6578 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6579 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, gnus won't cut
6580 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6581 @code{nil} by default.
6583 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6584 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6585 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6586 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6587 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6588 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6589 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6591 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6592 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6593 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6598 @node More Threading
6599 @subsubsection More Threading
6602 @item gnus-show-threads
6603 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6604 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6605 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6606 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6607 slower and more awkward.
6609 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6610 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6611 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6614 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
6615 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
6616 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}).
6621 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6622 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
6623 gnus-article-unseen-p))
6626 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
6627 unread, but you get my drift.)
6630 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6631 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6632 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6633 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6634 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6635 threads are expunged.
6637 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6638 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6639 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6642 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6643 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6644 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6645 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6646 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6647 result in a new thread.
6649 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6650 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6651 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6654 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6655 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6656 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6657 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6658 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6659 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6660 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6661 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6662 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6663 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6664 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6669 @node Low-Level Threading
6670 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6674 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6675 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6676 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
6677 @code{(gnus-set-summary-default-charset)}, which sets up local value of
6678 @code{default-mime-charset} in summary buffer based on variable
6679 @code{gnus-newsgroup-default-charset-alist}.
6681 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6682 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6683 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6684 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6685 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6686 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6687 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6688 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6689 meaningful. Here's one example:
6692 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6694 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6695 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6697 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6699 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6706 @node Thread Commands
6707 @subsection Thread Commands
6708 @cindex thread commands
6714 @kindex T k (Summary)
6715 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6716 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6717 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6718 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6719 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6724 @kindex T l (Summary)
6725 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6726 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6727 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6728 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6731 @kindex T i (Summary)
6732 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6733 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6734 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6737 @kindex T # (Summary)
6738 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6739 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6740 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6743 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6744 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6745 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6746 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6749 @kindex T T (Summary)
6750 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6751 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6754 @kindex T s (Summary)
6755 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6756 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
6757 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6760 @kindex T h (Summary)
6761 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6762 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6765 @kindex T S (Summary)
6766 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6767 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6770 @kindex T H (Summary)
6771 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6772 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6775 @kindex T t (Summary)
6776 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6777 Re-thread the current article's thread
6778 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6779 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6782 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6783 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6784 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6785 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6789 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6790 understand the numeric prefix.
6795 @kindex T n (Summary)
6797 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
6799 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6800 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6801 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6804 @kindex T p (Summary)
6806 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
6808 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6809 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6810 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6813 @kindex T d (Summary)
6814 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6815 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6818 @kindex T u (Summary)
6819 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6820 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6823 @kindex T o (Summary)
6824 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6825 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6828 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6829 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6830 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6831 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6832 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6833 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6834 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6835 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6836 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6837 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6838 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6839 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6843 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6844 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6846 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6847 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6848 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6849 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6850 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6851 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6852 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
6853 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6854 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-thread
6855 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6856 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6857 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6858 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6860 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6861 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6862 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6863 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
6864 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
6865 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
6866 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
6867 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6869 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6870 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6871 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6873 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6874 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6875 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6876 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6877 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6878 ascending article order.
6880 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6881 by number, you could do something like:
6884 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6885 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6886 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6887 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6890 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6891 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6892 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6893 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6894 which the articles arrived.
6896 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6900 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6902 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6903 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6906 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6907 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6908 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6909 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6912 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6913 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6914 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6915 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6916 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6917 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
6918 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6919 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
6920 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
6921 variable. It is very similar to the
6922 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
6923 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
6924 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6925 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
6926 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
6927 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
6928 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6930 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6934 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6935 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6936 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6941 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6942 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6943 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6944 @cindex article pre-fetch
6947 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6948 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6949 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6950 article appears. Why can't gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6951 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6953 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6954 article fetching, especially the way gnus does it.
6956 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6957 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6958 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6959 article 3, but since gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6960 connection is blocked.
6962 To avoid these situations, gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6963 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6964 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6965 extra connection takes some time, so gnus startup will be slower.
6967 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6968 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6969 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6970 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6973 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6976 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6977 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6978 happen automatically.
6980 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6981 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6982 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6983 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
6984 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
6985 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6986 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6988 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6989 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6990 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6991 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6992 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6993 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6994 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6995 data structure as the only parameter.
6997 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
7000 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
7001 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
7002 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
7003 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
7006 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
7009 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
7010 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down gnus too much.
7011 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
7013 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
7014 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
7015 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
7016 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
7020 Remove articles when they are read.
7023 Remove articles when exiting the group.
7026 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
7028 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
7029 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
7030 @c from the next group.
7033 @node Article Caching
7034 @section Article Caching
7035 @cindex article caching
7038 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
7039 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
7040 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
7041 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
7042 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
7044 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
7046 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7047 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
7048 @vindex gnus-use-cache
7049 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
7050 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
7051 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
7052 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
7053 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
7055 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
7056 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
7057 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
7058 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
7059 as dormant, and don't worry.
7061 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
7063 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
7064 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
7065 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
7066 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
7067 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7068 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7069 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7070 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7071 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7072 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7074 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7075 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7076 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7077 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7078 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7079 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
7080 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7081 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7082 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7083 not then be downloaded by this command.
7085 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7086 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7087 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7088 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7089 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7090 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7092 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7093 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7094 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7095 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7096 variables, the group is not cached.
7098 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7099 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7100 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7101 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7102 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7103 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, gnus
7104 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7105 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
7106 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7109 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7110 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7111 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7112 where, isn't that cool?
7114 @node Persistent Articles
7115 @section Persistent Articles
7116 @cindex persistent articles
7118 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7119 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7120 useful in my opinion.
7122 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7123 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7124 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7125 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7126 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7127 the expiry going on at the news server.
7129 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7130 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7131 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7137 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7138 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7141 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7142 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7143 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7144 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7148 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7150 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7151 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7152 interested in persistent articles:
7155 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7159 @node Article Backlog
7160 @section Article Backlog
7162 @cindex article backlog
7164 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7165 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7166 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where gnus will buffer
7167 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7168 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7169 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7170 that, turning the backlog on will slow gnus down a little bit, and
7171 increase memory usage some.
7173 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7174 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, gnus will store
7175 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7176 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, gnus will store
7177 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7178 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7179 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7181 The default value is 20.
7184 @node Saving Articles
7185 @section Saving Articles
7186 @cindex saving articles
7188 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7189 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7190 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7191 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7192 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7194 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7195 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7196 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7198 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7199 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, gnus will not delete
7200 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7202 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7203 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7204 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7205 deleted before saving.
7211 @kindex O o (Summary)
7213 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7214 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7215 Save the current article using the default article saver
7216 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7219 @kindex O m (Summary)
7220 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7221 Save the current article in mail format
7222 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7225 @kindex O r (Summary)
7226 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7227 Save the current article in rmail format
7228 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7231 @kindex O f (Summary)
7232 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7233 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7234 Save the current article in plain file format
7235 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7238 @kindex O F (Summary)
7239 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7240 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7241 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7244 @kindex O b (Summary)
7245 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7246 Save the current article body in plain file format
7247 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7250 @kindex O h (Summary)
7251 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7252 Save the current article in mh folder format
7253 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7256 @kindex O v (Summary)
7257 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7258 Save the current article in a VM folder
7259 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7263 @kindex O p (Summary)
7265 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7266 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7267 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7268 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7269 complete headers in the piped output.
7272 @kindex O P (Summary)
7273 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7274 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7275 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7276 external program Muttprint (see
7277 @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/}). The program name and
7278 options to use is controlled by the variable
7279 @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}. (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7283 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7284 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7285 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7286 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7287 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7288 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7289 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7290 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7291 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7292 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7293 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7294 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7298 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7299 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7300 gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
7301 functions below, or you can create your own.
7305 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7306 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7307 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7308 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7309 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
7310 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7311 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7313 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7314 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7315 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7316 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7317 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7318 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7320 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7321 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7322 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7323 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7324 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7325 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7326 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7328 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7329 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7330 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7331 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7332 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7333 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7335 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7336 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7337 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7338 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7339 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7341 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7342 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7343 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7344 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7345 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7348 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7349 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7350 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7351 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7352 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7354 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7355 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7356 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7357 reader to use this setting.
7360 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7361 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7362 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7363 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7366 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7367 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7368 available functions that generate names:
7372 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7373 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7374 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7376 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7377 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7378 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7380 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7381 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7382 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7384 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7385 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7386 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7388 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7389 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7390 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7393 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7394 You can have gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7395 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7396 save articles related to gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7397 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7401 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7402 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7403 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7404 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7407 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7408 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7409 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7410 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7411 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7412 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7413 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7414 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7415 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7417 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7418 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7419 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7420 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7422 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7423 means that gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7424 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7427 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7428 lots of mail groups called things like
7429 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7430 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7431 following will do just that:
7434 (defun my-save-name (group)
7435 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7436 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7438 (setq gnus-split-methods
7439 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7444 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7445 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7446 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7447 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7448 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7449 all the files in the top level directory
7450 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7451 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7452 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7453 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7455 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7456 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7457 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7458 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7459 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7462 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7466 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
7467 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7468 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
7471 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7472 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7473 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7474 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7477 @node Decoding Articles
7478 @section Decoding Articles
7479 @cindex decoding articles
7481 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7482 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7485 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7486 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7487 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7488 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7489 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7490 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7494 @cindex article series
7495 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7496 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7497 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7498 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7499 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7501 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7502 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7503 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7505 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, gnus
7506 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7507 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7509 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7510 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7511 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7514 @node Uuencoded Articles
7515 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7517 @cindex uuencoded articles
7522 @kindex X u (Summary)
7523 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7524 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7525 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7528 @kindex X U (Summary)
7529 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7530 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7531 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7534 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7535 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7536 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7539 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7540 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7541 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7542 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7546 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7547 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7548 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7549 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7550 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7552 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7553 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7554 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7555 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7558 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7559 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7560 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7561 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7562 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7563 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7567 @node Shell Archives
7568 @subsection Shell Archives
7570 @cindex shell archives
7571 @cindex shared articles
7573 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7574 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7575 some commands to deal with these:
7580 @kindex X s (Summary)
7581 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7582 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7585 @kindex X S (Summary)
7586 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7587 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7590 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7591 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7592 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7595 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7596 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7597 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7598 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7602 @node PostScript Files
7603 @subsection PostScript Files
7609 @kindex X p (Summary)
7610 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7611 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7614 @kindex X P (Summary)
7615 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7616 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7617 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7620 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7621 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7622 View the current PostScript series
7623 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7626 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7627 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7628 View and save the current PostScript series
7629 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7634 @subsection Other Files
7638 @kindex X o (Summary)
7639 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7640 Save the current series
7641 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7644 @kindex X b (Summary)
7645 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7646 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7647 doesn't really work yet.
7651 @node Decoding Variables
7652 @subsection Decoding Variables
7654 Adjective, not verb.
7657 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7658 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7659 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7663 @node Rule Variables
7664 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7665 @cindex rule variables
7667 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7668 variables are of the form
7671 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7678 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7679 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7681 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7682 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
7685 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7686 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7689 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7690 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7691 This variable is consulted if gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7692 user and default view rules.
7694 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7695 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7696 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
7701 @node Other Decode Variables
7702 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
7705 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7707 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7708 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
7709 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
7710 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
7711 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
7715 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
7716 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
7719 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
7720 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
7721 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
7724 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7725 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7726 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
7727 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
7728 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
7731 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7732 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7733 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
7735 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7736 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7737 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
7738 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7739 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
7742 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7743 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7744 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7746 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7747 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7748 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7749 looking for files to display.
7751 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7752 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7753 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7756 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7757 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7758 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7761 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7762 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7763 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7766 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7767 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7768 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7771 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7772 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7773 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7774 decoded articles as unread.
7776 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7777 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7778 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7779 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7781 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7782 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7783 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7785 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7786 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7788 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7789 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
7790 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7791 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7793 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7794 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7795 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7796 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7797 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7798 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7799 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7800 simply dropped them.
7805 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7806 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7810 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7811 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7812 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7813 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7814 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7815 for you when you post the article.
7817 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7818 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7819 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7820 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7822 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7823 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7824 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7825 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7826 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7827 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7828 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
7830 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7831 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7832 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7833 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7834 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7835 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7836 Default is @code{t}.
7842 @subsection Viewing Files
7843 @cindex viewing files
7844 @cindex pseudo-articles
7846 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, gnus will attempt
7847 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7848 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7849 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, gnus will
7850 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7851 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7852 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7854 Finally, gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7855 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7856 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7857 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7859 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7860 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7861 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7863 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7864 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7865 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7866 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7867 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7869 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7870 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7871 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7872 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7873 a list of parameters to that command.
7875 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7876 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7877 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7879 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7880 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7881 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7884 @node Article Treatment
7885 @section Article Treatment
7887 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7888 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7889 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7890 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7891 these articles easier.
7894 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7895 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7896 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7897 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7898 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
7899 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7900 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7901 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
7902 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7903 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7907 @node Article Highlighting
7908 @subsection Article Highlighting
7909 @cindex highlighting
7911 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7912 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7917 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7918 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7919 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7920 Do much highlighting of the current article
7921 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7922 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7925 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7926 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7927 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7928 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7929 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7930 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7931 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7932 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7933 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7934 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7935 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7936 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7939 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7940 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7941 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7943 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7946 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7948 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7949 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7950 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7952 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7953 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7954 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7956 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7957 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7958 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7959 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7960 gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7961 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7963 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7964 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7965 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7967 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7968 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7969 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7971 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7972 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7973 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7974 that it's a citation.
7976 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7977 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7978 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7980 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7981 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7982 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7984 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7985 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7986 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7987 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7993 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7994 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7995 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7996 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7997 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7998 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
7999 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
8000 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
8005 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
8008 @node Article Fontisizing
8009 @subsection Article Fontisizing
8011 @cindex article emphasis
8013 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
8014 @kindex W e (Summary)
8015 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
8016 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
8017 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
8018 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
8020 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
8021 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
8022 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
8023 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
8024 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
8025 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
8026 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
8027 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
8031 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
8032 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
8033 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
8042 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
8043 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
8044 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
8045 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
8046 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
8047 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
8048 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
8049 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
8050 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
8051 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
8052 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
8053 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
8054 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
8056 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
8057 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
8058 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
8062 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
8065 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
8067 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8068 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8069 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8070 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8072 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8075 @node Article Hiding
8076 @subsection Article Hiding
8077 @cindex article hiding
8079 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8080 too much cruft in most articles.
8085 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8086 @findex gnus-article-hide
8087 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8088 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8089 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
8092 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8093 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8094 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8098 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8099 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8100 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8101 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8104 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8105 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8106 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8110 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8111 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8112 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8113 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8114 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8115 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8116 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8117 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8121 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8122 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8123 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8124 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8129 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8130 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8131 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8132 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8135 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8136 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8137 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8138 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8141 @cindex stripping advertisements
8142 @cindex advertisements
8143 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8144 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8145 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8146 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8147 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8148 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8149 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8150 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8151 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8152 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8155 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8156 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8157 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8161 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8162 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8163 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8164 @code{(ADDRESS . BANNER)}, where ADDRESS is a regexp matching a mail
8165 address in the From header, BANNER is one of a symbol @code{signature},
8166 an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}, a regexp and @code{nil}.
8167 If ADDRESS matches author's mail address, it will remove things like
8168 advertisements. For example, if a sender has the mail address
8169 @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a banner something like
8170 @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he sends, you can use the
8171 following element to remove them:
8174 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" . "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8180 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8181 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8182 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8183 customizing the hiding:
8187 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8188 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8189 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8190 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8191 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8192 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8193 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8198 Starting point of the hidden text.
8200 Ending point of the hidden text.
8202 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8204 Number of lines of hidden text.
8207 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8208 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8209 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8210 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8211 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8216 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8217 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8219 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8220 following two variables:
8223 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8224 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8225 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8226 50), hide the cited text.
8228 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8229 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8230 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8235 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8236 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8237 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8238 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8239 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8240 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8244 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8245 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8246 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8248 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8249 citation customization.
8251 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8255 @node Article Washing
8256 @subsection Article Washing
8258 @cindex article washing
8260 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8261 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8263 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8264 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8267 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8268 articles by default.
8273 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8274 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8278 Force redisplaying of the current article
8279 (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). This is also not really washing.
8280 If you type this, you see the article without any previously applied
8281 interactive Washing functions but with all default treatments
8282 (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8285 @kindex W l (Summary)
8286 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8287 Remove page breaks from the current article
8288 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8292 @kindex W r (Summary)
8293 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8294 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8295 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8296 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8297 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8298 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8300 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8301 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8302 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8303 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8306 @kindex W m (Summary)
8307 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8308 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8312 @kindex W t (Summary)
8314 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8315 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8316 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8319 @kindex W v (Summary)
8320 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8321 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8322 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8325 @kindex W m (Summary)
8326 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
8327 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
8328 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
8331 @kindex W o (Summary)
8332 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8333 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8336 @kindex W d (Summary)
8337 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8338 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8340 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8342 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8343 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8344 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8345 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8348 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8349 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8350 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8351 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8354 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
8355 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8356 @cindex Outlook Express
8357 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
8358 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
8359 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8362 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
8363 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
8364 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min
8365 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max
8366 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
8367 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
8368 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
8369 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the miminum and
8370 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
8371 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines}).
8374 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
8375 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
8376 Repair a broken attribution line.
8377 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
8380 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
8381 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
8382 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
8383 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
8386 @kindex W w (Summary)
8387 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8388 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8390 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8394 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8395 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8396 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8399 @kindex W C (Summary)
8400 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8401 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8402 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8405 @kindex W c (Summary)
8406 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8407 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8408 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8409 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8410 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8413 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8414 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8415 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
8416 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
8417 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is usually done
8418 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8419 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
8421 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8424 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8425 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8426 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8427 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8428 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8431 @kindex W u (Summary)
8432 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
8433 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
8434 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
8435 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
8436 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
8439 @kindex W h (Summary)
8440 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8441 Treat @sc{html} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
8442 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8443 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @sc{html}.
8445 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8447 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
8448 The default is to use the function specified by
8449 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{(emacs-mime)Display
8450 Customization}) to convert the @sc{html}, but this is controlled by
8451 the @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions
8452 you can use include:
8459 Use emacs-w3m (see @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/} for more
8463 Use Links (see @uref{http://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mikulas/links/}).
8466 Use Lynx (see @uref{http://lynx.browser.org/}).
8469 Use html2text -- a simple @sc{html} converter included with Gnus.
8474 @kindex W b (Summary)
8475 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8476 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8477 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8480 @kindex W B (Summary)
8481 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8482 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8483 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8486 @kindex W p (Summary)
8487 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8488 Verify a signed control message (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}).
8489 Control messages such as @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are
8490 usually signed by the hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the PGP
8491 public key of the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8492 message.@footnote{PGP keys for many hierarchies are available at
8493 @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8496 @kindex W s (Summary)
8497 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8498 Verify a signed (PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}) message
8499 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8502 @kindex W a (Summary)
8503 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
8504 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8505 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
8508 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8509 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8510 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8511 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8514 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8515 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8516 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8517 lines with a single empty line.
8518 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8521 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8522 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8523 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8524 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8527 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8528 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8529 Do all the three commands above
8530 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8533 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8534 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8535 Remove all blank lines
8536 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8539 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8540 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8541 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8542 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8545 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8546 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8547 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8548 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8552 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8555 @node Article Header
8556 @subsection Article Header
8558 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8563 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8564 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8565 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8568 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8569 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8570 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8571 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8574 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8575 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
8576 Fold all the message headers
8577 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8581 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
8582 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
8583 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
8588 @node Article Buttons
8589 @subsection Article Buttons
8592 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8593 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8594 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8595 button on these references.
8597 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8598 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8599 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links and man pages.
8600 This is controlled by two variables, one that handles article bodies and
8601 one that handles article heads:
8605 @item gnus-button-alist
8606 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8607 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8610 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8616 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
8617 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
8618 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
8619 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
8620 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}.
8623 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8624 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8625 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8628 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8629 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8630 avoid false matches.
8633 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8636 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8637 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8641 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8644 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8647 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8648 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8649 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8650 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8651 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8654 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8657 @var{header} is a regular expression.
8659 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
8660 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
8661 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
8662 default values of the variables above.
8664 @item gnus-article-button-face
8665 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
8666 Face used on buttons.
8668 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
8669 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
8670 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
8674 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
8678 @subsection Article Date
8680 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
8681 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
8682 when the article was sent.
8687 @kindex W T u (Summary)
8688 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
8689 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
8690 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
8693 @kindex W T i (Summary)
8694 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
8696 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
8697 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
8700 @kindex W T l (Summary)
8701 @findex gnus-article-date-local
8702 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
8705 @kindex W T p (Summary)
8706 @findex gnus-article-date-english
8707 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
8708 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
8711 @kindex W T s (Summary)
8712 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
8713 @findex gnus-article-date-user
8714 @findex format-time-string
8715 Display the date using a user-defined format
8716 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
8717 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
8718 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
8719 for a list of possible format specs.
8722 @kindex W T e (Summary)
8723 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
8724 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
8725 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
8726 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
8727 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
8730 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
8733 @vindex gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header
8734 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
8735 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
8738 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
8739 into wonderful absurdities.
8741 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
8744 (gnus-start-date-timer)
8747 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
8748 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
8752 @kindex W T o (Summary)
8753 @findex gnus-article-date-original
8754 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
8755 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
8756 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
8757 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
8758 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
8762 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
8763 preferred format automatically.
8766 @node Article Display
8767 @subsection Article Display
8772 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
8773 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
8775 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
8776 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
8778 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
8779 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
8781 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
8782 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
8784 All these functions are toggles--if the elements already exist,
8789 @kindex W D x (Summary)
8790 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
8791 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
8792 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
8795 @kindex W D d (Summary)
8796 @findex gnus-article-display-face
8797 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
8798 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
8801 @kindex W D s (Summary)
8802 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
8803 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
8806 @kindex W D f (Summary)
8807 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
8808 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
8811 @kindex W D m (Summary)
8812 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
8813 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
8814 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
8817 @kindex W D n (Summary)
8818 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
8819 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
8820 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
8823 @kindex W D D (Summary)
8824 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
8825 Remove all images from the article buffer
8826 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
8832 @node Article Signature
8833 @subsection Article Signature
8835 @cindex article signature
8837 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8838 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
8839 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
8840 that says what is to be considered a signature is
8841 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
8842 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
8843 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
8844 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
8845 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
8848 (setq gnus-signature-separator
8849 '("^-- $" ; The standard
8850 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
8851 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
8852 ; line of dashes. Shame!
8853 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
8854 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
8855 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
8858 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
8861 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
8862 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
8863 signature when displaying articles.
8867 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
8870 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
8873 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
8874 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
8876 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
8877 in question is not a signature.
8880 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
8881 listed above. Here's an example:
8884 (setq gnus-signature-limit
8885 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
8888 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
8889 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
8890 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
8891 signature after all.
8894 @node Article Miscellania
8895 @subsection Article Miscellania
8899 @kindex A t (Summary)
8900 @findex gnus-article-babel
8901 Translate the article from one language to another
8902 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
8908 @section MIME Commands
8909 @cindex MIME decoding
8911 @cindex viewing attachments
8913 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
8914 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
8920 @kindex K v (Summary)
8921 View the @sc{mime} part.
8924 @kindex K o (Summary)
8925 Save the @sc{mime} part.
8928 @kindex K c (Summary)
8929 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
8932 @kindex K e (Summary)
8933 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
8936 @kindex K i (Summary)
8937 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
8940 @kindex K | (Summary)
8941 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
8944 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
8949 @kindex K b (Summary)
8950 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
8951 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
8955 @kindex K m (Summary)
8956 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
8957 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
8958 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
8959 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
8960 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
8963 @kindex X m (Summary)
8964 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
8965 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
8966 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
8967 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8970 @kindex M-t (Summary)
8971 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
8972 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
8973 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
8976 @kindex W M w (Summary)
8977 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
8978 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
8979 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
8982 @kindex W M c (Summary)
8983 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
8984 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
8985 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
8987 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
8988 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
8989 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
8990 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
8991 include @sc{mime} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
8992 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
8995 @kindex W M v (Summary)
8996 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
8997 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
8998 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
9005 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
9006 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
9007 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9008 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
9011 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
9014 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
9018 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
9019 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
9020 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't required the @samp{MIME-Version} header
9021 before interpreting the message as a @sc{mime} message. This helps
9022 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
9023 default is @code{nil}.
9025 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
9026 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
9027 There are other, non-@sc{mime} encoding methods used. The most common
9028 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
9029 This variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
9030 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
9031 Gnus @sc{mime} machinery. The default is @code{t}.
9033 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9034 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9035 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9036 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9037 displayed or this variable is overridden by
9038 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
9039 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
9040 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is nil.
9042 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9043 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9044 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9045 this list will have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9046 displayed. This variable overrides
9047 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
9048 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
9051 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
9052 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
9053 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9055 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9056 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9057 If this is non-nil, then all @sc{mime} parts get buttons. The default
9058 value is @code{nil}.
9060 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9061 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9062 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
9063 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9064 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9065 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9066 save all jpegs into some directory).
9068 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9071 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9072 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9074 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9075 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9076 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9077 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9078 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9081 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9082 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9083 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9085 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9086 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9087 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @sc{mime} parts.
9088 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9090 Ready-made functions include@*
9091 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9092 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9093 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9094 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9095 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9096 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9097 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9098 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9099 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9100 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9101 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9102 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9104 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9105 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9107 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9108 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9109 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9112 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9113 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9114 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9115 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9119 to your @file{.gnus.el} file.
9128 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
9129 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
9130 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
9131 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
9132 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
9133 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
9134 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
9136 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
9137 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
9138 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
9139 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
9141 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets
9142 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
9143 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
9144 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
9145 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
9146 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
9147 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
9148 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
9149 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
9151 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
9152 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
9153 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
9154 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
9155 quoted-printable header encoding.
9157 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
9158 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
9159 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
9163 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
9166 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
9167 means encode all charsets),
9169 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
9170 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
9171 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
9178 @cindex coding system aliases
9179 @cindex preferred charset
9181 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
9183 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
9184 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
9187 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
9188 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
9191 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
9192 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
9194 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
9197 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
9200 This will almost do the right thing.
9202 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
9206 (codepage-setup 1251)
9207 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
9211 @node Article Commands
9212 @section Article Commands
9219 @kindex A P (Summary)
9220 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
9221 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
9222 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
9223 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
9224 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
9225 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
9230 @node Summary Sorting
9231 @section Summary Sorting
9232 @cindex summary sorting
9234 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
9235 can't really see why you'd want that.
9240 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
9241 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
9242 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
9245 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
9246 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
9247 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
9250 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
9251 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
9252 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
9255 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
9256 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
9257 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
9260 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
9261 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
9262 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
9265 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
9266 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
9267 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
9270 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
9271 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
9272 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
9275 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
9276 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
9277 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
9280 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
9281 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
9282 Sort using the default sorting method
9283 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
9286 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
9287 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
9288 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
9289 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
9290 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
9294 @node Finding the Parent
9295 @section Finding the Parent
9296 @cindex parent articles
9297 @cindex referring articles
9302 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
9303 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
9304 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
9305 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
9306 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
9307 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
9308 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
9309 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
9310 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
9312 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
9313 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
9314 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, gnus will fetch the parent, the
9315 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
9316 @kbd{-3 ^}, gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
9320 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
9321 @kindex A R (Summary)
9322 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
9323 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
9326 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
9327 @kindex A T (Summary)
9328 Display the full thread where the current article appears
9329 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
9330 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
9331 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
9332 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
9333 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
9334 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
9336 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
9337 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
9338 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
9339 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
9340 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
9341 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
9344 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
9345 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
9347 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
9348 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
9349 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
9350 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
9351 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
9352 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
9353 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
9356 The current select method will be used when fetching by
9357 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
9358 by giving this command a prefix.
9360 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
9361 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
9362 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
9363 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
9364 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
9365 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
9368 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
9369 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
9370 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
9373 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
9374 then ask Google if that fails:
9377 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
9379 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
9382 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
9383 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
9384 @code{nnbabyl}, and @code{nnmaildir} are able to locate articles from
9385 any groups, while @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
9386 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current group.
9387 (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not
9388 support this at all.
9391 @node Alternative Approaches
9392 @section Alternative Approaches
9394 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
9395 gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
9398 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
9399 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
9404 @subsection Pick and Read
9405 @cindex pick and read
9407 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
9408 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
9409 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
9410 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
9412 @findex gnus-pick-mode
9413 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
9414 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
9415 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
9416 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
9417 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
9419 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
9424 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
9425 Pick the article or thread on the current line
9426 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9427 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
9428 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
9429 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
9430 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
9431 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
9434 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
9435 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
9436 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
9437 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
9441 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
9442 Unpick the thread or article
9443 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9444 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
9445 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
9446 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9447 the thread or article at that line.
9451 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9452 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9453 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9454 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9455 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9456 will still be visible when you are reading.
9460 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9461 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9462 which is mapped to the same function
9463 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9465 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9468 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9471 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9472 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
9474 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
9475 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
9476 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
9478 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
9479 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
9480 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
9481 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
9482 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
9483 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
9484 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
9488 @subsection Binary Groups
9489 @cindex binary groups
9491 @findex gnus-binary-mode
9492 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
9493 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
9494 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
9495 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
9496 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
9497 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
9500 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
9501 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
9502 command, when you have turned on this mode
9503 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
9505 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
9506 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
9510 @section Tree Display
9513 @vindex gnus-use-trees
9514 If you don't like the normal gnus summary display, you might try setting
9515 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
9516 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
9519 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
9522 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
9523 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
9524 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
9526 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9527 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9528 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
9529 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
9530 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
9532 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
9533 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
9534 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
9535 default is @code{modeline}.
9537 @item gnus-tree-line-format
9538 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
9539 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
9540 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
9541 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
9542 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
9543 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
9549 The name of the poster.
9551 The @code{From} header.
9553 The number of the article.
9555 The opening bracket.
9557 The closing bracket.
9562 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
9564 Variables related to the display are:
9567 @item gnus-tree-brackets
9568 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
9569 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
9570 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
9571 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
9572 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
9574 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9575 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9576 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
9577 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
9581 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
9582 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
9583 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will try to keep the tree
9584 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other gnus
9585 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
9586 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
9587 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
9588 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
9589 other windows displayed next to it.
9591 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
9595 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
9596 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
9599 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
9600 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
9601 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9602 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
9603 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
9604 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
9605 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
9609 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
9612 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
9622 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
9626 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
9627 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
9629 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
9631 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
9636 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
9637 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
9638 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
9641 (setq gnus-use-trees t
9642 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9643 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
9644 (gnus-add-configuration
9648 (summary 0.75 point)
9653 @xref{Window Layout}.
9656 @node Mail Group Commands
9657 @section Mail Group Commands
9658 @cindex mail group commands
9660 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
9661 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
9663 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
9664 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9669 @kindex B e (Summary)
9670 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
9671 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
9672 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
9673 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
9674 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
9677 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
9678 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
9679 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
9680 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
9681 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
9682 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
9685 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
9686 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
9687 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
9688 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
9689 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
9690 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
9693 @kindex B m (Summary)
9695 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
9696 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
9697 Move the article from one mail group to another
9698 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9699 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9702 @kindex B c (Summary)
9704 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
9705 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
9706 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
9707 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9708 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9711 @kindex B B (Summary)
9712 @cindex crosspost mail
9713 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
9714 Crosspost the current article to some other group
9715 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
9716 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
9717 be properly updated.
9720 @kindex B i (Summary)
9721 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
9722 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
9723 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
9724 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9727 @kindex B I (Summary)
9728 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
9729 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
9730 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
9731 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9734 @kindex B r (Summary)
9735 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
9736 @vindex gnus-summary-respool-default-method
9737 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
9738 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
9739 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
9740 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
9741 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
9742 (which is the default).
9746 @kindex B w (Summary)
9748 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
9749 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
9750 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
9751 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
9752 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
9753 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
9754 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, gnus won't re-highlight the article.
9757 @kindex B q (Summary)
9758 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
9759 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
9760 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
9761 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
9764 @kindex B t (Summary)
9765 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
9766 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
9767 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
9770 @kindex B p (Summary)
9771 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
9772 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
9773 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
9774 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
9775 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
9776 article from your news server (or rather, from
9777 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
9778 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
9779 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
9780 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
9781 just not have arrived yet.
9784 @kindex K E (Summary)
9785 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
9786 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
9787 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
9788 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
9789 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
9793 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
9794 @cindex moving articles
9795 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have gnus
9796 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
9797 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
9798 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
9799 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
9800 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
9801 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
9804 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
9805 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
9806 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
9807 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
9811 @node Various Summary Stuff
9812 @section Various Summary Stuff
9815 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
9816 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
9817 * Summary Generation Commands::
9818 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
9822 @vindex gnus-summary-display-while-building
9823 @item gnus-summary-display-while-building
9824 If non-@code{nil}, show and update the summary buffer as it's being
9825 built. If @code{t}, update the buffer after every line is inserted.
9826 If the value is an integer, @var{n}, update the display every @var{n}
9827 lines. The default is @code{nil}.
9829 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
9830 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
9831 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
9833 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
9834 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
9835 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
9836 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
9837 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
9838 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
9841 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9842 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9843 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
9844 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
9845 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
9847 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9848 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9849 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
9852 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9853 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9854 When gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
9855 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
9856 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
9857 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
9858 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), gnus will rename the
9859 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
9860 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
9861 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
9863 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9864 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9865 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
9866 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
9867 list of articles to be selected.
9869 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
9870 the list in one particular group:
9873 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
9874 (if (string= group "some.group")
9875 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
9879 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
9880 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
9881 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
9882 variables and their default values (when the default values are not
9883 nil), that should be made global while the summary buffer is active.
9884 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
9885 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
9886 buffers. For example:
9889 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
9890 '(message-use-followup-to
9891 (gnus-visible-headers .
9892 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
9898 @node Summary Group Information
9899 @subsection Summary Group Information
9904 @kindex H f (Summary)
9905 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
9906 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
9907 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
9908 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
9909 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
9910 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
9911 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
9912 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
9913 be used for fetching the file.
9916 @kindex H d (Summary)
9917 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
9918 Give a brief description of the current group
9919 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
9920 rereading the description from the server.
9923 @kindex H h (Summary)
9924 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
9925 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
9926 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
9929 @kindex H i (Summary)
9930 @findex gnus-info-find-node
9931 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
9935 @node Searching for Articles
9936 @subsection Searching for Articles
9941 @kindex M-s (Summary)
9942 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
9943 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
9944 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
9947 @kindex M-r (Summary)
9948 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
9949 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
9950 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
9954 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
9955 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
9956 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
9957 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
9958 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
9959 search backward instead.
9961 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
9962 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
9965 @kindex M-& (Summary)
9966 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
9967 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
9968 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
9971 @node Summary Generation Commands
9972 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
9977 @kindex Y g (Summary)
9978 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
9979 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
9982 @kindex Y c (Summary)
9983 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
9984 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9985 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
9988 @kindex Y d (Summary)
9989 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
9990 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9991 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
9996 @node Really Various Summary Commands
9997 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
10003 @kindex C-d (Summary)
10004 @kindex A D (Summary)
10005 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
10006 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
10007 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
10008 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
10009 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
10010 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
10011 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
10012 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
10016 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
10017 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
10018 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
10019 several documents into one biiig group
10020 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
10021 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
10022 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
10023 command understands the process/prefix convention
10024 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10027 @kindex C-t (Summary)
10028 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
10029 Toggle truncation of summary lines
10030 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
10031 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
10032 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
10035 @kindex = (Summary)
10036 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
10037 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
10038 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
10041 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
10042 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
10043 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10044 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
10047 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
10048 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
10049 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10050 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
10055 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
10056 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
10057 @cindex summary exit
10058 @cindex exiting groups
10060 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
10061 group and return you to the group buffer.
10067 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
10068 @kindex q (Summary)
10069 @findex gnus-summary-exit
10070 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
10071 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
10072 @vindex gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook
10073 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
10074 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
10075 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
10076 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
10077 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
10078 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
10079 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
10080 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
10084 @kindex Z E (Summary)
10085 @kindex Q (Summary)
10086 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
10087 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
10088 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
10092 @kindex Z c (Summary)
10093 @kindex c (Summary)
10094 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
10095 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
10096 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
10097 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
10100 @kindex Z C (Summary)
10101 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
10102 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
10103 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
10106 @kindex Z n (Summary)
10107 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
10108 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
10109 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
10112 @kindex Z R (Summary)
10113 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
10114 Exit this group, and then enter it again
10115 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
10116 all articles, both read and unread.
10120 @kindex Z G (Summary)
10121 @kindex M-g (Summary)
10122 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
10123 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
10124 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
10125 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
10126 articles, both read and unread.
10129 @kindex Z N (Summary)
10130 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
10131 Exit the group and go to the next group
10132 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
10135 @kindex Z P (Summary)
10136 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
10137 Exit the group and go to the previous group
10138 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
10141 @kindex Z s (Summary)
10142 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
10143 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
10144 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
10145 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
10146 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
10149 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
10150 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
10151 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
10152 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
10154 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
10155 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
10156 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
10157 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
10158 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
10159 If you do that, gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
10160 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
10161 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
10162 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
10163 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
10164 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
10165 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
10167 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
10169 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
10170 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
10171 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
10172 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
10173 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
10174 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
10175 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
10176 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
10177 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
10180 @node Crosspost Handling
10181 @section Crosspost Handling
10185 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
10186 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
10187 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
10188 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
10189 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
10190 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
10193 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
10194 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
10195 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
10196 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
10197 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
10199 @cindex cross-posting
10202 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
10203 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
10204 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
10205 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
10206 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
10207 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
10208 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
10209 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
10210 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
10211 the cross reference mechanism.
10213 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
10214 @cindex overview.fmt
10215 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
10216 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
10217 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
10218 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
10219 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
10220 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
10223 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
10224 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
10225 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
10230 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
10233 @node Duplicate Suppression
10234 @section Duplicate Suppression
10236 By default, gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
10237 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
10238 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
10239 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
10244 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
10245 is evil and not very common.
10248 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
10249 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
10252 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
10253 different @sc{nntp} servers.
10256 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
10259 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
10260 well, but these four are the most common situations.
10262 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
10263 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
10264 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
10265 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
10266 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
10267 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
10268 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
10271 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
10272 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
10273 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
10274 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
10275 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
10276 saw the article in.
10279 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
10280 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
10281 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
10283 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
10284 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
10285 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
10286 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
10287 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single gnus
10288 session are suppressed.
10290 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
10291 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
10292 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
10293 suppression list. The default is 10000.
10295 @item gnus-duplicate-file
10296 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
10297 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
10298 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
10301 If you have a tendency to stop and start gnus often, setting
10302 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
10303 you leave gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
10304 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
10305 so that means that if you stop and start gnus often, you should set
10306 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
10307 to you to figure out, I think.
10312 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
10313 The formats that are supported are PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} and @sc{s/mime},
10314 however you need some external programs to get things to work:
10318 To handle PGP and PGP/MIME messages, you have to install an OpenPGP
10319 implementation such as GnuPG. The lisp interface to GnuPG included
10320 with Gnus is called PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg, PGG Manual}), but
10321 Mailcrypt and gpg.el are also supported.
10324 To handle @sc{s/mime} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
10325 or newer is recommended.
10329 More information on how to set things up can be found in the message
10330 manual (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
10333 @item mm-verify-option
10334 @vindex mm-verify-option
10335 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
10336 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
10337 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10339 @item mm-decrypt-option
10340 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
10341 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
10342 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
10343 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10346 @vindex mml1991-use
10347 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for PGP
10348 messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but @code{mailcrypt} and
10349 @code{gpg} are also supported although deprecated.
10352 @vindex mml2015-use
10353 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10354 PGP/MIME messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but @code{mailcrypt}
10355 and @code{gpg} are also supported although deprecated.
10360 @section Mailing List
10362 @kindex A M (summary)
10363 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10364 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10365 either add a `to-list' group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10366 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10367 summary buffer, or say:
10370 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-mailing-list-mode)
10373 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10378 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10379 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10380 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10383 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10384 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10385 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10388 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10389 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10390 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10394 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10395 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10396 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
10399 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
10400 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10401 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
10404 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
10405 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10406 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
10410 @node Article Buffer
10411 @chapter Article Buffer
10412 @cindex article buffer
10414 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
10415 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
10416 tell gnus otherwise.
10419 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
10420 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
10421 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
10422 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
10423 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
10427 @node Hiding Headers
10428 @section Hiding Headers
10429 @cindex hiding headers
10430 @cindex deleting headers
10432 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
10433 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
10435 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
10436 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
10437 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
10438 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
10439 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
10440 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
10441 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
10442 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
10443 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
10445 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
10449 @item gnus-visible-headers
10450 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
10451 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
10452 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
10453 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
10455 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
10456 the article and the subject, you'd say:
10459 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
10462 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10465 @item gnus-ignored-headers
10466 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
10467 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
10468 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
10469 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
10470 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
10472 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} field
10473 and the @code{Xref} field, you might say:
10476 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
10479 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10482 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
10483 variable will have no effect.
10487 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
10488 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
10489 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
10490 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
10491 the headers are to be displayed.
10493 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
10494 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10497 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10500 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10501 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10503 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10504 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10505 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10506 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10507 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10508 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
10509 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10512 These conditions are:
10515 Remove all empty headers.
10517 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10518 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10520 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
10521 @code{From} header.
10523 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10526 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10527 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
10529 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10532 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10534 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10537 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
10540 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10541 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10544 This is also the default value for this variable.
10548 @section Using MIME
10551 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10552 while people stand around yawning.
10554 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10555 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10557 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10558 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10559 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10561 @vindex gnus-show-mime
10562 @vindex gnus-article-display-method-for-mime
10563 @findex gnus-article-display-mime-message
10564 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
10565 @code{gnus-article-display-method-for-mime}, which is
10566 @code{gnus-article-display-mime-message} by default. This function
10567 calls the @sc{semi} MIME-View program to actually do the work. For more
10568 information on @sc{semi} MIME-View, see its manual page (however it is
10569 not existed yet, sorry).
10571 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
10572 @sc{mime} all the time. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime} set, then
10573 you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article buffer.
10574 These can't be avoided.
10576 In GNUS or Gnus, it might be best to just use the toggling functions
10577 from the summary buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance,
10578 you enter the group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it,
10579 @sc{mime} has decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible
10580 sing-a-long song comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find
10581 the volume button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to
10582 look at you, and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you
10583 can't find the program to control the volume, and everybody else in the
10584 room suddenly decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel
10587 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
10589 To avoid such kind of situation, gnus stops to use
10590 @code{metamail-buffer}. So now, you can set @code{gnus-show-mime} to
10591 non-@code{nil} every-time, then you can push button in the article
10592 buffer when there are nobody else.
10594 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
10597 @node Customizing Articles
10598 @section Customizing Articles
10599 @cindex article customization
10601 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
10602 exist. You can call these functions interactively
10603 (@pxref{Article Washing}), or you can have them
10604 called automatically when you select the articles.
10606 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
10607 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
10608 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
10609 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
10611 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
10612 for sensible values.
10616 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
10619 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
10622 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
10625 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
10628 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
10632 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
10633 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
10634 regexps in the list.
10637 A list where the first element is not a string:
10639 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
10640 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
10641 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
10645 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
10649 @code{mime}: Do this treatment if the value of @code{gnus-show-mime}' is
10654 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
10655 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
10656 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
10657 considered to contain just a single part.
10659 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
10660 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
10661 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
10662 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
10663 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
10664 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
10665 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
10667 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
10668 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
10669 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
10670 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
10673 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
10674 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
10676 @xref{Article Buttons}.
10678 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
10679 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
10680 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
10681 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
10682 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
10683 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
10684 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
10685 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
10686 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
10687 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
10688 @item gnus-treat-decode-article-as-default-mime-charset (t, integer)
10690 @xref{Article Washing}.
10692 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
10693 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
10694 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
10695 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
10696 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
10697 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
10698 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
10700 @xref{Article Date}.
10702 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
10703 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
10704 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
10708 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
10710 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
10712 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
10713 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
10714 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
10718 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
10722 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
10723 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
10724 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
10725 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
10726 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
10727 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
10728 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
10729 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
10731 @xref{Article Hiding}.
10733 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
10734 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
10735 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
10737 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
10739 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
10740 @item gnus-treat-translate
10741 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
10743 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
10744 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
10745 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
10746 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
10748 @xref{Article Header}.
10753 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
10754 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
10755 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
10756 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
10757 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
10761 @node Article Keymap
10762 @section Article Keymap
10764 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
10765 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
10766 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
10767 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
10770 A few additional keystrokes are available:
10775 @kindex SPACE (Article)
10776 @findex gnus-article-next-page
10777 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
10778 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h SPACE h}.
10781 @kindex DEL (Article)
10782 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
10783 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
10784 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h DEL h}.
10787 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
10788 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
10789 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
10790 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
10791 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
10794 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
10795 @findex gnus-article-mail
10796 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
10797 given a prefix, include the mail.
10800 @kindex s (Article)
10801 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
10802 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
10803 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
10806 @kindex ? (Article)
10807 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
10808 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
10809 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
10812 @kindex TAB (Article)
10813 @findex gnus-article-next-button
10814 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
10815 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
10818 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
10819 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
10820 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
10823 @kindex R (Article)
10824 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
10825 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
10826 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
10827 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10831 @kindex F (Article)
10832 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
10833 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
10834 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
10835 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10843 @section Misc Article
10847 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
10848 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
10849 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
10850 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
10853 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
10854 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
10856 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
10857 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
10859 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
10860 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
10861 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
10862 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
10863 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
10864 the contents of the article buffer.
10866 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
10867 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
10868 Hook called in article mode buffers.
10870 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10871 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10872 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
10873 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
10875 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
10876 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
10877 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
10878 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
10879 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
10885 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
10886 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
10887 performed. The characters and their meaning:
10892 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
10895 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
10898 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
10899 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
10900 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
10903 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
10906 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
10909 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
10914 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
10918 @vindex gnus-break-pages
10920 @item gnus-break-pages
10921 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
10922 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
10923 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
10924 paging will not be done.
10926 @item gnus-page-delimiter
10927 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
10928 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
10933 @node Composing Messages
10934 @chapter Composing Messages
10935 @cindex composing messages
10938 @cindex sending mail
10943 @cindex using s/mime
10944 @cindex using smime
10946 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
10947 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
10948 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
10949 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
10950 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
10951 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
10954 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
10955 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
10956 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
10957 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
10958 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
10959 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
10960 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
10961 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
10964 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
10965 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
10971 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
10974 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
10975 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
10976 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
10977 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
10978 @code{nil} include all headers.
10980 @item gnus-add-to-list
10981 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
10982 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
10983 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
10985 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
10986 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
10987 This can also be a function receiving the group name as the only
10988 parameter which should return non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is
10989 needed, or a regular expression matching group names, where
10990 confirmation is should be asked for.
10992 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
10993 press R anyway, this variable might be for you.
10995 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
10996 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
10997 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
10998 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
10999 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
11004 @node Posting Server
11005 @section Posting Server
11007 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
11008 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
11010 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
11012 It can be quite complicated.
11014 @vindex gnus-post-method
11015 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
11016 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
11017 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
11018 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
11019 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
11020 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
11021 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
11022 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
11023 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
11026 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
11029 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
11030 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
11031 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
11032 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
11034 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
11035 gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
11037 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
11038 If that's the case, gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
11041 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
11042 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
11044 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
11045 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
11046 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
11047 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
11048 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @sc{smtp}
11049 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
11050 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
11051 package correctly. An example:
11054 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
11055 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11056 ;; The following variable needs to be set because of the FLIM version of
11057 ;; smtpmail.el. Which smtpmail.el is used depends on the `load-path'.
11058 (setq smtp-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11061 To the thing similar to this, there is @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}.
11062 It is useful if your ISP requires the POP-before-SMTP authentication.
11063 See the documentation for the function @code{mail-source-touch-pop}.
11065 Other possible choices for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
11066 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
11067 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
11069 @node Mail and Post
11070 @section Mail and Post
11072 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
11076 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
11077 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
11078 @cindex mailing lists
11080 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
11081 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
11082 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
11083 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
11084 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
11085 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
11086 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
11087 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
11088 still a pain, though.
11090 @item gnus-version-expose-system
11091 @vindex gnus-version-expose-system
11093 Your system type (@code{system-configuration} variable, such as
11094 @samp{i686-pc-linux}) is exposed in the auto-generated by default
11095 User-Agent header. Sometimes, it may be desireable (mostly because of
11096 aesthetic reasons) to turn it off. In this case, set it to @code{nil}.
11100 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
11101 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
11102 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
11105 @findex ispell-message
11107 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
11110 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
11111 you're in, you could say something like the following:
11114 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
11118 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
11119 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
11121 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
11124 Modify to suit your needs.
11127 @node Archived Messages
11128 @section Archived Messages
11129 @cindex archived messages
11130 @cindex sent messages
11132 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
11133 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
11134 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
11135 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
11138 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
11139 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
11142 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
11143 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server gnus is to
11144 use to store sent messages. The default is:
11147 (nnfolder "archive"
11148 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
11149 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
11150 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
11151 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
11154 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
11155 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
11156 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
11157 directory chosen, you could say something like:
11160 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
11161 '(nnfolder "archive"
11162 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
11163 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
11164 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
11167 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
11169 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
11170 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
11171 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
11173 This variable can be used to do the following:
11178 Messages will be saved in that group.
11180 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
11181 message will not be stored in the select method given by
11182 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
11183 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
11184 has the default value shown above. Then setting
11185 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
11186 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
11187 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
11191 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
11193 an alist of regexps, functions and forms
11194 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
11197 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
11202 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
11204 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
11207 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
11209 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
11212 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
11214 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11215 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
11216 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
11217 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
11220 More complex stuff:
11222 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11223 '((if (message-news-p)
11228 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
11229 messages in one file per month:
11232 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11233 '((if (message-news-p)
11235 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
11238 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
11239 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
11241 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
11242 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
11243 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
11244 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
11245 gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
11246 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
11247 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
11248 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
11249 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
11250 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
11252 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
11253 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
11254 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
11255 this will disable archiving.
11258 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
11259 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
11260 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
11261 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
11262 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
11265 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
11266 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
11267 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
11270 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
11271 but the latter is the preferred method.
11273 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11274 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11275 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
11277 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11278 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11279 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
11280 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
11281 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
11282 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
11283 changed in the future.
11288 @node Posting Styles
11289 @section Posting Styles
11290 @cindex posting styles
11293 All them variables, they make my head swim.
11295 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
11296 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
11297 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
11300 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
11301 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
11302 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
11303 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
11304 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
11309 (signature "Peace and happiness")
11310 (organization "What me?"))
11312 (signature "Death to everybody"))
11313 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
11314 (organization "Emacs is it")))
11317 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
11318 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
11319 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
11320 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
11321 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
11322 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
11323 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
11324 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
11326 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
11327 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
11328 If it is the form @code{(header MATCH REGEXP)}, then Gnus will look in
11329 the original article for a header whose name is MATCH and compare that
11330 REGEXP. MATCH and REGEXP are strings. (There original article is the
11331 one you are replying or following up to. If you are not composing a
11332 reply or a followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
11333 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with no
11334 arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
11335 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
11336 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
11339 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
11340 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
11341 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
11342 @code{x-face-file}, @code{address} (overriding
11343 @code{user-mail-address}), @code{name} (overriding
11344 @code{(user-full-name)}) or @code{body}. The attribute name can also
11345 be a string or a symbol. In that case, this will be used as a header
11346 name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the article; if
11347 the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed. If the
11348 attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the result
11351 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
11352 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
11353 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
11354 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
11355 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
11356 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
11357 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
11358 references chars lines xref extra.
11360 @vindex message-reply-headers
11362 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
11363 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
11364 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
11366 @findex message-mail-p
11367 @findex message-news-p
11369 So here's a new example:
11372 (setq gnus-posting-styles
11374 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11376 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11377 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11379 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
11380 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; A form
11381 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
11382 (message-news-p ;; A function symbol
11383 (signature my-news-signature))
11384 (window-system ;; A value symbol
11385 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
11386 ;; If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.
11387 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
11388 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
11389 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; A user defined function
11390 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
11391 (address "user@@bar.foo")
11392 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
11393 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
11395 (From (save-excursion
11396 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
11397 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
11399 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
11402 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
11403 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
11404 if you fill many roles.
11406 Setting the @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} variable will make
11407 posting-styles allow to have distinctive names. You can specify an
11408 arbitrary posting-style when article posting with @kbd{S P} in the
11409 summary buffer. @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} is an alist which maps
11410 the names to styles. Once a posting-style is added to the alist, we can
11411 import it from @code{gnus-posting-styles}. If an attribute whose name
11412 is @code{import} is found, Gnus will look for the attribute value in
11413 @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} and expand it in place.
11418 (setq gnus-named-posting-styles
11420 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11422 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11423 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11426 (organization "The Church of Emacs"))))
11429 The posting-style named "Emacs" will inherit all the attributes from
11430 "Default" except @code{organization}.
11437 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
11438 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
11439 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
11440 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
11441 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
11443 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
11444 some sort using the gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
11445 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
11446 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
11447 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
11451 @vindex nndraft-directory
11452 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
11453 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
11454 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
11455 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
11456 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
11457 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
11459 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
11460 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
11463 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
11464 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
11465 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
11466 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
11467 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
11468 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
11469 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
11470 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
11471 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
11472 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
11473 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
11474 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
11475 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
11476 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
11478 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
11479 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
11480 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
11482 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
11483 @kindex D e (Draft)
11484 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
11485 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
11486 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
11488 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
11491 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
11492 @kindex D s (Draft)
11493 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
11494 @kindex D S (Draft)
11495 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
11496 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
11497 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
11498 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
11499 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
11502 @findex gnus-draft-toggle-sending
11503 @kindex D t (Draft)
11504 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
11505 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
11506 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
11509 @node Rejected Articles
11510 @section Rejected Articles
11511 @cindex rejected articles
11513 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
11514 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
11515 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
11516 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
11518 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of gnus.
11519 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
11520 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
11521 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So gnus saves these
11522 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
11524 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
11525 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
11526 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
11528 @node Signing and encrypting
11529 @section Signing and encrypting
11531 @cindex using s/mime
11532 @cindex using smime
11534 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla PGP
11535 format or @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}. For decoding such messages,
11536 see the @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} options
11537 (@pxref{Security}).
11539 @vindex gnus-message-replysign
11540 @vindex gnus-message-replyencrypt
11541 @vindex gnus-message-replysignencrypted
11542 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
11543 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
11544 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
11545 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
11546 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
11547 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
11548 automatically encrypted messages.
11550 Instructing MML to perform security operations on a @sc{mime} part is
11551 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c
11552 C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
11557 @kindex C-c C-m s s
11558 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
11560 Digitally sign current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11563 @kindex C-c C-m s o
11564 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11566 Digitally sign current message using PGP.
11569 @kindex C-c C-m s p
11570 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11572 Digitally sign current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11575 @kindex C-c C-m c s
11576 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
11578 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11581 @kindex C-c C-m c o
11582 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
11584 Digitally encrypt current message using PGP.
11587 @kindex C-c C-m c p
11588 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
11590 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11593 @kindex C-c C-m C-n
11594 @findex mml-unsecure-message
11595 Remove security related MML tags from message.
11599 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
11601 @node Select Methods
11602 @chapter Select Methods
11603 @cindex foreign groups
11604 @cindex select methods
11606 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
11607 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
11608 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
11609 personal mail group.
11611 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
11612 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
11613 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
11614 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
11615 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
11616 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
11618 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
11619 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
11621 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
11624 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
11625 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
11626 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
11627 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
11628 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
11630 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
11633 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
11634 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
11635 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
11636 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
11637 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
11638 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
11639 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
11640 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
11644 @node Server Buffer
11645 @section Server Buffer
11647 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
11648 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
11649 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
11650 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
11651 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
11652 back end represents a virtual server.
11654 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
11655 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
11656 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
11657 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
11659 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
11660 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
11661 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
11662 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
11663 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
11664 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
11665 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
11667 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
11668 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
11671 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
11672 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
11673 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
11674 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
11675 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
11676 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
11677 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
11680 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
11681 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
11684 @node Server Buffer Format
11685 @subsection Server Buffer Format
11686 @cindex server buffer format
11688 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
11689 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
11690 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
11691 variable, with some simple extensions:
11696 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
11699 The name of this server.
11702 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
11705 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
11708 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
11709 The mode line can also be customized by using the
11710 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
11711 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
11721 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
11724 @node Server Commands
11725 @subsection Server Commands
11726 @cindex server commands
11732 @findex gnus-server-add-server
11733 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
11737 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
11738 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
11741 @kindex SPACE (Server)
11742 @findex gnus-server-read-server
11743 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
11747 @findex gnus-server-exit
11748 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
11752 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
11753 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
11757 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
11758 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
11762 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
11763 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
11767 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
11768 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
11772 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
11773 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
11774 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
11779 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
11780 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
11781 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
11782 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
11787 @node Example Methods
11788 @subsection Example Methods
11790 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
11793 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
11796 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
11802 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
11803 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
11806 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
11807 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
11809 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
11810 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
11814 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
11817 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
11818 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
11820 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
11821 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
11822 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
11826 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
11829 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
11832 Here's the method for a public spool:
11836 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
11837 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
11843 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
11844 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
11845 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
11846 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
11847 should probably look something like this:
11851 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
11852 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
11853 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
11854 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11857 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
11858 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
11859 configuration to the example above:
11862 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
11865 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}.
11867 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
11868 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
11869 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
11873 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
11874 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
11875 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
11876 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11879 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
11880 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
11881 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
11882 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
11885 @node Creating a Virtual Server
11886 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
11888 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
11889 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
11891 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
11892 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
11893 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
11895 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
11897 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
11898 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
11899 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
11900 will contain the following:
11910 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
11911 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
11912 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
11915 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
11916 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
11917 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
11920 @node Server Variables
11921 @subsection Server Variables
11923 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
11924 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
11925 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
11926 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
11927 won't change the "derived" variables.
11929 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
11930 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
11931 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
11932 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
11933 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
11934 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
11935 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
11936 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
11937 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
11941 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
11942 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
11943 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
11947 @node Servers and Methods
11948 @subsection Servers and Methods
11950 Wherever you would normally use a select method
11951 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
11952 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
11953 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
11957 @node Unavailable Servers
11958 @subsection Unavailable Servers
11960 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
11961 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
11962 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
11963 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
11964 actually the case or not.
11966 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
11967 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
11968 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
11969 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
11970 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
11971 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
11972 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
11973 it will regard that server as ``down''.
11975 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
11976 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
11978 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
11979 with the following commands:
11985 @findex gnus-server-open-server
11986 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
11987 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
11991 @findex gnus-server-close-server
11992 Close the connection (if any) to the server
11993 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
11997 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
11998 Mark the current server as unreachable
11999 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
12002 @kindex M-o (Server)
12003 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
12004 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
12005 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
12008 @kindex M-c (Server)
12009 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
12010 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
12011 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
12015 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
12016 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
12017 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
12021 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
12022 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
12028 @section Getting News
12029 @cindex reading news
12030 @cindex news back ends
12032 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
12033 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
12034 or it can read from a local spool.
12037 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
12038 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
12046 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
12047 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
12048 server as the, uhm, address.
12050 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
12051 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
12052 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
12053 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12055 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
12056 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
12057 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
12059 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
12064 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
12065 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
12066 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
12068 @cindex authentification
12069 @cindex nntp authentification
12070 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12071 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
12072 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
12073 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
12074 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
12075 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
12076 present in this hook.
12078 @item nntp-authinfo-function
12079 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
12080 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12081 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
12082 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
12083 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
12084 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
12085 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
12086 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
12087 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
12088 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
12089 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
12093 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
12096 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
12098 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
12099 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
12100 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
12101 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
12102 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
12103 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
12104 @samp{force} is explained below.
12108 Here's an example file:
12111 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
12112 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
12115 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
12116 have to be first, for instance.
12118 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
12119 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
12120 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
12121 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
12122 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
12123 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
12124 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
12126 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
12127 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
12133 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
12134 previously mentioned.
12136 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
12138 @item nntp-server-action-alist
12139 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
12140 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
12141 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
12142 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
12145 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
12146 '(("innd" (ding))))
12149 You probably don't want to do that, though.
12151 The default value is
12154 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
12155 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
12156 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
12159 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
12160 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
12162 @item nntp-maximum-request
12163 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
12164 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this back end
12165 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
12166 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
12167 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
12168 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
12169 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
12171 @item nntp-connection-timeout
12172 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
12173 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
12174 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
12175 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
12176 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
12177 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
12178 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
12179 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
12180 no timeouts are done.
12182 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
12183 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
12184 @c @cindex PPP connections
12185 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
12186 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
12187 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
12188 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
12189 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
12190 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
12191 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
12192 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
12193 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
12194 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
12196 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
12197 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
12198 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
12199 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
12200 @c described above.
12202 @item nntp-server-hook
12203 @vindex nntp-server-hook
12204 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
12207 @item nntp-buggy-select
12208 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
12209 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
12211 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
12212 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
12213 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
12214 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
12217 @item nntp-xover-commands
12218 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
12221 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
12222 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
12226 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
12227 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
12228 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
12229 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
12230 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
12231 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
12232 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
12233 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
12234 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
12235 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
12236 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
12238 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
12239 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
12240 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
12242 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12243 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12244 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
12245 server closes connection.
12247 @item nntp-record-commands
12248 @vindex nntp-record-commands
12249 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
12250 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
12251 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
12252 that doesn't seem to work.
12254 @item nntp-open-connection-function
12255 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
12256 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
12257 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
12258 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
12259 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
12260 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
12261 indirect ones (two pre-made).
12263 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
12264 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
12265 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
12266 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
12267 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
12268 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
12269 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
12272 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
12275 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
12276 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
12278 @item nntp-read-timeout
12279 @vindex nntp-read-timeout
12280 How long nntp should wait between checking for the end of output.
12281 Shorter values mean quicker response, but is more CPU intensive. The
12282 default is 0.1 seconds. If you have a slow line to the server (and
12283 don't like to see Emacs eat your available CPU power), you might set
12286 @item nntp-list-options
12287 @vindex nntp-list-options
12288 List of newsgroup name used for a option of the LIST command to restrict
12289 the listing output to only the specified newsgroups. Each newsgroup name
12290 can be a shell-style wildcard, for instance, @dfn{fj.*}, @dfn{japan.*},
12291 etc. Fortunately, if the server can accept such a option, it will
12292 probably make gnus run faster. You may use it as a server variable as
12296 (setq gnus-select-method
12297 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12298 (nntp-list-options ("fj.*" "japan.*"))))
12301 @item nntp-options-subscribe
12302 @vindex nntp-options-subscribe
12303 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will be subscribed
12304 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12305 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12306 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12307 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12310 (setq gnus-select-method
12311 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12312 (nntp-options-subscribe "^fj\\.\\|^japan\\.")))
12315 @item nntp-options-not-subscribe
12316 @vindex nntp-options-not-subscribe
12317 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will not be subscribed
12318 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12319 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12320 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12321 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12324 (setq gnus-select-method
12325 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12326 (nntp-options-not-subscribe "\\.binaries\\.")))
12331 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
12332 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
12333 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
12337 @node Direct Functions
12338 @subsubsection Direct Functions
12339 @cindex direct connection functions
12341 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
12342 between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server. The behavior of these
12343 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
12344 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12347 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
12348 @item nntp-open-network-stream
12349 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
12352 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
12353 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
12354 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12355 this you must have OpenSSL (@uref{http://www.openssl.org}) or SSLeay
12356 installed (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also
12357 need @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distribution, for instance). You then
12358 define a server as follows:
12361 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
12363 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
12364 ;; however, openssl s_client -port doesn't like named ports
12366 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12367 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
12368 (nntp-port-number 563)
12369 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12372 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
12373 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
12374 Opens a connection to an @sc{nntp} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
12375 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
12376 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
12377 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
12378 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
12379 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
12383 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12384 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
12385 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
12388 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
12389 session, which is not a good idea.
12393 @node Indirect Functions
12394 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
12395 @cindex indirect connection functions
12397 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
12398 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @sc{nntp} server.
12399 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
12400 the "via" family of connection: they're all prefixed with "via" to make
12401 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
12402 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12405 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12406 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12407 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
12408 to the real @sc{nntp} server from there. This is useful for instance if
12409 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
12411 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12414 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12415 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12416 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12417 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12419 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12420 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12421 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12422 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
12423 @samp{ssh} for `nntp-via-rlogin-command', you may set this to
12424 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
12425 this to @samp{("-t")} or @samp{("-C" "-t")} if the telnet command
12426 requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate host.
12429 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12430 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12431 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
12432 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
12434 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12437 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
12438 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
12439 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
12442 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
12443 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
12444 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12445 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
12447 @item nntp-via-user-password
12448 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
12449 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
12451 @item nntp-via-envuser
12452 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
12453 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
12454 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
12455 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
12457 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
12458 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
12459 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
12460 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
12467 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
12472 @item nntp-via-user-name
12473 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
12474 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
12476 @item nntp-via-address
12477 @vindex nntp-via-address
12478 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
12483 @node Common Variables
12484 @subsubsection Common Variables
12486 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
12487 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
12492 @item nntp-pre-command
12493 @vindex nntp-pre-command
12494 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native connection
12495 function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream} and
12496 @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is where you would put a @samp{SOCKS}
12497 wrapper for instance.
12500 @vindex nntp-address
12501 The address of the @sc{nntp} server.
12503 @item nntp-port-number
12504 @vindex nntp-port-number
12505 Port number to connect to the @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{nntp}.
12506 If you use @sc{nntp} over @sc{ssl}, you may want to use integer ports rather
12507 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews}), because
12508 external SSL tools may not work with named ports.
12510 @item nntp-end-of-line
12511 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
12512 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
12513 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
12514 using a non native connection function.
12516 @item nntp-telnet-command
12517 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
12518 Command to use when connecting to the @sc{nntp} server through
12519 @samp{telnet}. This is NOT for an intermediate host. This is just for
12520 the real @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{telnet}.
12522 @item nntp-telnet-switches
12523 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
12524 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
12531 @subsection News Spool
12535 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
12536 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
12537 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
12540 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
12541 anything else) as the address.
12543 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
12544 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
12545 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
12546 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
12550 @item nnspool-inews-program
12551 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
12552 Program used to post an article.
12554 @item nnspool-inews-switches
12555 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
12556 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
12558 @item nnspool-spool-directory
12559 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
12560 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
12561 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
12563 @item nnspool-nov-directory
12564 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
12565 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
12566 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
12568 @item nnspool-lib-dir
12569 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
12570 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
12572 @item nnspool-active-file
12573 @vindex nnspool-active-file
12574 The name of the active file.
12576 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
12577 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
12578 The name of the group descriptions file.
12580 @item nnspool-history-file
12581 @vindex nnspool-history-file
12582 The name of the news history file.
12584 @item nnspool-active-times-file
12585 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
12586 The name of the active date file.
12588 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
12589 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
12590 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
12593 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12594 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12596 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
12597 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
12598 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
12604 @section Getting Mail
12605 @cindex reading mail
12608 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
12612 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
12613 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
12614 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
12615 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
12616 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
12617 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
12618 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
12619 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
12620 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
12621 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
12622 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
12623 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
12624 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
12628 @node Mail in a Newsreader
12629 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
12631 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
12632 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
12633 of a culture shock.
12635 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
12636 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
12638 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
12639 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
12640 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
12641 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
12643 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
12645 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
12646 deleted? How awful!
12648 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
12649 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
12650 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
12651 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
12654 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
12655 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
12656 they want to treat a message.
12658 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
12659 via @sc{smtp}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
12660 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
12661 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
12662 archived somewhere else.
12664 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
12665 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
12666 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
12667 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
12668 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
12670 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
12671 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
12672 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
12674 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
12675 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
12678 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
12679 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
12680 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
12681 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
12682 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
12684 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
12685 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
12686 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
12687 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
12688 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
12689 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
12693 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
12694 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
12696 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
12697 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
12698 and things will happen automatically.
12700 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
12701 mail" back end), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
12704 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12707 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
12708 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
12709 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
12710 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
12711 like any other group.
12713 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
12716 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12717 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12718 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12722 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
12723 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
12724 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
12727 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
12728 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
12729 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
12732 @node Splitting Mail
12733 @subsection Splitting Mail
12734 @cindex splitting mail
12735 @cindex mail splitting
12737 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
12738 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
12739 to be split into groups.
12742 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12743 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12744 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12745 ("mail.other" "")))
12748 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
12749 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
12750 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
12751 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
12752 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
12753 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
12754 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
12757 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
12760 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
12761 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
12762 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
12763 mail belongs in that group.
12765 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
12766 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
12767 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
12768 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
12769 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
12770 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
12772 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
12773 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
12774 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
12775 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
12776 thinks should carry this mail message.
12778 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
12779 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
12780 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
12781 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
12783 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
12784 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
12785 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
12786 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
12787 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
12789 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
12792 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
12793 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
12794 links. If that's the case for you, set
12795 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
12796 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
12798 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
12799 @kindex nnmail-split-history
12800 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
12801 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
12802 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
12803 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
12806 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
12807 Header lines longer than the value of
12808 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
12811 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
12812 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
12813 By default the splitting codes MIME decodes headers so you can match
12814 on non-ASCII strings. The @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
12815 variable specifies the default charset for decoding. The behaviour
12816 can be turned off completely by binding
12817 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to nil, which is useful if you
12818 want to match articles based on the raw header data.
12820 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
12821 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If
12822 you specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable
12823 @code{mail-sources} @pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}, however, then
12824 splitting does @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
12825 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-nil value to make splitting
12826 happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on other kinds
12829 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
12830 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
12831 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
12832 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
12833 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
12834 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
12835 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
12836 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
12837 month's rent money.
12841 @subsection Mail Sources
12843 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
12844 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
12848 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
12849 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
12850 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
12854 @node Mail Source Specifiers
12855 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
12857 @cindex mail server
12860 @cindex mail source
12862 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
12863 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
12868 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
12871 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
12872 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
12873 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
12876 The following mail source types are available:
12880 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
12886 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
12887 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
12888 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
12891 An example file mail source:
12894 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
12897 Or using the default file name:
12903 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
12904 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
12905 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
12908 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
12912 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
12915 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
12919 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
12922 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
12924 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
12927 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
12931 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
12932 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
12933 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. That is,
12934 there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that directory and
12935 groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool} will be put in
12936 the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix to be used instead
12937 of @code{.spool}.) Setting
12938 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil forces Gnus to
12939 scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful if you want
12940 to scan mail groups at a specified level.
12942 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
12943 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
12944 that to a non-nil value, then the normal splitting process is applied
12945 to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
12951 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
12955 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
12959 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
12960 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
12961 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
12962 predicate are considered.
12966 Script run before/after fetching mail.
12970 An example directory mail source:
12973 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
12978 Get mail from a POP server.
12984 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
12985 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
12988 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
12989 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
12990 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
12991 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
12992 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
12995 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
12999 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
13003 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
13004 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
13007 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
13010 The valid format specifier characters are:
13014 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
13015 included in this string.
13018 The name of the server.
13021 The port number of the server.
13024 The user name to use.
13027 The password to use.
13030 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13031 corresponding keywords.
13034 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13035 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13038 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13039 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13042 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
13043 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
13046 @item :authentication
13047 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
13048 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
13052 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this can be the symbol
13053 @code{ssl}, the symbol @code{tls} or others. The default is @code{nil}
13054 and use insecure connections. Note that for SSL/TLS, you need external
13055 programs and libraries:
13059 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL@. Requires OpenSSL (the program
13060 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
13061 library @samp{ssl.el}.
13063 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to SSL)@.
13064 Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
13069 Non-@code{nil} if mail is to be left on the server and UIDL used for
13070 message retrieval. The default is @code{nil}.
13074 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
13075 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
13077 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
13078 default user name, and default fetcher:
13084 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
13087 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
13088 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
13091 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
13094 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
13098 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
13099 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
13100 contains exactly one mail.
13106 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
13107 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
13110 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
13111 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
13113 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
13114 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
13115 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
13118 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
13119 from locking problems).
13123 Two example maildir mail sources:
13126 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
13127 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
13131 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
13136 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
13137 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
13138 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
13139 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
13142 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, SSL/TLS and STARTTLS support you
13143 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
13149 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
13150 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13153 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
13154 @samp{993} for SSL/TLS connections.
13157 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
13161 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
13165 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
13166 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
13167 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{ssl},
13168 @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
13170 @item :authentication
13171 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
13172 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
13173 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
13174 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
13177 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
13178 mapped into the `imap-shell-program' variable. This should be a
13179 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
13185 The valid format specifier characters are:
13189 The name of the server.
13192 User name from `imap-default-user'.
13195 The port number of the server.
13198 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13199 corresponding keywords.
13202 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
13203 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
13206 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
13207 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
13208 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
13209 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
13210 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
13211 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
13214 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
13215 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
13216 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
13217 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
13220 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
13221 after finishing the fetch.
13225 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
13228 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
13230 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
13234 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{www.hotmail.com},
13235 @uref{webmail.netscape.com}, @uref{www.netaddress.com},
13236 @uref{mail.yahoo..com}.
13238 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
13239 required for url "4.0pre.46".
13241 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
13247 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
13248 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
13251 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
13255 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
13259 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
13260 folder after finishing the fetch.
13264 An example webmail source:
13267 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
13269 :password "secret")
13274 @item Common Keywords
13275 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
13281 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
13282 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
13286 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
13291 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
13292 useful when you use local mail and news.
13297 @subsubsection Function Interface
13299 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
13300 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
13301 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
13302 consider the following mail-source setting:
13305 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
13306 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
13309 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
13310 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
13311 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
13312 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
13313 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
13315 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
13318 @node Mail Source Customization
13319 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
13321 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
13322 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
13326 @item mail-source-crash-box
13327 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
13328 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
13329 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
13331 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
13332 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
13333 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
13335 @item mail-source-ignore-errors
13336 @vindex mail-source-ignore-errors
13337 If non-@code{nil}, ignore errors when reading mail from a mail source.
13339 @item mail-source-directory
13340 @vindex mail-source-directory
13341 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
13342 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
13343 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
13346 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13347 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13348 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
13349 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
13350 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
13351 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
13353 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
13354 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
13355 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
13357 @item mail-source-movemail-program
13358 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
13359 If non-nil, name of program for fetching new mail. If nil,
13360 @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
13365 @node Fetching Mail
13366 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
13368 @vindex mail-sources
13369 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
13370 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
13371 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
13372 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
13374 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
13375 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
13378 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
13379 mail server, you'd say something like:
13384 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13385 :password "secret")))
13388 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
13392 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
13393 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13396 :password "secret")))
13400 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
13401 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
13402 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
13403 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
13404 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
13405 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
13409 @node Mail Back End Variables
13410 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
13412 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
13416 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13417 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13418 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
13419 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
13421 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
13422 @item nnmail-split-hook
13423 @findex gnus-article-decode-encoded-words
13424 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
13425 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
13426 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
13427 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
13428 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
13429 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
13430 in the buffer will show up in any files.
13431 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
13434 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13435 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13436 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13437 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13438 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
13439 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
13440 starting to handle the new mail) and
13441 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
13442 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
13443 default file modes the new mail files get:
13446 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13447 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
13449 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13450 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
13453 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
13454 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
13455 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
13456 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
13457 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
13458 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
13459 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
13461 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
13462 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
13463 @findex delete-file
13464 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
13466 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13467 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13468 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
13469 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
13470 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
13472 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13473 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13474 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
13475 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
13476 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
13478 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
13479 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
13480 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
13485 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
13486 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
13487 @cindex mail splitting
13488 @cindex fancy mail splitting
13490 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
13491 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
13492 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
13493 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
13494 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
13495 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
13497 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
13500 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
13501 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
13502 ;; from real errors.
13503 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
13505 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
13506 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
13507 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
13508 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
13509 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
13510 ;; Other mailing lists...
13511 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
13512 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
13513 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
13514 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
13515 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
13516 ;; message was really cross-posted.
13517 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
13518 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
13520 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
13521 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
13525 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
13526 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
13527 the five possible split syntaxes:
13532 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
13533 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
13537 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
13538 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
13539 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
13540 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
13541 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
13542 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
13543 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
13544 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
13547 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13548 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
13549 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
13550 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
13553 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13554 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
13557 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
13558 (i.e., delete) this message. Use with extreme caution.
13561 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
13562 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
13563 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
13564 function should return a @var{split}.
13567 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
13568 body of the messages:
13571 (defun split-on-body ()
13573 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
13574 (goto-char (point-min))
13575 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
13579 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
13580 when the @code{:} function is run.
13583 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13584 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
13585 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
13589 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
13593 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
13594 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
13595 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
13596 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
13597 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
13599 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
13600 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
13601 are expanded as specified by the variable
13602 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
13603 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
13606 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
13607 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
13608 when all this splitting is performed.
13610 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
13611 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
13612 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
13615 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
13618 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
13619 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
13621 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
13622 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
13623 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
13624 groupings 1 through 9.
13626 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
13627 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
13628 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
13629 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
13630 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
13631 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
13632 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
13633 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
13634 it once per thread.
13636 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} and
13637 @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-nil value. And then
13638 you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon
13641 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; or 'delete
13642 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
13644 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
13645 ;; other splits go here
13649 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
13650 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
13651 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
13652 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
13653 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
13654 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
13655 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
13656 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
13657 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name
13658 unless the group name matches the regexp
13659 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is recommended
13660 that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a somewhat higher
13661 number than the default so that the message ids are still in the cache.
13662 (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300 kBytes in size.)
13663 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13664 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
13665 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
13666 messages goes into the new group.
13668 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
13669 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
13670 outgoing messages are written to an `outgoing' group, you could set
13671 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
13672 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
13676 @node Group Mail Splitting
13677 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
13678 @cindex mail splitting
13679 @cindex group mail splitting
13681 @findex gnus-group-split
13682 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
13683 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
13684 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
13685 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
13686 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
13687 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
13688 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
13689 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
13691 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
13692 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
13693 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
13694 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
13696 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
13697 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
13698 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
13699 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
13700 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
13701 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
13702 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
13704 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
13705 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
13706 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
13707 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
13708 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
13709 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
13710 @code{gnus-group-split}.
13712 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
13713 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
13714 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
13715 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
13716 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
13717 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
13718 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
13719 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
13720 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
13721 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
13722 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
13723 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
13724 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
13726 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
13731 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
13732 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
13734 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
13735 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
13736 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
13737 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
13739 ((split-spec . catch-all))
13742 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
13743 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
13744 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
13747 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
13748 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
13749 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
13753 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
13754 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
13755 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
13759 (: gnus-group-split-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
13762 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
13763 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
13764 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
13765 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
13766 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
13767 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
13768 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
13769 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
13770 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
13772 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
13773 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
13774 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
13775 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
13776 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
13777 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
13778 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
13779 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
13780 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
13782 @findex gnus-group-split-update
13783 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
13784 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
13785 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
13786 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
13787 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus.el}:
13790 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
13793 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
13794 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
13795 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
13796 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
13797 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
13800 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
13801 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
13802 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
13803 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
13805 @node Incorporating Old Mail
13806 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
13807 @cindex incorporating old mail
13808 @cindex import old mail
13810 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
13811 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
13812 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
13815 Doing so can be quite easy.
13817 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
13818 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
13819 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
13820 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
13821 your @code{nnml} groups.
13827 Go to the group buffer.
13830 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
13831 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13834 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
13837 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
13838 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
13841 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
13842 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
13845 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
13846 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
13847 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
13848 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
13849 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
13851 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
13852 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
13853 using the new mail back end.
13856 @node Expiring Mail
13857 @subsection Expiring Mail
13858 @cindex article expiry
13860 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
13861 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
13862 different approach to mail reading.
13864 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
13865 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
13866 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
13867 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
13868 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
13869 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
13872 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
13873 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default keybindings, this means
13874 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
13875 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
13876 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
13877 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
13878 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
13879 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
13880 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
13882 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
13883 two features, called `auto-expire' and `total-expire', that can help you
13884 with this. In a nutshell, `auto-expire' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
13885 for you when you select an article. And `total-expire' means that Gnus
13886 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
13887 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
13888 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
13891 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
13892 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
13893 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
13894 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
13895 into its own group.)
13897 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
13898 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
13899 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
13900 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
13901 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
13902 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
13903 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring @pxref{Adaptive
13904 Scoring}. Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
13907 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13908 Groups that match the regular expression
13909 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
13910 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
13911 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
13913 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
13914 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
13915 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
13916 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
13917 @file{.gnus.el} file:
13919 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
13921 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
13922 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
13923 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
13926 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
13927 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
13928 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
13929 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
13930 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
13932 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
13933 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
13936 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13937 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
13940 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
13941 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
13943 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
13944 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
13945 don't really mix very well.
13947 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
13948 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
13949 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
13950 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
13953 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
13954 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
13955 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
13956 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
13959 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13961 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13963 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
13965 ((string= group "mail.junk")
13967 ((string= group "important")
13973 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
13974 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
13976 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
13977 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
13978 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
13981 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
13982 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
13984 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
13985 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
13986 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
13987 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
13988 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
13989 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
13990 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
13991 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
13992 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
13993 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
13994 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
13995 from as its parameter) which should return a target -- either a group
13996 name or @code{delete}.
13998 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
14000 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
14003 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14004 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14005 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
14006 expire mail to groups according to the variable
14007 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
14010 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14011 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14012 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
14013 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
14014 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
14017 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
14018 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
14019 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
14020 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
14021 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
14022 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
14024 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
14025 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
14026 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
14027 easier for procmail users.
14029 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
14030 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
14031 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
14032 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
14033 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
14034 caution. Even more dangerous is the
14035 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
14036 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
14037 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
14038 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
14039 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
14040 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
14041 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
14044 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
14046 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
14047 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
14048 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
14049 auto-expire turned on.
14053 @subsection Washing Mail
14054 @cindex mail washing
14055 @cindex list server brain damage
14056 @cindex incoming mail treatment
14058 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
14059 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
14060 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
14061 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
14062 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
14063 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
14065 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
14066 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
14067 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
14070 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
14071 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
14072 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
14073 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
14076 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14077 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14078 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
14079 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
14080 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
14083 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14084 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14085 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
14086 Emacs running on MS machines.
14090 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14091 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14092 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
14093 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
14096 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14097 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14098 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
14099 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
14101 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
14102 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
14103 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
14104 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
14105 into a feature by documenting it.)
14107 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14108 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14109 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
14110 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
14111 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
14112 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
14113 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
14116 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
14117 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
14120 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
14121 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
14124 This can also be done non-destructively with
14125 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
14127 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
14128 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
14129 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
14131 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14132 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14134 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
14135 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
14136 @code{References} headers.
14140 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14141 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14142 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
14146 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
14147 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
14148 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
14155 @subsection Duplicates
14157 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
14158 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
14159 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
14160 @cindex duplicate mails
14161 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
14162 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
14163 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
14164 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
14165 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
14166 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
14167 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
14168 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
14169 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
14170 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
14171 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
14172 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
14173 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
14175 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
14176 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
14177 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
14178 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
14180 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
14183 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
14184 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
14188 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
14189 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
14190 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
14191 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
14192 (any mail "mail.misc")
14199 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14200 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
14205 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
14206 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
14207 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
14208 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
14209 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
14212 @node Not Reading Mail
14213 @subsection Not Reading Mail
14215 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
14216 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
14217 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
14219 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
14220 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
14221 mail, which should help.
14223 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14224 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14225 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14226 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14227 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14228 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
14229 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
14230 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
14231 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
14232 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
14233 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
14235 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
14236 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
14240 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
14241 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
14243 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
14244 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
14245 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
14247 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
14248 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
14249 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
14250 Spool}). You might notice that only five back ends are listed below;
14251 @code{nnmaildir}'s documentation has not yet been completely
14252 incorporated into this manual. Until it is, you can find it at
14253 @uref{http://multivac.cwru.edu./nnmaildir/}.
14256 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
14257 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
14258 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
14259 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
14260 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
14261 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
14265 @node Unix Mail Box
14266 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
14268 @cindex unix mail box
14270 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14271 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14272 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
14273 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
14274 which group it belongs in.
14276 Virtual server settings:
14279 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
14280 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14281 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
14284 @item nnmbox-active-file
14285 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14286 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
14287 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
14289 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
14290 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14291 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
14292 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
14297 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
14301 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14302 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14303 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
14304 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
14305 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
14307 Virtual server settings:
14310 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
14311 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14312 The name of the rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
14314 @item nnbabyl-active-file
14315 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14316 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
14317 @file{~/.rmail-active}
14319 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14320 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14321 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
14327 @subsubsection Mail Spool
14329 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
14331 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
14332 format. It should be used with some caution.
14334 @vindex nnml-directory
14335 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
14336 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
14337 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
14338 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
14340 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
14343 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
14344 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
14345 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
14346 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
14347 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
14348 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
14349 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
14350 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
14352 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
14353 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
14354 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
14355 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
14357 @cindex self contained nnml servers
14359 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
14360 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14361 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14362 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
14363 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
14364 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
14365 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
14366 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
14369 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
14370 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
14371 them next time it starts.
14373 Virtual server settings:
14376 @item nnml-directory
14377 @vindex nnml-directory
14378 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
14379 The default is the value of `message-directory' (whose default value is
14382 @item nnml-active-file
14383 @vindex nnml-active-file
14384 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
14385 @file{~/Mail/active"}.
14387 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
14388 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
14389 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14390 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}.
14392 @item nnml-get-new-mail
14393 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14394 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
14397 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
14398 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
14399 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14400 default is @code{nil}.
14402 @item nnml-nov-file-name
14403 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
14404 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
14406 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14407 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14408 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
14410 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
14411 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
14412 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14413 default is @code{nil}.
14415 @item nnml-marks-file-name
14416 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
14417 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
14419 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
14420 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
14421 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
14426 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
14427 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
14428 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
14429 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
14430 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
14431 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
14432 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
14437 @subsubsection MH Spool
14439 @cindex mh-e mail spool
14441 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
14442 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks file.
14443 This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than @code{nnml},
14444 but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
14446 Virtual server settings:
14449 @item nnmh-directory
14450 @vindex nnmh-directory
14451 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
14452 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14455 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
14456 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14457 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
14461 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
14462 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
14463 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
14464 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
14465 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
14466 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
14467 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
14472 @subsubsection Mail Folders
14474 @cindex mbox folders
14475 @cindex mail folders
14477 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a separate
14478 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
14479 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
14482 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
14484 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
14485 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14486 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14487 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
14488 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
14489 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
14490 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder} directory.
14491 Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to backup, use
14492 @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the
14493 @code{nnfolder} directory).
14495 Virtual server settings:
14498 @item nnfolder-directory
14499 @vindex nnfolder-directory
14500 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
14501 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14504 @item nnfolder-active-file
14505 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
14506 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
14508 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14509 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14510 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14511 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}
14513 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
14514 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14515 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
14518 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14519 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14520 @cindex backup files
14521 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
14522 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
14523 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
14524 your @file{.emacs} file:
14527 (defun turn-off-backup ()
14528 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
14530 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
14533 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14534 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14535 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
14536 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
14537 extract some information from it before removing it.
14539 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14540 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14541 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14542 default is @code{nil}.
14544 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14545 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14546 The extension for @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
14548 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
14549 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
14550 The directory where the @sc{nov} files should be stored. If nil,
14551 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14553 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14554 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14555 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14556 default is @code{nil}.
14558 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14559 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14560 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
14562 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
14563 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
14564 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If nil,
14565 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14570 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
14571 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
14572 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
14573 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
14574 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
14575 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
14578 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
14579 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
14581 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
14582 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
14583 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
14584 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
14585 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
14587 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
14588 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
14589 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
14590 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
14591 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
14592 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
14593 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
14594 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
14597 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
14598 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
14599 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
14600 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
14605 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
14606 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
14607 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
14608 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
14609 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
14610 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
14611 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
14612 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
14613 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
14614 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
14615 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
14616 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
14617 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
14622 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
14623 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
14624 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
14625 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
14626 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
14627 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
14628 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
14629 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
14630 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
14631 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
14632 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
14633 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
14634 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
14635 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
14637 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
14638 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
14643 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
14644 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
14645 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
14646 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
14647 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
14648 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
14649 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
14650 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
14651 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
14652 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
14653 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
14654 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
14655 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
14656 provided by the active file and overviews.
14658 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
14659 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
14660 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
14661 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
14662 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
14665 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
14666 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
14671 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
14672 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
14673 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
14674 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
14675 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
14676 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
14677 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
14681 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
14682 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
14683 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
14684 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
14685 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
14686 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
14687 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
14688 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
14689 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
14691 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
14692 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
14693 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
14694 friendly mail back end all over.
14698 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
14699 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
14700 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
14701 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
14702 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
14703 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
14704 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to ReiserFS
14705 (@uref{http://www.namesys.com/}) or another non-block-structured
14708 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
14709 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
14710 This means you can skip Gnus's mail splitting if your mail is already
14711 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
14712 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
14713 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
14714 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
14715 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
14716 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
14717 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will undergo
14718 treatment such as duplicate checking.
14720 An article will not necessarily keep the same number across Gnus
14721 sessions; articles are renumbered starting from 1 for each Gnus session
14722 (more precisely, each time you open the @code{nnmaildir} server). This
14723 way, you don't get gaps in your article number ranges, and when entering
14724 large groups, Gnus is likely to give a more accurate article count. The
14725 price is that @code{nnmaildir} doesn't work with the cache or agent.
14726 This will probably be changed in the future.
14728 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
14729 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
14730 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
14731 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
14732 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
14735 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses group
14736 parameters slightly different from those of other mail back ends.
14738 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
14739 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
14740 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
14741 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
14742 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
14743 would) to make it use less memory.
14745 Startup and shutdown are likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than
14746 with other back ends. Everything in between is likely to be faster,
14747 depending in part on your file system.
14749 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
14750 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
14755 @node Browsing the Web
14756 @section Browsing the Web
14758 @cindex browsing the web
14762 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
14763 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
14764 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
14765 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
14766 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
14767 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
14768 even know what a news group is.
14770 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
14771 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
14772 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
14773 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
14774 you mad in the end.
14776 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
14779 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
14780 interfaces to these sources.
14784 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
14785 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
14786 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
14787 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
14788 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
14789 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
14792 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
14794 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
14795 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
14796 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
14797 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
14798 though, you should be ok.
14800 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
14801 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
14802 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
14803 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
14804 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
14806 @node Archiving Mail
14807 @subsection Archiving Mail
14808 @cindex archiving mail
14809 @cindex backup of mail
14811 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
14812 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
14813 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
14814 marks is fairly simple.
14816 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
14817 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
14820 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
14821 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
14822 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
14823 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
14824 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
14825 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
14826 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
14827 before you restore the data.
14829 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
14830 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
14831 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
14832 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
14833 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
14834 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
14835 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
14836 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
14837 is unnecessary in that case.
14840 @subsection Web Searches
14845 @cindex Usenet searches
14846 @cindex searching the Usenet
14848 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
14849 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
14850 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
14851 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
14852 searches without having to use a browser.
14854 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
14855 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
14856 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
14857 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
14858 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
14860 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
14861 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
14862 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
14863 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
14864 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
14865 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
14866 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
14867 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
14868 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
14869 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
14872 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
14873 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
14874 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
14875 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
14876 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
14877 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
14879 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
14880 to use @code{nnweb}.
14882 Virtual server variables:
14887 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
14888 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
14889 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
14892 @vindex nnweb-search
14893 The search string to feed to the search engine.
14895 @item nnweb-max-hits
14896 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
14897 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
14900 @item nnweb-type-definition
14901 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
14902 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
14903 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
14908 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
14912 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
14915 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
14918 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
14922 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
14929 @subsection Slashdot
14933 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
14934 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
14935 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
14937 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
14938 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
14941 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
14942 '((nnslashdot "")))
14945 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
14946 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
14947 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
14948 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
14949 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
14952 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
14953 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14955 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
14956 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
14957 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
14958 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
14959 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
14960 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
14963 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
14966 @item nnslashdot-threaded
14967 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
14968 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
14969 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
14970 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
14971 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
14972 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
14974 @item nnslashdot-login-name
14975 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
14976 The login name to use when posting.
14978 @item nnslashdot-password
14979 @vindex nnslashdot-password
14980 The password to use when posting.
14982 @item nnslashdot-directory
14983 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
14984 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
14985 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
14987 @item nnslashdot-active-url
14988 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
14989 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
14990 news articles and comments. The default is
14991 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
14993 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
14994 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
14995 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
14997 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
14999 @item nnslashdot-article-url
15000 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
15001 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
15003 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
15005 @item nnslashdot-threshold
15006 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
15007 The score threshold. The default is -1.
15009 @item nnslashdot-group-number
15010 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
15011 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
15012 updated. The default is 0.
15019 @subsection Ultimate
15021 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
15023 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
15024 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
15025 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
15026 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
15028 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
15029 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
15030 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
15031 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
15032 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
15033 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
15034 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
15036 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
15039 @item nnultimate-directory
15040 @vindex nnultimate-directory
15041 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
15042 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
15047 @subsection Web Archive
15049 @cindex Web Archive
15051 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
15052 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
15053 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
15054 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15057 @findex gnus-group-make-warchive-group
15058 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
15059 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
15060 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
15061 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
15062 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
15063 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
15064 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
15066 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
15069 @item nnwarchive-directory
15070 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
15071 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
15072 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
15074 @item nnwarchive-login
15075 @vindex nnwarchive-login
15076 The account name on the web server.
15078 @item nnwarchive-passwd
15079 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
15080 The password for your account on the web server.
15088 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
15089 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
15090 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15093 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
15094 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
15097 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
15100 @item nnrss-directory
15101 @vindex nnrss-directory
15102 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
15103 @samp{~/News/rss/}.
15107 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
15108 the summary buffer.
15111 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
15112 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
15114 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
15116 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
15117 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
15120 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
15123 (require 'browse-url)
15125 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
15127 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
15130 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
15131 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
15134 (browse-url (cdr url))
15135 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
15136 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
15138 (eval-after-load "gnus"
15139 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
15140 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
15141 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
15144 @node Customizing w3
15145 @subsection Customizing w3
15151 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
15152 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
15153 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
15155 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
15156 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
15157 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
15160 (eval-after-load "w3"
15162 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
15163 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
15164 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
15165 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
15167 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
15170 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
15171 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
15180 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
15181 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
15182 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
15183 specify the network address of the server.
15185 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
15186 POP can, it can hence be viewed as a POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
15187 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
15188 protocol -- however, @sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp}
15189 because news is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
15191 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a POP++, use an imap entry in
15192 @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the
15193 @sc{imap} server and store them on the local disk. This is not the
15194 usage described in this section--@xref{Mail Sources}.
15196 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
15197 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
15198 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
15199 usage explained in this section.
15201 A server configuration in @code{~/.gnus} with a few @sc{imap} servers
15202 might look something like the following. (Note that for SSL/TLS, you
15203 need external programs and libraries, see below.)
15206 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15207 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
15208 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
15210 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15211 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
15212 ; a UW server running on localhost
15214 (nnimap-server-port 143)
15215 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15216 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
15217 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
15218 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
15219 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
15220 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
15221 (nnimap-stream network))
15222 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
15224 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
15225 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
15226 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
15229 After defining the new server, you can subscribe to groups on the
15230 server using normal Gnus commands such as @kbd{U} in the Group Buffer
15231 (@pxref{Subscription Commands}) or via the Server Buffer
15232 (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
15234 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
15239 @item nnimap-address
15240 @vindex nnimap-address
15242 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
15243 server name if not specified.
15245 @item nnimap-server-port
15246 @vindex nnimap-server-port
15247 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
15249 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
15252 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15253 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
15256 @item nnimap-list-pattern
15257 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
15258 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
15259 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
15260 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
15261 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
15262 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
15264 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
15265 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
15266 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
15269 Example server specification:
15272 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15273 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
15274 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
15277 @item nnimap-stream
15278 @vindex nnimap-stream
15279 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
15280 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
15281 of SSL/TLS. (@sc{imap} over SSL/TLS is being replaced by STARTTLS, which
15282 can be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
15284 Example server specification:
15287 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15288 (nnimap-stream ssl))
15291 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
15295 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
15296 @samp{imtest} program.
15298 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
15300 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
15301 SSL). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
15304 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Requires OpenSSL (the program
15305 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
15306 library @samp{ssl.el}.
15308 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
15310 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
15313 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
15314 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
15315 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
15316 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
15317 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
15318 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
15319 restrictions on @sc{imap} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
15320 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
15321 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
15324 @vindex imap-ssl-program
15325 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
15326 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
15327 and nnimap support it too - although the most recent versions of
15328 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
15329 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
15330 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
15331 to OpenSSL/SSLeay. You also need @samp{ssl.el} (from the W3
15332 distribution, for instance).
15334 @vindex imap-shell-program
15335 @vindex imap-shell-host
15336 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
15337 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
15339 @item nnimap-authenticator
15340 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
15342 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
15343 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
15345 Example server specification:
15348 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15349 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
15352 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
15356 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
15357 external program @code{imtest}.
15359 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
15362 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
15363 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
15365 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
15367 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
15369 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your email address as password.
15372 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
15374 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
15375 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
15376 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
15377 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
15378 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
15379 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
15382 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
15383 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
15384 running in circles yet?
15386 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
15387 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
15390 The possible options are:
15395 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
15398 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
15399 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
15400 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
15401 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
15403 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
15408 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
15409 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
15411 If non-nil (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as well),
15412 for other @sc{imap} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
15413 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
15414 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @sc{imap}
15415 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @sc{imap}
15418 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
15419 enable per-user persistant dormant flags, using something like:
15422 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
15423 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15424 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
15425 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15428 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
15429 as ticked for other users.
15431 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
15433 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
15435 This variable contain the @sc{imap} search command sent to server when
15436 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
15437 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
15438 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
15440 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
15441 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
15442 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
15443 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
15445 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
15446 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
15448 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
15449 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
15450 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
15456 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
15457 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
15458 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
15459 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
15460 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
15465 @node Splitting in IMAP
15466 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
15467 @cindex splitting imap mail
15469 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
15470 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
15471 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
15472 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
15473 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
15477 Here are the variables of interest:
15481 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
15482 @cindex splitting, crosspost
15484 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
15486 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
15487 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
15489 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
15491 @item nnimap-split-inbox
15492 @cindex splitting, inbox
15494 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
15496 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
15497 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
15501 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
15502 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
15505 No nnmail equivalent.
15507 @item nnimap-split-rule
15508 @cindex Splitting, rules
15509 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
15511 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
15514 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
15515 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
15516 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
15517 Neither did I, we need examples.
15520 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15522 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
15523 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
15524 ("INBOX.private" "")))
15527 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
15528 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
15529 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
15531 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
15532 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
15536 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
15539 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
15540 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
15542 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
15543 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
15544 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
15545 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
15547 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
15548 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
15549 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
15550 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
15551 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
15552 them every time you fetch new mail.)
15554 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
15555 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
15556 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
15558 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
15559 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
15560 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15562 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
15564 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
15565 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
15566 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
15569 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15570 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
15571 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
15572 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
15573 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
15574 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
15577 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
15578 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
15579 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
15580 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
15581 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
15582 group/function elements.
15584 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
15586 @item nnimap-split-predicate
15588 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
15590 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
15591 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
15593 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
15594 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
15595 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
15598 @item nnimap-split-fancy
15599 @cindex splitting, fancy
15600 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
15601 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
15603 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15604 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
15605 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
15607 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
15608 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15609 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
15610 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15615 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
15616 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
15619 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
15621 @item nnimap-split-download-body
15622 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
15623 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
15625 Set to non-nil to download entire articles during splitting. This is
15626 generally not required, and will slow things down considerably. You
15627 may need it if you want to use an advanced splitting function that
15628 analyses the body to split the article.
15632 @node Expiring in IMAP
15633 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
15634 @cindex expiring imap mail
15636 Even though @code{nnimap} is not a proper @code{nnmail} derived back
15637 end, it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring
15638 Mail}). Unlike splitting in IMAP (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}) it do
15639 not clone the @code{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating
15640 @var{nnimap-expiry-wait}) but reuse the @code{nnmail} variables. What
15641 follows below are the variables used by the @code{nnimap} expiry
15644 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @sc{imap} server is
15645 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
15646 @code{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
15647 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
15648 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
15649 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
15650 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
15651 messages. Most do, fortunately.
15655 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
15656 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
15658 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
15659 number, the symbol @var{immediate} or @var{never}.
15661 @item nnmail-expiry-target
15663 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
15664 @code{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
15665 that if the destination is a IMAP group on the same server, the
15666 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
15670 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
15671 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
15672 @cindex editing imap acls
15673 @cindex Access Control Lists
15674 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
15676 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
15678 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
15679 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
15680 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
15683 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
15684 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
15685 editing window with detailed instructions.
15687 Some possible uses:
15691 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
15692 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
15693 follow the list without subscribing to it.
15695 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
15696 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
15697 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
15701 @node Expunging mailboxes
15702 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
15706 @cindex Manual expunging
15708 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
15710 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
15711 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
15712 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
15714 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
15717 @node A note on namespaces
15718 @subsection A note on namespaces
15719 @cindex IMAP namespace
15722 The IMAP protocol has a concept called namespaces, described by the
15723 following text in the RFC:
15726 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
15728 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
15729 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
15730 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
15731 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
15733 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
15734 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
15735 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
15736 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
15737 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
15738 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
15741 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the IMAP
15742 implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace prefixes in a way
15743 that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
15745 Specifically, University of Washington's IMAP server uses mailbox
15746 names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only in the
15747 @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is created
15748 (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed without
15749 the namespace prefix, i.e @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do not make it
15750 possible for the user to guarantee that user entered mailbox names
15751 will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands, you should
15752 simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in Gnus.
15754 See the UoW @sc{imapd} documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
15755 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
15756 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
15758 @node Other Sources
15759 @section Other Sources
15761 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
15762 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
15766 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
15767 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
15768 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
15769 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
15770 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
15774 @node Directory Groups
15775 @subsection Directory Groups
15777 @cindex directory groups
15779 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
15780 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
15783 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
15784 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
15785 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
15786 back end to read directories. Big deal.
15788 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
15789 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
15790 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
15791 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
15792 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
15794 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
15796 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
15797 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
15798 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
15799 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
15802 @node Anything Groups
15803 @subsection Anything Groups
15806 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
15807 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
15808 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
15811 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
15812 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
15813 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
15814 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
15815 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
15816 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
15817 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
15818 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
15819 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
15820 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
15823 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
15824 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
15825 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
15826 in the article buffer, just as usual.
15828 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
15829 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
15830 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
15831 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
15833 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
15834 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
15835 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
15836 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
15837 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
15838 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
15839 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
15840 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
15845 @item nneething-map-file-directory
15846 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
15847 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
15848 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
15850 @item nneething-exclude-files
15851 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
15852 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
15853 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
15855 @item nneething-include-files
15856 @vindex nneething-include-files
15857 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
15858 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
15860 @item nneething-map-file
15861 @vindex nneething-map-file
15862 Name of the map files.
15866 @node Document Groups
15867 @subsection Document Groups
15869 @cindex documentation group
15872 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
15873 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
15880 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
15885 The standard Unix mbox file.
15887 @cindex MMDF mail box
15889 The MMDF mail box format.
15892 Several news articles appended into a file.
15895 @cindex rnews batch files
15896 The rnews batch transport format.
15897 @cindex forwarded messages
15900 Forwarded articles.
15903 Netscape mail boxes.
15906 @sc{mime} multipart messages.
15908 @item standard-digest
15909 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
15912 A @sc{mime} digest of messages.
15914 @item lanl-gov-announce
15915 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
15917 @item rfc822-forward
15918 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
15921 The Outlook mail box.
15924 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
15927 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
15930 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
15933 An RFC934-forwarded message.
15939 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
15942 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
15948 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
15949 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
15950 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
15953 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
15954 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
15955 group. And that's it.
15957 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
15958 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
15959 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
15960 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
15961 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
15962 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
15963 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
15964 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
15965 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
15966 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
15968 Virtual server variables:
15971 @item nndoc-article-type
15972 @vindex nndoc-article-type
15973 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
15974 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
15975 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
15976 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
15977 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
15979 @item nndoc-post-type
15980 @vindex nndoc-post-type
15981 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
15982 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
15987 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
15991 @node Document Server Internals
15992 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
15994 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
15995 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
15996 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
15997 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
15999 First, here's an example document type definition:
16003 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
16004 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
16007 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
16008 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
16009 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
16010 types can be defined with very few settings:
16013 @item first-article
16014 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
16015 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
16018 @item article-begin
16019 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
16020 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
16022 @item head-begin-function
16023 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
16026 @item nndoc-head-begin
16027 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
16030 @item nndoc-head-end
16031 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
16032 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
16034 @item body-begin-function
16035 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
16039 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
16042 @item body-end-function
16043 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
16047 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
16050 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
16051 regexp will be totally ignored.
16055 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
16056 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
16057 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
16058 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
16059 something that's palatable for Gnus:
16062 @item prepare-body-function
16063 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
16064 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
16065 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
16067 @item article-transform-function
16068 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
16069 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
16070 body of the article.
16072 @item generate-head-function
16073 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
16074 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
16075 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
16076 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
16080 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
16085 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16086 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16087 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
16088 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
16089 (head-end . "^ ?$")
16090 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
16091 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
16092 (subtype digest guess))
16095 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
16096 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
16097 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
16098 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
16099 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
16101 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
16102 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
16103 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
16104 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
16105 traversed sequentially, and @code{nndoc-TYPE-type-p} is called for a given type @code{TYPE}. So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document
16106 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
16107 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
16108 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
16109 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
16110 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
16118 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
16119 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
16120 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
16122 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
16123 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
16124 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
16127 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
16128 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
16129 that interested in doing things properly.
16131 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
16132 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
16135 First some terminology:
16140 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
16141 get news and/or mail from.
16144 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
16145 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
16148 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
16152 @item message packets
16153 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
16154 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
16155 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16157 @item response packets
16158 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
16159 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
16160 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16170 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
16171 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
16172 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
16173 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
16176 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
16179 You put the packet in your home directory.
16182 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
16183 the native or secondary server.
16186 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
16187 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
16190 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
16194 You transfer this packet to the server.
16197 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
16200 You then repeat until you die.
16204 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
16205 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
16208 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
16209 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
16210 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
16214 @node SOUP Commands
16215 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
16217 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
16221 @kindex G s b (Group)
16222 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
16223 Pack all unread articles in the current group
16224 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
16225 process/prefix convention.
16228 @kindex G s w (Group)
16229 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
16230 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
16233 @kindex G s s (Group)
16234 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
16235 Send all replies from the replies packet
16236 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
16239 @kindex G s p (Group)
16240 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
16241 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
16244 @kindex G s r (Group)
16245 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
16246 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
16249 @kindex O s (Summary)
16250 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
16251 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
16252 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
16253 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16258 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
16263 @item gnus-soup-directory
16264 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
16265 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
16266 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
16268 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
16269 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
16270 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
16271 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
16273 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
16274 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
16275 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
16276 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
16278 @item gnus-soup-packer
16279 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
16280 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16281 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
16283 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
16284 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
16285 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16286 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16288 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
16289 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
16290 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
16292 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16293 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16294 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
16295 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
16301 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
16304 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
16305 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
16306 you can read them at leisure.
16308 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
16312 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
16313 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
16314 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
16315 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
16317 @item nnsoup-directory
16318 @vindex nnsoup-directory
16319 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
16320 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
16322 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
16323 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
16324 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
16325 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
16327 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
16328 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
16329 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
16330 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
16331 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
16333 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
16334 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
16335 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
16336 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
16338 @item nnsoup-active-file
16339 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
16340 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
16341 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
16342 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
16343 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
16345 @item nnsoup-packer
16346 @vindex nnsoup-packer
16347 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
16348 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
16350 @item nnsoup-unpacker
16351 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
16352 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
16353 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16355 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
16356 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
16357 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
16360 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
16361 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
16362 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
16365 @item nnsoup-always-save
16366 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
16367 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
16373 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
16375 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
16376 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
16377 more for that to happen.
16379 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
16380 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
16381 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
16384 In specific, this is what it does:
16387 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
16388 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
16391 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
16392 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
16393 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
16396 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
16397 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
16398 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
16401 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
16402 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
16403 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
16405 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
16411 @item nngateway-address
16412 @vindex nngateway-address
16413 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
16415 @item nngateway-header-transformation
16416 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
16417 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
16418 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
16419 transformation should be called, and defaults to
16420 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
16421 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
16424 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
16425 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
16426 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
16429 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
16432 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
16435 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
16438 The following pre-defined functions exist:
16440 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16443 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16444 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16445 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
16447 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16449 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16450 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16451 @code{nngateway-address}.
16456 (setq gnus-post-method
16458 "mail2news@@replay.com"
16459 (nngateway-header-transformation
16460 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
16468 So, to use this, simply say something like:
16471 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
16476 @node Combined Groups
16477 @section Combined Groups
16479 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
16483 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
16484 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
16488 @node Virtual Groups
16489 @subsection Virtual Groups
16491 @cindex virtual groups
16492 @cindex merging groups
16494 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
16497 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
16498 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
16499 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
16501 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
16502 regexp to match component groups.
16504 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
16505 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
16506 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
16507 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
16508 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
16509 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
16510 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
16511 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
16513 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
16514 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
16517 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
16520 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
16521 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
16523 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
16524 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
16525 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
16526 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
16529 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
16532 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
16533 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
16534 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
16536 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
16537 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
16538 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
16539 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
16540 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
16542 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
16543 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
16544 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
16546 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
16547 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
16548 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
16549 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
16550 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
16551 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
16552 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
16553 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
16554 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
16555 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
16556 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
16558 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
16559 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
16560 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
16561 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
16562 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
16563 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
16564 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
16566 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
16567 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
16569 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
16570 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
16574 @node Kibozed Groups
16575 @subsection Kibozed Groups
16579 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
16580 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will do this for
16581 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
16582 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
16584 @kindex G k (Group)
16585 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
16588 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
16589 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
16590 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
16591 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
16593 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
16594 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
16595 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
16597 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
16598 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
16599 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
16600 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
16601 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
16602 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
16603 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
16604 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
16606 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
16607 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
16608 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
16609 Stranger things have happened.
16611 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
16612 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
16614 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
16615 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
16616 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
16617 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
16618 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
16619 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
16621 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
16622 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
16625 @node Gnus Unplugged
16626 @section Gnus Unplugged
16631 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
16633 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
16634 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
16635 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
16636 read news. Believe it or not.
16638 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
16639 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
16640 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
16641 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
16642 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
16644 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
16645 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
16646 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
16647 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
16648 reading news on a machine.
16650 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
16651 fact, you don't even have to configure anything.
16653 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
16656 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
16657 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
16658 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
16659 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
16660 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
16661 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
16662 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
16663 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
16664 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
16665 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
16666 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
16667 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
16672 @subsection Agent Basics
16674 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
16676 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
16677 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
16678 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
16679 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
16681 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
16682 connected to the net continuously.
16684 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
16685 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
16687 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
16692 @findex gnus-unplugged
16693 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
16694 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
16695 already fetched while in this mode.
16698 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
16699 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
16700 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
16701 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
16702 Source Specifiers}).
16705 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
16706 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
16707 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
16708 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
16709 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
16712 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
16713 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
16714 then you read the news offline.
16717 And then you go to step 2.
16720 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
16726 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
16727 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
16728 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
16729 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
16730 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
16731 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
16732 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} groups in @code{gnus-select-method} and
16733 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
16736 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
16743 @node Agent Categories
16744 @subsection Agent Categories
16746 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
16747 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
16748 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
16749 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
16750 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
16751 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
16752 you're interested in the articles anyway.
16754 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
16755 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
16756 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
16757 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
16758 managing categories.
16761 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
16762 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
16763 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
16767 @node Category Syntax
16768 @subsubsection Category Syntax
16770 A category consists of two things.
16774 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
16775 are eligible for downloading; and
16778 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
16779 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
16780 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
16783 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
16784 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
16785 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
16786 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
16788 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
16789 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
16790 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
16792 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
16793 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
16794 operators sprinkled in between.
16796 Perhaps some examples are in order.
16798 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
16799 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
16805 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
16806 short (for some value of ``short'').
16808 Here's a more complex predicate:
16817 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
16818 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
16821 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
16822 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
16823 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
16825 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
16826 you want to do, you can write your own.
16830 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
16831 lines; default 100.
16834 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
16835 lines; default 200.
16838 True iff the article has a download score less than
16839 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
16842 True iff the article has a download score greater than
16843 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
16846 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
16847 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
16848 checksum and sees whether articles match.
16857 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
16858 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
16859 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
16862 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
16863 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
16864 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
16865 something along the lines of the following:
16868 (defun my-article-old-p ()
16869 "Say whether an article is old."
16870 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
16871 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
16874 with the predicate then defined as:
16877 (not my-article-old-p)
16880 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
16881 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
16885 (require 'gnus-agent)
16886 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
16887 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
16888 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
16891 and simply specify your predicate as:
16897 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
16898 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
16899 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
16900 just don't give a damn.
16902 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
16903 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
16904 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
16905 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
16906 parameters like so:
16909 (agent-predicate . short)
16912 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
16913 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
16914 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
16916 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
16919 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
16922 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
16923 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
16924 predicate is assumed to be a list.
16927 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
16928 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
16929 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
16930 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
16931 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
16932 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
16934 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
16935 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
16936 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
16937 if it's to be specific to that group.
16939 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
16946 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
16947 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
16953 Category specification
16957 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16963 Group Parameter specification
16966 (agent-score ("from"
16967 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16972 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
16978 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
16985 Category specification
16988 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
16994 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
16998 Group Parameter specification
17001 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
17004 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
17009 Use @code{normal} score files
17011 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
17012 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
17013 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
17014 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
17016 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
17017 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
17018 files for a group, *filtering out* those sections that do not
17019 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
17023 Category Specification
17030 Group Parameter specification
17033 (agent-score . file)
17038 @node Category Buffer
17039 @subsubsection Category Buffer
17041 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
17042 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
17043 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
17045 The following commands are available in this buffer:
17049 @kindex q (Category)
17050 @findex gnus-category-exit
17051 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
17054 @kindex k (Category)
17055 @findex gnus-category-kill
17056 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
17059 @kindex c (Category)
17060 @findex gnus-category-copy
17061 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
17064 @kindex a (Category)
17065 @findex gnus-category-add
17066 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
17069 @kindex p (Category)
17070 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
17071 Edit the predicate of the current category
17072 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
17075 @kindex g (Category)
17076 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
17077 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
17078 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
17081 @kindex s (Category)
17082 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
17083 Edit the download score rule of the current category
17084 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
17087 @kindex l (Category)
17088 @findex gnus-category-list
17089 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
17093 @node Category Variables
17094 @subsubsection Category Variables
17097 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
17098 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
17099 Hook run in category buffers.
17101 @item gnus-category-line-format
17102 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
17103 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
17104 Variables}). Valid elements are:
17108 The name of the category.
17111 The number of groups in the category.
17114 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
17115 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
17116 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
17118 @item gnus-agent-short-article
17119 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
17120 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
17122 @item gnus-agent-long-article
17123 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
17124 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
17126 @item gnus-agent-low-score
17127 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
17128 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
17131 @item gnus-agent-high-score
17132 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
17133 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
17139 @node Agent Commands
17140 @subsection Agent Commands
17141 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-plugged
17142 @kindex J j (Agent)
17144 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
17145 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
17146 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
17150 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
17151 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
17152 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
17158 @node Group Agent Commands
17159 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
17163 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
17164 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
17165 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
17166 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
17169 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
17170 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
17171 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
17174 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
17175 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
17176 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
17177 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
17180 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
17181 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
17182 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
17183 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
17186 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
17187 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
17188 Add the current group to an Agent category
17189 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
17190 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17193 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
17194 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
17195 Remove the current group from its category, if any
17196 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
17197 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17200 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
17201 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17202 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
17208 @node Summary Agent Commands
17209 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
17213 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
17214 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
17215 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
17218 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
17219 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
17220 Remove the downloading mark from the article
17221 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
17225 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
17226 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
17227 Toggle whether to download the article
17228 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The dowload mark is @samp{%} by
17232 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
17233 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
17234 Mark all articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}) that are neither cached, downloaded, nor downloadable.
17237 @kindex J S (Agent Summary)
17238 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
17239 Download all eligible (See @pxref{Agent Categories}) articles in this group.
17240 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
17243 @kindex J s (Agent Summary)
17244 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-series
17245 Download all processable articles in this group.
17246 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-series}).
17249 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
17250 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
17251 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
17252 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
17257 @node Server Agent Commands
17258 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
17262 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
17263 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
17264 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
17265 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
17268 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
17269 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
17270 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
17271 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
17276 @node Agent as Cache
17277 @subsection Agent as Cache
17279 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
17280 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
17281 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
17282 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
17283 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
17284 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
17285 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
17286 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
17287 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
17289 This behaviour can be controlled by @code{gnus-agent-cache}
17290 (@pxref{Agent Variables}).
17293 @subsection Agent Expiry
17295 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
17296 @findex gnus-agent-expire
17297 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
17298 @cindex Agent expiry
17299 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
17302 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
17303 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
17304 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
17305 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
17306 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
17307 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
17309 Note that other functions, e.g. @code{gnus-request-expire-articles},
17310 might run @code{gnus-agent-expire} for you to keep the agent
17311 synchronized with the group.
17313 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} can also be a list of regexp/day pairs.
17314 The regexps will be matched against group names to allow differing
17315 expiry in different groups.
17318 (setq gnus-agent-expire-days
17324 If you use the list form, the last element must always be the default
17325 method---it must always match all groups. Also, for a regexp to match,
17326 it must match from the beginning of the group's name.
17328 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
17329 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
17330 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
17331 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
17332 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
17334 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
17335 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's a special
17336 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} command to fix possible problems.
17338 @node Agent Regeneration
17339 @subsection Agent Regeneration
17341 @cindex Agent Regeneration
17342 @cindex Gnus Agent Regeneration
17343 @cindex regeneration
17345 The local data structures used by @code{nnagent} may become corrupted
17346 due to certain exceptional conditions. When this happens,
17347 @code{nnagent} functionality may degrade or even fail. The solution
17348 to this problem is to repair the local data structures by removing all
17349 internal inconsistencies.
17351 For example, if your connection to your server is lost while
17352 downloaded articles into the agent, the local data structures will not
17353 know about articles downloaded prior to the connection failure.
17354 Running @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} or
17355 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} will update the data structures
17356 such that you don't need to download these articles a second time.
17358 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
17359 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate
17360 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} will perform
17361 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} on every agentized group. While
17362 you can run @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} in any buffer, it is strongly
17363 recommended that you first close all summary buffers.
17365 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate-group
17366 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate-group
17367 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} uses the local copies
17368 of individual articles to repair the local NOV(header) database. It
17369 then updates the internal data structures that document which articles
17370 are stored locally. An optional argument will mark articles in the
17373 @node Agent and IMAP
17374 @subsection Agent and IMAP
17376 The Agent works with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
17377 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
17378 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
17379 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
17381 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
17382 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @file{.newsrc} as is the
17383 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
17384 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
17386 Gnus keeps track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
17387 Agent. When you plug back in, Gnus will check if you have any changed
17388 any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the server.
17389 The behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
17391 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17392 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
17393 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
17394 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
17395 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
17396 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
17398 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
17399 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
17400 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
17401 in the group buffer.
17403 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
17404 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
17409 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
17412 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
17416 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
17417 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
17418 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
17419 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
17420 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
17421 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
17422 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
17423 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
17426 @node Outgoing Messages
17427 @subsection Outgoing Messages
17429 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
17430 stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view
17431 them there after posting, and edit them at will.
17433 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
17434 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
17435 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
17436 messages in the draft group.
17440 @node Agent Variables
17441 @subsection Agent Variables
17444 @item gnus-agent-directory
17445 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
17446 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
17447 @file{~/News/agent/}.
17449 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
17450 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
17451 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
17452 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
17453 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
17456 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
17457 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
17458 Hook run when connecting to the network.
17460 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
17461 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
17462 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
17464 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
17465 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
17466 Hook run when after finishing fetching articles.
17468 @item gnus-agent-cache
17469 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
17470 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @sc{nov} and
17471 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
17472 The default is non-nil, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
17474 @item gnus-agent-go-online
17475 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
17476 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
17477 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
17478 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
17479 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
17480 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
17483 @item gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
17484 @vindex gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
17485 If @code{gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded} is non-@code{nil},
17486 mark articles as unread after downloading. The default is t.
17488 @item gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
17489 @vindex gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
17490 If @code{gnus-agent-consider-all-articles} is non-@code{nil}, the
17491 agent will fetch all missing headers. When @code{nil}, the agent will
17492 fetch only new headers. The default is @code{nil}.
17494 @item gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
17495 @vindex gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
17496 The agent fetches articles into a temporary buffer prior to parsing
17497 them into individual files. To avoid exceeding the max. buffer size,
17498 the agent alternates between fetching and parsing until all articles
17499 have been fetched. @code{gnus-agent-max-fetch-size} provides a size
17500 limit to control how often the cycling occurs. A large value improves
17501 performance. A small value minimizes the time lost should the
17502 connection be lost while fetching (You may need to run
17503 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} to update the group's state.
17504 However, all articles parsed prior to loosing the connection will be
17505 available while unplugged).
17507 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
17508 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
17509 Perhaps not a Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
17510 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
17511 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
17512 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
17513 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
17514 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
17515 is only valid if the Agent is used.
17520 @node Example Setup
17521 @subsection Example Setup
17523 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
17524 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
17525 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
17528 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
17529 ;;; from your ISP's server.
17530 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
17532 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
17533 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
17534 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
17536 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
17537 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
17539 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
17540 ;;; (gnus-agentize) ; The obsolete setting.
17541 ;;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; Now the default.
17544 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
17545 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
17548 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
17549 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
17550 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
17551 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
17552 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
17555 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
17556 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
17557 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
17558 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
17559 back all the killed groups.)
17561 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
17562 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
17563 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
17566 @node Batching Agents
17567 @subsection Batching Agents
17568 @findex gnus-agent-batch
17570 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
17571 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
17572 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
17574 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
17575 following incantation:
17579 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f -l ~/.gnus.el gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
17583 @node Agent Caveats
17584 @subsection Agent Caveats
17586 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
17587 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
17591 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
17593 @strong{No}. If you want this behaviour, add
17594 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
17595 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
17597 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
17599 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is `nil'.
17603 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
17604 articles; when it's plugged, it talks to your ISP and may also use the
17605 locally stored articles.
17612 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
17613 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
17614 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
17617 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
17618 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
17619 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
17620 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
17621 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
17623 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
17624 before generating the summary buffer.
17626 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
17627 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
17628 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
17630 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
17631 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
17632 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
17633 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
17636 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
17637 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
17638 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
17639 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
17640 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
17641 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
17642 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
17643 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
17644 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
17645 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
17646 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
17647 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
17648 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
17649 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
17650 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
17651 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
17652 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
17656 @node Summary Score Commands
17657 @section Summary Score Commands
17658 @cindex score commands
17660 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
17661 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
17662 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
17663 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
17664 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
17666 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
17667 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
17668 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
17669 score file the current one.
17671 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
17676 @kindex V s (Summary)
17677 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
17678 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
17681 @kindex V S (Summary)
17682 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
17683 Display the score of the current article
17684 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
17687 @kindex V t (Summary)
17688 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
17689 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
17690 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
17693 @kindex V w (Summary)
17694 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
17695 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
17698 @kindex V R (Summary)
17699 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
17700 Run the current summary through the scoring process
17701 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
17702 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
17703 effect you're having.
17706 @kindex V c (Summary)
17707 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
17708 Make a different score file the current
17709 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
17712 @kindex V e (Summary)
17713 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
17714 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
17715 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
17719 @kindex V f (Summary)
17720 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
17721 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
17722 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
17725 @kindex V F (Summary)
17726 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17727 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
17728 after editing score files.
17731 @kindex V C (Summary)
17732 @findex gnus-score-customize
17733 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
17734 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
17738 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
17743 @kindex V m (Summary)
17744 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
17745 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
17746 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
17749 @kindex V x (Summary)
17750 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
17751 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
17752 expunge all articles below this score
17753 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
17756 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
17757 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
17760 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
17761 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
17765 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
17766 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
17768 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
17769 keys are available:
17773 Score on the author name.
17776 Score on the subject line.
17779 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
17782 Score on the @code{References} line.
17788 Score on the number of lines.
17791 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
17794 Score on an "extra" header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
17795 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
17798 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
17799 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
17800 @file{ADAPT} files.)
17809 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
17815 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
17816 what headers you are scoring on.
17828 Substring matching.
17831 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
17860 Greater than number.
17865 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
17866 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
17867 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
17872 Temporary score entry.
17875 Permanent score entry.
17878 Immediately scoring.
17882 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
17883 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
17884 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
17888 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
17889 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
17890 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
17891 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
17893 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
17894 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
17895 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
17896 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
17897 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
17899 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
17900 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
17901 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
17902 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
17903 current score file.
17905 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
17906 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
17907 pretend they are keymaps or not.
17910 @node Group Score Commands
17911 @section Group Score Commands
17912 @cindex group score commands
17914 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
17919 @kindex W f (Group)
17920 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17921 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
17922 all the time. This command will flush the cache
17923 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
17927 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
17929 @findex gnus-batch-score
17930 @cindex batch scoring
17932 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
17936 @node Score Variables
17937 @section Score Variables
17938 @cindex score variables
17942 @item gnus-use-scoring
17943 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
17944 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
17945 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
17947 @item gnus-kill-killed
17948 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
17949 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
17950 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
17951 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
17952 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
17953 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
17954 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
17956 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
17957 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
17958 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
17959 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
17960 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
17962 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
17963 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
17964 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
17965 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
17967 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17968 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17969 @cindex score cache
17970 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
17971 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
17972 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
17973 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
17974 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
17975 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
17978 @item gnus-save-score
17979 @vindex gnus-save-score
17980 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
17981 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
17982 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
17984 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
17985 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
17986 across group visits.
17988 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17989 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17990 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
17991 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
17992 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
17993 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
17994 manually entered data.
17996 @item gnus-summary-default-score
17997 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
17998 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
18000 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
18001 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
18002 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
18003 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
18004 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
18005 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
18007 @item gnus-score-over-mark
18008 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
18009 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
18010 default. Default is @samp{+}.
18012 @item gnus-score-below-mark
18013 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
18014 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
18015 default. Default is @samp{-}.
18017 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
18018 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
18019 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
18020 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
18022 Predefined functions available are:
18025 @item gnus-score-find-single
18026 @findex gnus-score-find-single
18027 Only apply the group's own score file.
18029 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
18030 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
18031 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
18032 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
18033 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
18034 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
18035 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
18036 then a regexp match is done.
18038 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
18039 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
18041 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
18042 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
18043 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
18044 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
18046 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
18047 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
18048 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
18049 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
18050 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
18054 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
18055 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
18056 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
18057 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
18058 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
18059 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
18060 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
18063 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
18064 overall score file, you could use the value
18066 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
18067 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
18070 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
18071 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
18072 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
18073 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
18074 are expired. It's 7 by default.
18076 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
18077 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
18078 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
18079 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
18080 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
18081 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
18082 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
18083 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
18085 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
18086 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
18087 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
18089 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
18090 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
18091 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
18092 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
18093 threading---according to the current value of
18094 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
18095 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
18096 simplified in this manner.
18101 @node Score File Format
18102 @section Score File Format
18103 @cindex score file format
18105 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
18106 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
18107 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
18109 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
18113 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
18115 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
18117 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
18119 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
18124 (mark-and-expunge -10)
18128 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
18129 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
18130 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
18131 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
18135 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
18136 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
18138 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
18139 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
18140 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
18142 Six keys are supported by this alist:
18147 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
18148 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
18149 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
18150 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
18151 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
18152 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
18153 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
18154 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
18155 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
18156 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
18157 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
18158 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
18159 to articles that matches these score entries.
18161 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
18162 score entry has one to four elements.
18166 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
18167 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
18171 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
18172 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
18173 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
18174 is successful. If this element is not present, the
18175 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
18176 instead. This is 1000 by default.
18179 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
18180 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
18181 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
18182 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
18183 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
18186 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
18187 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
18188 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
18189 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
18192 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
18193 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
18194 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
18195 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
18196 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
18197 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
18198 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
18199 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
18200 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
18201 instead, if you feel like.
18204 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
18205 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
18206 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
18207 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
18208 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin host,
18209 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks NNTP-Posting-Host in overviews:
18212 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s "NNTP-Posting-Host")
18216 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
18217 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
18219 These predicates are true if
18222 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
18225 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
18226 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
18233 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
18234 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
18235 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
18236 it's not. I think.)
18238 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
18239 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
18240 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
18241 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
18244 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
18245 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
18246 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
18247 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
18248 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
18249 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
18250 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
18254 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
18255 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
18256 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
18257 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
18258 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
18259 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
18260 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
18261 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
18264 @item Head, Body, All
18265 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
18269 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
18270 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
18271 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
18272 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
18273 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
18274 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
18275 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
18279 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
18280 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
18281 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
18282 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
18283 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
18284 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
18285 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
18286 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
18287 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
18288 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
18289 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
18293 @cindex Score File Atoms
18295 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18296 lower than this number will be marked as read.
18299 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18300 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
18302 @item mark-and-expunge
18303 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18304 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
18307 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
18308 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
18309 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
18310 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
18311 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
18314 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
18315 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
18318 @item exclude-files
18319 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
18320 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
18324 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
18325 ignored when handling global score files.
18328 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
18329 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
18330 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
18331 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
18334 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
18335 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
18336 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
18337 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
18339 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
18343 (mark-and-expunge -100)
18346 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
18347 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
18348 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
18349 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
18350 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
18352 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
18353 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
18354 scoring rules exist.
18357 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
18358 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
18359 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
18360 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
18361 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
18362 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
18363 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18364 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
18365 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
18366 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
18367 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
18371 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
18372 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
18373 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
18374 file for a number of groups.
18377 @cindex local variables
18378 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
18379 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
18380 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
18381 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
18382 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
18386 @node Score File Editing
18387 @section Score File Editing
18389 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
18390 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
18391 with a mode for that.
18393 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
18394 additional commands:
18399 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
18400 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
18401 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
18402 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
18405 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
18406 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
18407 Insert the current date in numerical format
18408 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
18409 you were wondering.
18412 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
18413 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
18414 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
18415 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
18416 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
18421 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
18423 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
18424 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
18426 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
18427 e} to begin editing score files.
18430 @node Adaptive Scoring
18431 @section Adaptive Scoring
18432 @cindex adaptive scoring
18434 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
18435 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
18436 stupidity, to be precise.
18438 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
18439 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
18440 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
18441 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
18442 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18443 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
18444 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
18445 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
18446 variable to @code{(word line)}.
18448 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
18449 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
18450 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
18451 might look something like this:
18454 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
18455 '((gnus-unread-mark)
18456 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
18457 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
18458 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
18459 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
18460 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
18461 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
18462 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
18463 (gnus-ancient-mark)
18464 (gnus-low-score-mark)
18465 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
18468 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
18469 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
18470 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
18471 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
18472 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
18473 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
18476 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
18477 will be applied to each article.
18479 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
18480 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
18481 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
18482 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
18484 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
18485 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
18486 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
18487 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
18489 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
18490 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
18491 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
18492 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
18494 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
18495 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
18496 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
18497 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
18498 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
18499 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
18501 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
18502 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
18503 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
18505 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
18506 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
18507 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
18509 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
18510 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
18511 let you use different rules in different groups.
18513 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
18514 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
18515 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
18518 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
18519 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
18520 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
18521 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
18522 the length of the match is less than
18523 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
18524 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
18527 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
18528 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
18529 headers. If you adapt on words, the
18530 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
18531 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
18534 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
18535 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
18536 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
18537 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
18538 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
18541 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
18542 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
18543 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
18544 score with 30 points.
18546 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
18547 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
18548 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
18549 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
18550 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
18552 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
18553 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
18554 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
18555 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
18556 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
18558 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
18559 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
18560 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
18561 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
18563 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
18564 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
18565 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
18566 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
18568 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
18569 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
18570 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
18571 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
18572 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
18574 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
18575 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
18576 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
18578 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
18579 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
18580 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
18581 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
18584 @node Home Score File
18585 @section Home Score File
18587 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
18588 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
18589 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
18590 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
18592 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
18593 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
18594 could perhaps use the same home score file.
18596 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
18597 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
18602 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
18606 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
18607 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
18611 A list. The elements in this list can be:
18615 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
18616 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
18619 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
18620 the home score file.
18623 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
18626 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
18631 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
18634 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18635 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
18638 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
18639 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
18641 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
18643 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18644 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
18647 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
18648 Other functions include
18651 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
18652 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
18653 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
18654 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
18658 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
18659 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
18660 their own home score files:
18663 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18664 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
18665 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
18666 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
18667 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
18670 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
18671 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
18672 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
18673 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
18674 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
18676 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
18677 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
18678 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
18679 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
18680 precedence over this variable.
18683 @node Followups To Yourself
18684 @section Followups To Yourself
18686 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
18687 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
18688 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
18689 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
18690 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
18691 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
18695 @item gnus-score-followup-article
18696 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
18697 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
18700 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
18701 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
18702 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
18706 @vindex message-sent-hook
18707 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
18708 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
18710 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
18714 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
18715 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
18719 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18720 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18723 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
18724 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
18729 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
18733 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
18734 is system-dependent.
18737 @node Scoring On Other Headers
18738 @section Scoring On Other Headers
18739 @cindex scoring on other headers
18741 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
18742 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
18743 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
18744 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
18745 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
18747 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
18748 mail groups, you have greater control. In the @pxref{To From
18749 Newsgroups} section of the manual, it's explained in greater detail what
18750 this mechanism does, but here's a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on
18751 how to allow scoring on the @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
18753 Put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
18756 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
18757 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
18760 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
18761 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
18762 time if you have much mail.
18764 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
18765 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
18771 @section Scoring Tips
18772 @cindex scoring tips
18778 @cindex scoring crossposts
18779 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
18780 the @code{Xref} header.
18782 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
18785 @item Multiple crossposts
18786 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
18787 more than, say, 3 groups:
18790 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
18794 @item Matching on the body
18795 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
18796 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
18797 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
18798 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
18799 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
18800 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
18801 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
18804 @item Marking as read
18805 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
18806 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
18807 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
18811 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
18813 @item Negated character classes
18814 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
18815 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
18816 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
18820 @node Reverse Scoring
18821 @section Reverse Scoring
18822 @cindex reverse scoring
18824 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
18825 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
18826 like this in your score file:
18830 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
18835 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
18836 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
18839 @node Global Score Files
18840 @section Global Score Files
18841 @cindex global score files
18843 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
18844 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
18845 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
18847 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
18848 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
18849 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
18851 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
18852 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
18853 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
18854 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
18855 files are applicable to which group.
18857 To use the score file
18858 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
18859 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
18863 (setq gnus-global-score-files
18864 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
18865 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
18868 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
18870 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
18871 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
18872 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
18873 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
18875 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
18876 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
18878 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
18879 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
18880 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
18881 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
18882 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
18883 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
18885 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
18891 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
18893 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
18895 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
18897 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
18898 lowered out of existence.
18900 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
18901 articles completely.
18904 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
18905 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
18906 old articles for a long time.
18909 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
18910 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
18911 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
18912 holding our breath yet?
18916 @section Kill Files
18919 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
18920 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
18921 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
18923 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
18924 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
18925 files into score files.
18927 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
18928 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
18929 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
18930 that isn't a very good idea.
18932 Normal kill files look like this:
18935 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18936 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
18940 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
18941 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
18943 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
18944 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
18947 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
18952 @kindex M-k (Summary)
18953 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
18954 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
18957 @kindex M-K (Summary)
18958 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
18959 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
18962 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
18967 @kindex M-k (Group)
18968 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
18969 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
18972 @kindex M-K (Group)
18973 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
18974 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
18977 Kill file variables:
18980 @item gnus-kill-file-name
18981 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
18982 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
18983 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
18984 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
18985 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
18986 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
18988 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18989 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18990 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
18991 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
18994 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
18995 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
18996 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
18997 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
18998 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
18999 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
19000 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
19001 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
19002 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
19004 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
19005 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
19006 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
19011 @node Converting Kill Files
19012 @section Converting Kill Files
19014 @cindex converting kill files
19016 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
19017 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
19018 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
19021 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
19022 You can fetch it from
19023 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
19025 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
19026 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
19027 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
19035 GroupLens (@uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/}) is a
19036 collaborative filtering system that helps you work together with other
19037 people to find the quality news articles out of the huge volume of
19038 news articles generated every day.
19040 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
19041 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
19042 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
19043 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
19044 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
19045 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
19046 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
19047 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
19050 @sc{Note:} Unfortunately the GroupLens system seems to have shut down,
19051 so this section is mostly of historical interest.
19054 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
19055 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
19056 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
19057 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
19061 @node Using GroupLens
19062 @subsection Using GroupLens
19064 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
19066 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
19067 better bit in town at the moment.
19069 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
19073 @item gnus-use-grouplens
19074 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
19075 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
19076 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
19078 @item grouplens-pseudonym
19079 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
19080 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
19081 with the Better Bit Bureau.
19083 @item grouplens-newsgroups
19084 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
19085 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
19089 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
19090 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
19091 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
19092 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
19093 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
19094 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
19097 @node Rating Articles
19098 @subsection Rating Articles
19100 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
19101 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
19102 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
19103 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
19106 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
19111 @kindex r (GroupLens)
19112 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
19113 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
19116 @kindex k (GroupLens)
19117 @findex grouplens-score-thread
19118 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
19119 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
19120 threads in rec.humor.
19124 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
19125 the score of the article you're reading.
19130 @kindex n (GroupLens)
19131 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
19132 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
19135 @kindex , (GroupLens)
19136 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
19137 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
19141 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
19142 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
19145 @node Displaying Predictions
19146 @subsection Displaying Predictions
19148 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
19149 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
19150 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
19151 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
19152 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
19154 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
19155 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
19156 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
19157 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
19158 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
19159 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
19160 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
19161 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
19162 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
19163 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
19164 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
19165 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
19166 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
19168 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
19169 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
19170 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
19171 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
19173 The following are valid values for that variable.
19176 @item prediction-spot
19177 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
19180 @item confidence-interval
19181 A numeric confidence interval.
19183 @item prediction-bar
19184 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
19186 @item confidence-bar
19187 Numerical confidence.
19189 @item confidence-spot
19190 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
19192 @item prediction-num
19193 Plain-old numeric value.
19195 @item confidence-plus-minus
19196 Prediction +/- confidence.
19201 @node GroupLens Variables
19202 @subsection GroupLens Variables
19206 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
19207 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
19208 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
19209 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
19212 @item grouplens-bbb-host
19213 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
19216 @item grouplens-bbb-port
19217 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
19219 @item grouplens-score-offset
19220 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
19221 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
19224 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
19225 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
19226 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
19231 @node Advanced Scoring
19232 @section Advanced Scoring
19234 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
19235 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
19236 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
19237 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
19238 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
19240 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
19244 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
19245 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
19246 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
19250 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
19251 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
19253 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
19254 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
19255 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
19256 non-@code{nil} value.
19258 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
19259 operator, and various match operators.
19266 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19267 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
19268 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
19273 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19274 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
19275 then this operator will return @code{false}.
19280 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
19281 logical negation of the value of its argument.
19285 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
19286 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
19287 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
19288 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
19289 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
19290 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
19291 the ancestry you want to go.
19293 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
19294 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
19295 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
19296 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
19297 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
19300 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
19301 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
19303 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
19304 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
19307 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
19308 when he's talking about Gnus:
19312 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19313 ("subject" "Gnus"))
19319 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
19323 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19330 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
19331 really don't want to read what he's written:
19335 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19336 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
19340 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
19341 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
19342 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
19349 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
19350 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
19351 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
19352 ("body" "white.*socks"))
19356 The possibilities are endless.
19359 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
19360 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
19362 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
19363 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
19364 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
19365 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
19366 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
19367 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
19368 @samp{subject}) first.
19370 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
19371 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
19382 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
19383 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
19389 ("subject" "Gnus")))
19396 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
19397 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
19402 @section Score Decays
19403 @cindex score decays
19406 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
19407 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
19408 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
19409 use them in any sensible way.
19411 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
19412 @findex gnus-decay-score
19413 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
19414 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
19415 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
19416 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
19417 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
19418 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
19419 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
19420 definition of that function:
19423 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
19425 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
19426 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
19429 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
19431 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
19433 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
19436 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
19437 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
19438 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
19439 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
19443 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
19446 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
19449 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
19453 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
19454 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
19455 the new score, which should be an integer.
19457 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
19458 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
19463 @include message.texi
19464 @chapter Emacs MIME
19465 @include emacs-mime.texi
19467 @include sieve.texi
19469 @c @include pgg.texi
19477 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
19478 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
19479 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
19480 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
19481 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
19482 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
19483 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
19484 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
19485 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
19486 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
19487 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
19488 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
19489 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
19490 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
19491 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
19492 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
19493 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
19494 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
19495 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
19499 @node Process/Prefix
19500 @section Process/Prefix
19501 @cindex process/prefix convention
19503 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
19504 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
19506 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
19507 command to be performed on.
19511 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
19512 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
19513 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
19514 with the current one.
19516 @vindex transient-mark-mode
19517 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
19518 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
19520 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
19521 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
19524 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
19525 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
19527 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
19530 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
19531 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
19532 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
19533 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
19535 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
19536 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
19537 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
19538 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
19539 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
19540 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
19541 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
19542 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
19544 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
19545 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
19546 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
19547 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
19548 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
19552 @section Interactive
19553 @cindex interaction
19557 @item gnus-novice-user
19558 @vindex gnus-novice-user
19559 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
19560 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
19561 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
19562 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
19565 @item gnus-expert-user
19566 @vindex gnus-expert-user
19567 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
19568 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
19569 matter how strange.
19571 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
19572 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
19573 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
19574 is @code{t} by default.
19576 @item gnus-interactive-exit
19577 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
19578 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
19583 @node Symbolic Prefixes
19584 @section Symbolic Prefixes
19585 @cindex symbolic prefixes
19587 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
19588 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
19589 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
19590 rule of 900 to the current article.
19592 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
19593 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
19594 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
19595 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
19596 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
19597 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
19598 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
19600 @kindex M-i (Summary)
19601 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
19602 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
19603 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
19604 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
19605 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
19606 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
19607 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
19608 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
19610 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
19611 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
19612 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
19614 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
19618 @node Formatting Variables
19619 @section Formatting Variables
19620 @cindex formatting variables
19622 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
19623 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
19624 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
19625 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
19626 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
19629 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
19630 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
19631 lots of percentages everywhere.
19634 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
19635 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
19636 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
19637 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
19638 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
19639 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
19640 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
19641 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
19644 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
19645 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
19646 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
19647 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
19648 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
19649 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
19650 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
19651 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
19653 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
19654 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
19656 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
19657 @findex gnus-update-format
19658 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
19659 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
19660 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
19661 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
19665 @node Formatting Basics
19666 @subsection Formatting Basics
19668 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
19669 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
19670 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
19672 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
19673 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
19674 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
19675 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
19676 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
19679 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
19680 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
19681 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
19682 less than 4 characters wide.
19684 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
19685 @samp{%&user-date;}.
19688 @node Mode Line Formatting
19689 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
19691 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
19692 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
19693 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
19694 with the following two differences:
19699 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
19702 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
19703 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
19704 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
19705 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
19706 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
19707 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
19708 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
19713 @node Advanced Formatting
19714 @subsection Advanced Formatting
19716 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
19717 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
19718 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
19719 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
19721 These are the valid modifiers:
19726 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
19730 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
19735 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
19738 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
19743 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
19746 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
19749 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
19752 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
19758 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
19763 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
19764 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
19765 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
19766 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
19767 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
19768 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
19769 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
19771 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
19772 last operation, padding.
19774 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
19775 If @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} is set to @code{nil} (@code{t} by
19776 default) with your strong personality, and use a lots of these advanced
19777 thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets quite slow. This can be helped
19778 enormously by running @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with
19779 the look of your lines.
19780 @xref{Compilation}.
19783 @node User-Defined Specs
19784 @subsection User-Defined Specs
19786 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
19787 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
19788 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
19789 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
19790 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
19791 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
19792 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
19793 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
19794 should protect against that.
19796 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
19797 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
19799 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
19800 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
19801 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
19802 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
19806 @node Formatting Fonts
19807 @subsection Formatting Fonts
19809 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
19810 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
19811 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
19812 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
19815 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
19816 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
19817 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
19818 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
19819 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
19820 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
19822 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
19823 special @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}.
19824 If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on.
19825 The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or
19826 symbols naming functions that return a string. When the mouse passes
19827 over text with this property set, a balloon window will appear and
19828 display the string. Please refer to @ref{(emacs)Help Echo} (in GNU
19829 Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in XEmacs) for
19830 more information on this. (For technical reasons, the guillemets have
19831 been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this paragraph.)
19833 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
19836 ;; Create three face types.
19837 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
19838 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
19840 ;; We want the article count to be in
19841 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
19842 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
19843 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
19845 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
19846 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
19848 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
19849 (setq gnus-group-line-format
19850 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
19853 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
19854 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
19856 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
19857 mode-line variables.
19859 @node Positioning Point
19860 @subsection Positioning Point
19862 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
19863 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
19864 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
19866 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
19868 @findex gnus-goto-colon
19869 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
19870 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
19872 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
19873 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
19874 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
19879 @subsection Tabulation
19881 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
19882 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
19883 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
19884 about lining up the following text afterwards.
19886 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs--@samp{%=}. There are two
19887 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
19889 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19890 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
19891 This is the soft tabulator.
19893 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19894 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
19895 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
19898 @node Wide Characters
19899 @subsection Wide Characters
19901 Proportional fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
19902 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
19903 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
19905 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
19906 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
19907 these countries, that's not true.
19909 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
19910 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
19911 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
19912 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
19916 @node Window Layout
19917 @section Window Layout
19918 @cindex window layout
19920 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
19922 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
19923 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
19924 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
19925 @code{t} by default.
19927 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
19928 glitches. Use at your own peril.
19930 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
19931 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
19932 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
19935 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
19936 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
19937 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19941 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
19942 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
19943 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
19944 possible names is listed below.
19946 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
19947 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
19950 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19954 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
19955 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
19956 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
19957 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
19958 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
19959 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
19960 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
19961 size spec per split.
19963 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
19964 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
19965 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
19966 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
19967 present) gets focus.
19969 Here's a more complicated example:
19972 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
19973 (summary 0.25 point)
19974 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
19978 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
19979 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
19980 occupy, not a percentage.
19982 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
19983 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
19984 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
19985 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
19986 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
19989 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
19992 (article (horizontal 1.0
19997 (summary 0.25 point)
20002 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
20003 @code{horizontal} thingie?
20005 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
20006 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
20007 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
20008 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
20009 the screen is to be given to this strip.
20011 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
20012 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
20013 lines from the splits.
20015 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
20019 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
20020 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
20021 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
20022 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
20023 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
20024 size = number | frame-params
20025 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
20028 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
20029 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
20030 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
20031 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
20033 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
20034 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
20035 @cindex window height
20036 @cindex window width
20037 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
20038 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
20039 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
20040 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
20041 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
20042 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
20044 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
20045 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
20046 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
20047 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
20049 @findex gnus-configure-frame
20050 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
20051 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
20052 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
20053 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
20054 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
20055 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
20056 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
20057 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
20058 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
20059 configuration list.
20062 (gnus-configure-frame
20066 (article 0.3 point))
20074 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
20075 @code{frame} split:
20078 (gnus-configure-frame
20081 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
20083 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
20084 (user-position . t)
20085 (left . -1) (top . 1))
20090 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
20091 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
20092 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
20093 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
20094 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
20095 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
20096 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
20097 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
20099 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
20100 be found in its default value.
20102 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
20103 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
20104 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
20108 (message (horizontal 1.0
20109 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
20111 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
20116 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
20117 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
20118 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
20123 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
20124 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
20125 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
20126 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
20127 (name . "Message"))
20128 (message 1.0 point))))
20131 @findex gnus-add-configuration
20132 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
20133 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
20134 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
20135 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
20138 (gnus-add-configuration
20139 '(article (vertical 1.0
20141 (summary .25 point)
20145 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
20146 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
20147 Gnus has been loaded.
20149 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
20150 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
20151 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
20152 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
20153 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
20155 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
20156 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
20157 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
20160 @subsection Example Window Configurations
20164 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
20165 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
20180 (gnus-add-configuration
20183 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20185 (summary 0.16 point)
20188 (gnus-add-configuration
20191 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20192 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
20198 @node Faces and Fonts
20199 @section Faces and Fonts
20204 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
20205 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
20206 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
20211 @section Compilation
20212 @cindex compilation
20213 @cindex byte-compilation
20215 @findex gnus-compile
20217 Remember all those line format specification variables?
20218 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
20219 on. By default, T-gnus will use the byte-compiled codes of these
20220 variables and we can keep a slow-down to a minimum. However, if you set
20221 @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} to @code{nil} (@code{t} by default),
20222 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
20223 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
20224 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
20227 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
20228 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
20229 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
20230 you'll get top speed again. Note that T-gnus will not save these
20231 compiled specs in the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
20234 @item gnus-compile-user-specs
20235 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
20236 If it is non-nil, the user-defined format specs will be byte-compiled
20237 automatically. The default value of this variable is @code{t}. It has
20238 an effect on the values of @code{gnus-*-line-format-spec}.
20243 @section Mode Lines
20246 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
20247 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
20248 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
20249 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
20250 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
20251 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
20252 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
20255 @cindex display-time
20257 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
20258 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
20259 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
20260 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
20261 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
20262 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
20263 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
20264 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
20267 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
20269 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
20270 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
20272 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
20273 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
20274 (length display-time-string)))))
20277 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
20278 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
20279 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
20280 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
20281 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
20284 @node Highlighting and Menus
20285 @section Highlighting and Menus
20287 @cindex highlighting
20290 @vindex gnus-visual
20291 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
20292 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
20293 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
20296 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
20297 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
20300 @item group-highlight
20301 Do highlights in the group buffer.
20302 @item summary-highlight
20303 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
20304 @item article-highlight
20305 Do highlights in the article buffer.
20307 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
20309 Create menus in the group buffer.
20311 Create menus in the summary buffers.
20313 Create menus in the article buffer.
20315 Create menus in the browse buffer.
20317 Create menus in the server buffer.
20319 Create menus in the score buffers.
20321 Create menus in all buffers.
20324 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
20325 buffers, you could say something like:
20328 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
20331 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
20334 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
20337 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
20338 in all Gnus buffers.
20340 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
20343 @item gnus-mouse-face
20344 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
20345 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
20346 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
20350 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
20354 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
20355 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
20356 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
20358 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
20359 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
20360 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
20362 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
20363 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
20364 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
20366 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
20367 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
20368 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
20370 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
20371 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
20372 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
20374 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
20375 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
20376 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
20387 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
20388 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
20389 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
20390 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
20391 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
20395 @vindex gnus-carpal
20396 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
20397 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
20398 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
20403 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
20404 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
20405 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
20407 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
20408 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
20409 Face used on buttons.
20411 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
20412 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
20413 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
20415 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
20416 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
20417 Buttons in the group buffer.
20419 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
20420 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
20421 Buttons in the summary buffer.
20423 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
20424 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
20425 Buttons in the server buffer.
20427 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
20428 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
20429 Buttons in the browse buffer.
20432 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
20433 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
20434 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
20442 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
20443 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
20444 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
20445 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
20446 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
20448 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
20449 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
20450 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
20452 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
20453 been idle for thirty minutes:
20456 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
20459 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
20463 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
20466 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
20467 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
20468 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
20470 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
20471 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
20472 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
20473 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
20475 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
20476 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
20477 @var{idle} minutes.
20479 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
20480 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
20483 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
20484 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
20485 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
20487 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
20488 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
20489 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
20490 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
20492 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
20493 your @file{.gnus.el} file:
20495 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
20497 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
20500 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
20501 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
20502 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
20503 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
20504 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
20505 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
20506 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
20507 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
20508 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
20509 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
20510 @file{.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
20512 @findex gnus-demon-init
20513 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
20514 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
20515 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
20516 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
20517 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
20519 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
20520 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
20521 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
20530 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
20531 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
20533 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
20534 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
20535 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
20536 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
20539 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
20540 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
20541 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
20542 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
20544 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
20545 this will make spam disappear.
20547 There are some variables to customize, of course:
20550 @item gnus-use-nocem
20551 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
20552 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
20555 @item gnus-nocem-groups
20556 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
20557 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
20558 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
20559 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
20561 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
20562 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
20563 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
20564 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
20565 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
20566 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
20568 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
20569 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
20571 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
20572 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
20573 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
20574 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
20575 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
20576 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
20577 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
20578 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
20579 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
20580 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
20582 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
20583 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
20586 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
20589 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
20590 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
20593 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
20596 The specs are applied left-to-right.
20599 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
20600 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
20602 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
20603 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
20604 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
20605 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
20607 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
20608 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
20611 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
20613 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
20621 This might be dangerous, though.
20623 @item gnus-nocem-directory
20624 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
20625 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
20626 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
20628 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
20629 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
20630 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
20631 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
20632 might then see old spam.
20634 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
20635 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
20636 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
20637 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
20638 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
20641 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20642 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20643 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
20644 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
20648 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
20649 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
20650 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
20651 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
20658 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
20659 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
20660 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
20662 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
20663 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
20664 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
20665 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
20666 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
20667 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
20668 @code{undo} function.
20670 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
20671 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
20672 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
20673 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
20674 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
20675 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
20676 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
20677 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
20678 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
20679 never be totally undoable.
20681 @findex gnus-undo-mode
20682 @vindex gnus-use-undo
20684 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
20685 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
20686 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
20687 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
20691 @node Predicate Specifiers
20692 @section Predicate Specifiers
20693 @cindex predicate specifiers
20695 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
20696 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
20697 to type all that much.
20699 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
20704 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
20705 gnus-article-unread-p)
20708 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
20709 functions all take one parameter.
20711 @findex gnus-make-predicate
20712 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
20713 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
20714 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
20719 @section Moderation
20722 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
20723 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
20724 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
20727 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
20731 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
20734 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
20736 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
20741 You split your incoming mail by matching on
20742 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
20743 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
20746 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
20747 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
20750 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
20751 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
20755 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
20758 (setq gnus-moderated-list
20759 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
20763 @node Image Enhancements
20764 @section Image Enhancements
20766 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21, is able to display pictures and stuff, so
20767 Gnus has taken advantage of that.
20770 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
20771 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
20772 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
20773 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
20786 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
20787 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
20788 over your shoulder as you read news.
20790 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
20799 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
20800 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
20801 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
20802 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
20803 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
20804 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
20805 @code{GIF} formats.
20808 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
20809 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases,
20810 point your Web browser at
20811 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
20813 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
20814 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
20816 To enable displaying picons, simply make sure that
20817 @code{gnus-picon-databases} points to the directory containing the
20820 The following variables offer control over where things are located.
20824 @item gnus-picon-databases
20825 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
20826 The location of the picons database. This is a list of directories
20827 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
20828 subdirectories. Defaults to @code{("/usr/lib/picon"
20829 "/usr/local/faces")}.
20831 @item gnus-picon-news-directories
20832 @vindex gnus-picon-news-directories
20833 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
20834 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
20836 @item gnus-picon-user-directories
20837 @vindex gnus-picon-user-directories
20838 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for user
20839 faces. @code{("users" "usenix" "local" "misc")} is the default.
20841 @item gnus-picon-domain-directories
20842 @vindex gnus-picon-domain-directories
20843 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
20844 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
20845 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
20847 @item gnus-picon-file-types
20848 @vindex gnus-picon-file-types
20849 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
20850 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your Emacs.
20855 @subsection Smileys
20860 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
20865 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
20866 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
20868 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
20869 @file{.gnus.el} file:
20872 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
20875 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{8-)}, @samp{:-(} and
20876 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
20877 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
20878 text and maps that to file names.
20880 @vindex smiley-regexp-alist
20881 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist}
20882 variable. The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched;
20883 the second element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by
20884 the picture; and the third element is the name of the file to be
20887 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
20892 @item smiley-data-directory
20893 @vindex smiley-data-directory
20894 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
20896 @item gnus-smiley-file-types
20897 @vindex gnus-smiley-file-types
20898 List of suffixes on smiley file names to try.
20907 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
20908 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
20909 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
20913 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
20914 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
20915 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
20916 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
20924 Decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
20925 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
20926 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
20927 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
20929 The variable that controls this is the
20930 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
20931 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
20932 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
20933 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
20934 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
20936 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
20937 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
20938 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
20939 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
20942 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
20943 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
20944 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
20945 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
20946 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
20947 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
20948 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
20949 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
20951 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
20954 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
20955 easier insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages.
20957 @findex gnus-random-x-face
20958 @vindex gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command
20959 @vindex gnus-x-face-directory
20960 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
20961 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
20962 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
20963 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
20964 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
20965 header data as a string.
20967 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
20968 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
20969 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
20970 randomly generated data.
20972 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
20973 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command
20974 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
20975 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
20976 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
20978 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
20979 like the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
20982 (setq message-required-news-headers
20983 (nconc message-required-news-headers
20984 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
20987 Using the last function would be something like this:
20990 (setq message-required-news-headers
20991 (nconc message-required-news-headers
20992 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
20993 (gnus-x-face-from-file
20994 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
20999 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
21002 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21003 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21004 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
21005 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
21006 unusual directory structure.
21008 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21009 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21010 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
21011 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
21013 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21014 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21015 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
21016 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
21017 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
21018 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
21020 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21021 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21022 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
21027 @subsubsection Toolbar
21031 @item gnus-use-toolbar
21032 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
21033 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
21034 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
21035 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
21037 @item gnus-group-toolbar
21038 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
21039 The toolbar in the group buffer.
21041 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
21042 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
21043 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
21045 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21046 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21047 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
21058 @node Fuzzy Matching
21059 @section Fuzzy Matching
21060 @cindex fuzzy matching
21062 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
21063 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
21065 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
21066 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
21067 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
21069 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
21070 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
21071 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
21072 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
21073 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
21076 @node Thwarting Email Spam
21077 @section Thwarting Email Spam
21081 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21083 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
21084 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
21085 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
21086 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
21087 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
21088 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
21089 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
21090 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
21093 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
21094 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
21095 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
21096 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
21097 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
21098 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
21100 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
21103 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
21104 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
21105 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
21106 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
21107 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
21108 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
21111 @node The problem of spam
21112 @subsection The problem of spam
21114 @cindex spam filtering approaches
21115 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
21117 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21119 First, some background on spam.
21121 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
21122 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it exists
21123 because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail, so only
21124 a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to make it
21125 worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most common
21126 spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for further
21127 spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers}, but terms like
21128 @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, and @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
21130 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
21131 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
21132 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
21133 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
21134 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
21135 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
21136 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
21137 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
21138 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
21141 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering. If you get 200
21142 spam messages per day from @samp{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you
21143 block @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about
21144 @samp{VIAGRA}, you discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the
21145 message. This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate
21146 e-mail. For instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest
21147 has been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it
21148 @strong{contained} words that were common in spam messages.
21149 Nevertheless, in isolated cases, with great care, direct filtering of
21150 mail can be useful.
21152 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
21153 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
21154 @code{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @samp{X} in
21155 China, Ghana, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
21156 @code{N} systems enter @samp{X} or the spam e-mail from @samp{X} into
21157 a database. The criteria for spam detection vary - it may be the
21158 number of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When
21159 a user of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a
21160 message is spam, he consults one of those @code{N} systems.
21162 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
21163 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
21164 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
21165 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
21166 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
21167 sending spam, and their web sites have been shut down for some time
21168 because of the incident.
21170 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
21171 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
21172 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
21173 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
21174 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
21175 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
21176 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
21177 to store the database of spam analyses.
21179 @node Anti-Spam Basics
21180 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
21184 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21186 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
21187 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
21189 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
21190 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
21191 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
21192 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
21193 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
21194 part of the mail address.)
21197 (setq message-default-news-headers
21198 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
21201 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
21202 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21207 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
21208 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
21209 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
21215 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
21216 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
21217 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
21218 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
21220 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @sc{smtp} server
21221 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
21222 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
21223 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
21224 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
21225 your fancy split rule in this way:
21230 (to "larsi" "misc")
21234 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
21235 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
21236 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
21237 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
21238 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
21240 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
21241 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
21242 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
21243 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
21244 cosmic balance somewhat.
21246 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
21247 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
21248 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
21249 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
21254 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
21255 @cindex SpamAssassin
21256 @cindex Vipul's Razor
21259 The days where the hints in the previous section was sufficient in
21260 avoiding spam is coming to an end. There are many tools out there
21261 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
21262 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
21263 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
21264 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
21265 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
21267 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
21268 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
21269 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
21270 Specifiers}) follows.
21274 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
21277 :postscript "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
21280 Once you managed to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
21281 the mail contain e.g. a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
21282 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
21285 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
21289 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21292 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
21293 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
21297 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
21298 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
21299 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
21300 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
21303 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
21305 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
21307 (let ((buf (or (get-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
21308 (get-buffer " *nnml move*"))))
21310 (progn (message "Oops, cannot find message buffer") nil)
21312 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
21313 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
21317 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
21318 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
21319 spam. And here is the nifty function:
21322 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
21323 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
21325 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
21326 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
21327 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
21331 @subsection Hashcash
21334 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
21335 costly for each message they send. This has the obvious drawback that
21336 you cannot rely on that everyone in the world uses this technique,
21337 since it is not part of the Internet standards, but it may be useful
21338 in smaller communities.
21340 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
21341 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
21342 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
21343 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
21344 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
21345 instead requires that everyone you communicate with supports the
21346 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
21347 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
21348 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
21349 one of them separately.
21352 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
21353 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
21354 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:}
21355 header. For more details, and for the external application
21356 @code{hashcash} you need to install to use this feature, see
21357 @uref{http://www.cypherspace.org/~adam/hashcash/}. Even more
21358 information can be found at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
21360 If you wish to call hashcash for each message you send, say something
21364 (require 'hashcash)
21365 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'mail-add-payment)
21368 The @code{hashcash.el} library can be found at
21369 @uref{http://users.actrix.gen.nz/mycroft/hashcash.el}, or in the Gnus
21370 development contrib directory.
21372 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
21376 @item hashcash-default-payment
21377 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
21378 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
21379 should consist of. By default this is 0, meaning nothing will be
21380 done. Suggested useful values include 17 to 29.
21382 @item hashcash-payment-alist
21383 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
21384 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
21385 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(ADDR AMOUNT)} cells,
21386 where ADDR is the receiver (email address or newsgroup) and AMOUNT is
21387 the number of bits in the collision that is needed. It can also
21388 contain @samp{(ADDR STRING AMOUNT)} cells, where the STRING is the
21389 string to use (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
21393 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed.
21397 Currently there is no built in functionality in Gnus to verify
21398 hashcash cookies, it is expected that this is performed by your hand
21399 customized mail filtering scripts. Improvements in this area would be
21400 a useful contribution, however.
21402 @node Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
21403 @subsection Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
21404 @cindex spam filtering
21407 The idea behind @code{spam.el} is to have a control center for spam detection
21408 and filtering in Gnus. To that end, @code{spam.el} does two things: it
21409 filters incoming mail, and it analyzes mail known to be spam or ham.
21410 @emph{Ham} is the name used throughout @code{spam.el} to indicate
21413 So, what happens when you load @code{spam.el}? First of all, you get
21414 the following keyboard commands:
21424 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
21425 @code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}.
21427 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{$} mark.
21428 Whenever you see a spam article, make sure to mark its summary line
21429 with @kbd{M-d} before leaving the group. This is done automatically
21430 for unread articles in @emph{spam} groups.
21436 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
21437 @code{spam-bogofilter-score}.
21439 You must have Bogofilter installed for that command to work properly.
21445 Also, when you load @code{spam.el}, you will be able to customize its
21446 variables. Try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{spam} variable
21449 The concepts of ham processors and spam processors are very important.
21450 Ham processors and spam processors for a group can be set with the
21451 @code{spam-process} group parameter, or the
21452 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. Ham processors take
21453 mail known to be non-spam (@emph{ham}) and process it in some way so
21454 that later similar mail will also be considered non-spam. Spam
21455 processors take mail known to be spam and process it so similar spam
21456 will be detected later.
21458 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
21459 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
21460 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
21461 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
21462 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
21463 by customizing the corresponding variable
21464 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
21465 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
21466 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
21467 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
21468 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
21469 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
21470 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
21473 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
21474 they get the @samp{$} mark when you enter the group. You must review
21475 these messages from time to time and remove the @samp{$} mark for
21476 every message that is not spam after all. To remove the @samp{$}
21477 mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to "unread" the article, or @kbd{d} for
21478 declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a group, all
21479 spam-marked (@samp{$}) articles are sent to a spam processor which
21480 will study them as spam samples.
21482 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
21483 @code{spam-ham-marks} gets overridden below, marks @samp{R} and
21484 @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
21485 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
21486 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
21487 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
21488 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
21489 should then adjust the @code{spam-ham-marks} variable.
21491 @defvar spam-ham-marks
21492 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
21493 consider ham. By default, the list contains the deleted, read,
21494 killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks.
21497 @defvar spam-spam-marks
21498 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
21499 consider spam. By default, the list contains only the spam mark.
21502 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
21503 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
21504 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
21505 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
21506 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
21507 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{$},
21510 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
21511 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
21512 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
21513 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
21514 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
21515 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
21516 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
21517 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with
21518 @code{customize-variable gnus-ham-process-destinations}). The ultimate
21519 location is a group name. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
21520 parameter is not set, spam articles are only expired.
21522 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
21523 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
21525 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
21526 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
21527 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
21528 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
21529 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
21530 customize this variable with @code{customize-variable
21531 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). The ultimate location is a group
21532 name. If the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set,
21533 the spam articles are only expired.
21535 To use the @code{spam.el} facilities for incoming mail filtering, you
21536 must add the following to your fancy split list
21537 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}:
21543 Note that the fancy split may be called @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
21544 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on whether you use the nnmail or
21545 nnimap back ends to retrieve your mail.
21547 The @code{spam-split} function will process incoming mail and send the
21548 mail considered to be spam into the group name given by the variable
21549 @code{spam-split-group}. By default that group name is @samp{spam},
21550 but you can customize it.
21552 @emph{Note for IMAP users}
21554 The boolean variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body} needs to be
21555 set, if you want to split based on the whole message instead of just
21556 the headers. By default, the nnimap backend will only retrieve the
21557 message headers. If you use spam-check-bogofilter, spam-check-ifile,
21558 or spam-check-stat (the splitters that can benefit from the full
21559 message body), you should set this variable. It is not set by default
21560 because it will slow IMAP down.
21562 @xref{Splitting in IMAP}.
21564 @emph{TODO: Currently, spam.el only supports insertion of articles
21565 into a backend. There is no way to tell spam.el that an article is no
21566 longer spam or ham.}
21568 @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
21569 statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
21572 The following are the methods you can use to control the behavior of
21573 @code{spam-split} and their corresponding spam and ham processors:
21576 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
21577 * BBDB Whitelists::
21579 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
21581 * ifile spam filtering::
21582 * spam-stat spam filtering::
21583 * Extending the spam elisp package::
21586 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
21587 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
21588 @cindex spam filtering
21589 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
21590 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
21593 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
21595 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
21596 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
21597 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
21598 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
21603 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
21605 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
21606 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
21607 whitelist will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
21608 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the whitelist, their
21609 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
21613 @defvar spam-use-whitelist-exclusive
21615 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists as an
21616 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
21617 unless the sender is in the whitelist. Use with care.
21621 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
21623 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21624 customizing the group parameters or the
21625 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21626 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21627 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
21631 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
21633 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21634 customizing the group parameters or the
21635 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21636 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21637 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
21638 whitelist. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
21639 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21643 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
21644 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
21645 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
21646 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
21647 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
21649 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
21650 legitimate. All messages from whitelisted addresses are considered
21651 non-spam. Also see @ref{BBDB Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the
21652 Emacs regular expression syntax.
21654 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
21655 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
21656 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
21657 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
21658 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
21659 @file{blacklist} respectively.
21661 @node BBDB Whitelists
21662 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
21663 @cindex spam filtering
21664 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
21665 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
21668 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
21670 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
21671 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted
21672 addresses, without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded
21673 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Messages whose senders are
21674 not in the BBDB will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
21675 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the BBDB, their
21676 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
21680 @defvar spam-use-BBDB-exclusive
21682 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use the BBDB as an
21683 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
21684 unless the sender is in the BBDB. Use with care. Only sender
21685 addresses in the BBDB will be allowed through; all others will be
21686 classified as spammers.
21690 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
21692 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21693 customizing the group parameters or the
21694 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21695 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21696 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
21697 BBDB. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
21698 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21703 @subsubsection Blackholes
21704 @cindex spam filtering
21705 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
21708 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
21710 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
21711 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
21712 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
21713 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
21714 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
21715 contains outdated servers.
21717 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
21718 @code{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
21719 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to nil. It is not recommended at this
21720 time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to nil despite the possible
21721 performance improvements, because some users may be unable to use it,
21722 but you can try it and see if it works for you.
21726 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
21728 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
21732 @defvar spam-blackhole-good-server-regex
21734 A regular expression for IPs that should not be checked against the
21735 blackhole server list. When set to nil, it has no effect.
21739 @defvar spam-use-dig
21741 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
21742 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
21746 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
21747 ham processor for blackholes.
21749 @node Regular Expressions Header Matching
21750 @subsubsection Regular Expressions Header Matching
21751 @cindex spam filtering
21752 @cindex regular expressions header matching, spam filtering
21755 @defvar spam-use-regex-headers
21757 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus check the
21758 message headers against lists of regular expressions when you set this
21759 option. The variables @code{spam-regex-headers-spam} and
21760 @code{spam-regex-headers-ham} hold the list of regular expressions.
21761 Gnus will check against the message headers to determine if the
21762 message is spam or ham, respectively.
21766 @defvar spam-regex-headers-spam
21768 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
21769 the message, positively identify it as spam.
21773 @defvar spam-regex-headers-ham
21775 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
21776 the message, positively identify it as ham.
21780 Regular expression header checks are done only on incoming mail.
21781 There is no specific spam or ham processor for regular expressions.
21784 @subsubsection Bogofilter
21785 @cindex spam filtering
21786 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
21789 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
21791 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
21794 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{$} mark for spam
21795 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
21796 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
21797 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
21798 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
21799 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
21801 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on an internal
21802 threshold, set at compilation time. That threshold can't be
21805 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
21806 processing will be turned off.
21808 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
21812 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
21814 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
21815 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
21816 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
21817 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
21818 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
21819 installation documents for details.
21821 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
21825 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
21826 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21827 customizing the group parameters or the
21828 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21829 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
21830 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
21833 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
21834 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21835 customizing the group parameters or the
21836 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21837 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
21838 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
21839 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
21840 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21843 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
21845 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
21846 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
21847 database directory.
21851 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to ifile in intent and
21852 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
21853 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
21854 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
21855 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
21856 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
21858 @node ifile spam filtering
21859 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
21860 @cindex spam filtering
21861 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
21864 @defvar spam-use-ifile
21866 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use ifile, a
21867 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
21871 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
21873 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
21874 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
21875 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
21879 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
21881 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
21882 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
21883 the default value of @samp{spam}.
21886 @defvar spam-ifile-database-path
21888 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
21889 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
21893 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
21894 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
21895 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
21896 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
21899 @node spam-stat spam filtering
21900 @subsubsection spam-stat spam filtering
21901 @cindex spam filtering
21902 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
21906 @xref{Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat}.
21908 @defvar spam-use-stat
21910 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use
21911 spam-stat.el, an Emacs Lisp statistical analyzer.
21915 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
21916 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21917 customizing the group parameters or the
21918 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21919 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
21920 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
21923 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
21924 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21925 customizing the group parameters or the
21926 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21927 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
21928 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
21929 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
21930 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21933 This enables spam.el to cooperate with spam-stat.el. spam-stat.el
21934 provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database, which unlike ifile or
21935 Bogofilter does not require external programs. A spam and a ham
21936 processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for @code{spam-split}
21939 @node Extending the spam elisp package
21940 @subsubsection Extending the spam elisp package
21941 @cindex spam filtering
21942 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
21943 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
21945 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
21946 incoming mail, provide the following:
21954 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
21955 "True if blackbox should be used.")
21960 (spam-use-blackbox . spam-check-blackbox)
21962 to @code{spam-list-of-checks}.
21967 Write the @code{spam-check-blackbox} function. It should return
21968 @samp{nil} or @code{spam-split-group}. See the existing
21969 @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can do.
21972 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
21979 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
21980 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
21983 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
21984 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
21985 Only applicable to spam groups.")
21987 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
21988 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
21989 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
21997 (defun spam-blackbox-register-spam-routine ()
21998 (spam-generic-register-routine
21999 ;; the spam function
22001 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
22002 (when (stringp from)
22003 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer from))))
22004 ;; the ham function
22007 (defun spam-blackbox-register-ham-routine ()
22008 (spam-generic-register-routine
22009 ;; the spam function
22011 ;; the ham function
22013 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
22014 (when (stringp from)
22015 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender from))))))
22018 Write the @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender} and
22019 @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer} functions. You can add
22020 more complex code than fetching the message sender, but keep in mind
22021 that retrieving the whole message takes significantly longer than the
22022 sender through @code{spam-fetch-field-from-fast}, because the message
22023 senders are kept in memory by Gnus.
22028 @node Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
22029 @subsection Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
22030 @cindex Paul Graham
22031 @cindex Graham, Paul
22032 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
22033 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
22034 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
22036 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
22037 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
22038 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
22039 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
22040 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
22041 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
22042 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
22043 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
22044 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
22047 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
22048 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
22049 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
22050 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
22051 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
22052 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
22053 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
22054 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
22056 Gnus supports this kind of filtering. But it needs some setting up.
22057 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
22058 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
22059 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
22060 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
22063 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
22064 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
22065 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
22068 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22069 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22071 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
22072 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
22073 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
22074 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
22075 need several hundred emails in both collections.
22077 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
22078 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
22079 per mail. Use the following:
22081 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
22082 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
22083 is treated as one spam mail.
22086 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
22087 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
22088 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
22091 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
22092 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds
22093 the the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
22094 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
22095 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds the the group
22096 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
22098 When you are using IMAP, you won't have the mails available locally,
22099 so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent to cache
22100 the articles. Then you can use directories such as
22101 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
22102 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
22105 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics -- the
22106 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
22107 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
22108 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
22111 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
22112 reset the dictionary.
22114 @defun spam-stat-reset
22115 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
22118 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
22119 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
22120 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
22121 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
22122 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
22123 only non-spam mails.
22125 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
22126 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
22127 to update the dictionary incrementally.
22130 @defun spam-stat-save
22131 Save the dictionary.
22134 @defvar spam-stat-file
22135 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
22136 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
22139 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
22140 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
22142 In order to use @code{spam-stat} to split your mail, you need to add the
22143 following to your @file{~/.gnus} file:
22146 (require 'spam-stat)
22150 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
22153 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
22154 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
22155 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
22156 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
22158 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
22159 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
22160 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
22161 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
22164 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22165 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22169 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
22170 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
22173 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
22174 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
22175 expression are considered potential spam.
22178 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22179 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22180 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22184 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
22185 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
22186 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
22187 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
22188 mails, when creating the dictionary!
22191 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22192 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22193 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22197 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
22198 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
22199 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
22200 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
22201 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
22205 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22206 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
22207 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22208 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22213 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22214 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22216 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
22218 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
22219 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
22220 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22223 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
22224 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
22225 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22228 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
22229 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
22230 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
22231 already been processed as non-spam.
22234 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
22235 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
22236 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
22237 been processed as spam.
22240 @defun spam-stat-save
22241 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
22242 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22245 @defun spam-stat-load
22246 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
22247 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22250 @defun spam-stat-score-word
22251 Return the spam score for a word.
22254 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
22255 Return the spam score for a buffer.
22258 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
22259 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
22260 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
22263 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
22264 following in your @file{~/.gnus} file:
22267 (require 'spam-stat)
22271 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
22274 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22275 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22276 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22277 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22278 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22279 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22280 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22281 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22282 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22283 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22284 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22285 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22286 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22287 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22290 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
22293 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22294 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22295 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22296 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
22297 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22298 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22301 @node Various Various
22302 @section Various Various
22308 @item gnus-home-directory
22309 @vindex gnus-home-directory
22310 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
22311 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
22313 @item gnus-directory
22314 @vindex gnus-directory
22315 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
22316 this variable, which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment
22317 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
22319 Note that gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
22320 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
22321 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
22322 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
22324 @item gnus-default-directory
22325 @vindex gnus-default-directory
22326 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
22327 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
22328 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
22329 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
22330 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
22331 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
22334 @vindex gnus-verbose
22335 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
22336 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
22337 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
22338 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
22339 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
22341 @item gnus-verbose-backends
22342 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
22343 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
22344 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
22346 @item nnheader-max-head-length
22347 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
22348 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
22349 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
22350 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
22351 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
22352 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
22353 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
22354 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
22355 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
22357 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
22358 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
22359 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
22360 read when doing the operation described above.
22362 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22363 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22365 @cindex invalid characters in file names
22366 @cindex characters in file names
22367 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
22368 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
22369 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
22372 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22376 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
22377 Windows (phooey) systems.
22379 @item gnus-hidden-properties
22380 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
22381 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
22382 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
22383 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
22385 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
22386 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
22387 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
22388 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
22389 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
22391 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
22392 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
22393 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
22395 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
22396 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
22398 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
22399 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
22400 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
22401 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
22404 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
22412 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
22413 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
22415 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
22417 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
22423 Not because of victories @*
22426 but for the common sunshine,@*
22428 the largess of the spring.
22432 but for the day's work done@*
22433 as well as I was able;@*
22434 not for a seat upon the dais@*
22435 but at the common table.@*
22440 @chapter Appendices
22443 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
22444 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
22445 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
22446 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
22447 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
22448 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
22449 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
22450 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
22451 * Frequently Asked Questions::
22458 @cindex Installing under XEmacs
22460 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
22461 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
22462 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{w3}, @samp{mh-e},
22463 @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{rmail}, @samp{eterm}, @samp{mail-lib},
22464 @samp{xemacs-base}, @samp{sh-script} and @samp{fsf-compat}. The
22465 @samp{misc-games} package is required for Morse decoding.
22472 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
22473 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
22475 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
22476 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
22477 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
22478 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
22479 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
22481 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
22482 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
22483 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
22484 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
22485 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
22486 appropriate name, don't you think?)
22488 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
22489 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
22490 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
22491 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
22494 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
22495 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
22496 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
22497 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
22498 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
22499 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
22500 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
22501 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
22502 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
22506 @node Gnus Versions
22507 @subsection Gnus Versions
22509 @cindex September Gnus
22511 @cindex Quassia Gnus
22512 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
22516 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
22517 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
22518 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
22520 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
22521 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
22523 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
22524 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
22526 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
22527 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
22529 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
22530 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
22533 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
22535 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
22536 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
22537 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
22538 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
22539 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
22540 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
22543 @node Other Gnus Versions
22544 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
22547 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
22548 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
22549 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
22550 @sc{mime} capabilities.
22552 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
22553 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
22554 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
22555 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
22562 What's the point of Gnus?
22564 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
22565 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
22566 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
22567 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
22568 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
22569 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
22570 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
22571 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
22572 keep track of millions of people who post?
22574 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
22575 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
22576 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
22577 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
22578 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
22579 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
22580 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
22581 every one of you to explore and invent.
22583 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
22584 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
22587 @node Compatibility
22588 @subsection Compatibility
22590 @cindex compatibility
22591 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
22592 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
22593 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
22598 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
22602 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
22605 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
22608 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
22609 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
22610 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
22611 important variables have their values copied into their global
22612 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
22613 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
22615 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
22616 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
22617 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
22618 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
22619 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
22623 @cindex highlighting
22624 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
22625 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
22626 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
22627 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
22628 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
22629 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
22632 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
22633 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
22634 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
22635 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
22637 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
22638 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
22639 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
22640 to stop doing it the old way.
22642 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
22644 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
22646 @cindex reporting bugs
22648 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
22649 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
22650 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
22652 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
22653 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
22654 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
22655 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
22660 @subsection Conformity
22662 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
22663 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
22671 There are no known breaches of this standard.
22675 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
22677 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
22678 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
22679 We do have some breaches to this one.
22685 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
22686 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
22687 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
22688 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
22689 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
22694 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
22695 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
22696 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
22697 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
22699 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
22701 All the various @sc{mime} RFCs are supported.
22703 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
22704 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
22706 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
22709 RFC 1991 is the original PGP message specification, published as a
22710 Information RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now called Open PGP, and
22711 put on the Standards Track. Both document a non-@sc{mime} aware PGP
22712 format. Gnus supports both encoding (signing and encryption) and
22713 decoding (verification and decryption).
22715 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
22716 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
22717 1991) describes the @sc{mime}-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
22718 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
22720 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
22721 RFC 2633 describes the @sc{s/mime} format.
22723 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
22724 RFC 1730 is @sc{imap} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060 (@sc{imap} 4
22725 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5 authentication for @sc{imap}. RFC
22726 2086 describes access control lists (ACLs) for @sc{imap}. RFC 2359
22727 describes a @sc{imap} protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper
22728 TLS integration (STARTTLS) with @sc{imap}. RFC 1731 describes the
22729 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @sc{imap}.
22733 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
22734 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
22739 @subsection Emacsen
22745 Gnus should work on :
22753 XEmacs 21.1.1 and up.
22757 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
22758 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
22759 Emacs versions. However, T-gnus does support ``Mule 2.3 based on Emacs
22760 19.34'' and possibly the versions of XEmacs prior to 21.1.1, e.g. 20.4.
22761 See the file ``README'' in the T-gnus distribution for more details.
22763 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
22764 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
22765 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
22769 @node Gnus Development
22770 @subsection Gnus Development
22772 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
22773 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
22774 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
22775 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
22776 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
22777 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
22778 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
22779 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
22781 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
22782 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
22783 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
22784 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
22785 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
22788 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
22789 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
22790 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
22791 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
22792 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
22794 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
22795 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
22796 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
22797 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
22798 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
22799 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
22800 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
22801 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
22802 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
22803 can't be assumed to do so.
22808 @subsection Contributors
22809 @cindex contributors
22811 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
22812 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
22813 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
22814 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
22815 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
22816 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
22817 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
22818 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
22819 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
22820 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
22822 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
22828 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
22831 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
22832 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
22833 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
22834 functionality and stuff.
22837 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
22838 well as numerous other things).
22841 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
22844 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
22847 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
22850 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
22853 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
22854 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
22857 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
22860 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
22861 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
22864 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
22867 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
22870 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
22873 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
22876 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
22877 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
22880 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
22883 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
22886 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
22889 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
22893 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
22896 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
22899 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
22902 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
22903 well as autoconf support.
22907 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
22908 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
22910 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
22919 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
22923 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
22933 Alexei V. Barantsev,
22948 Massimo Campostrini,
22953 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
22954 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
22958 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
22961 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
22967 Michael Welsh Duggan,
22972 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
22976 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
22984 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
22986 Michelangelo Grigni,
22990 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
22992 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
22994 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
23001 François Felix Ingrand,
23002 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
23003 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
23005 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
23016 Peter Skov Knudsen,
23017 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
23019 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
23020 Thor Kristoffersen,
23023 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
23041 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
23042 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
23049 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
23054 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
23058 John McClary Prevost,
23064 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
23069 Christian von Roques,
23072 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
23079 Philippe Schnoebelen,
23081 Randal L. Schwartz,
23095 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
23100 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
23116 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
23121 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
23122 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
23123 (550kB and counting).
23125 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
23128 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
23129 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
23133 @subsection New Features
23134 @cindex new features
23137 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
23138 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
23139 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
23140 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
23141 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
23144 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
23145 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
23146 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
23149 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
23151 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
23156 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
23157 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
23160 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
23161 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
23164 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
23167 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
23168 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
23169 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
23172 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
23173 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
23174 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
23175 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
23178 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
23179 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23182 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
23183 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
23184 (@pxref{The Active File}).
23187 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
23188 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
23191 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
23192 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
23193 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
23196 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
23197 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
23198 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
23201 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus.el}) to avoid cluttering up
23202 the @file{.emacs} file.
23205 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
23206 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
23209 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
23210 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
23213 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
23214 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23217 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
23218 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
23221 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
23222 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
23225 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
23228 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
23229 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
23232 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
23233 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
23236 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
23237 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
23240 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
23243 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
23244 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23247 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
23251 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
23255 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
23256 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
23259 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
23265 @node September Gnus
23266 @subsubsection September Gnus
23270 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
23274 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
23279 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
23280 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
23284 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
23285 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
23289 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
23293 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
23294 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
23297 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
23301 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
23304 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
23307 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
23310 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
23314 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
23315 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
23318 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
23322 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
23326 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
23330 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
23334 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
23337 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
23338 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
23341 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
23345 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
23346 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
23349 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
23352 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
23353 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
23354 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23357 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
23361 The Gnus cache is much faster.
23364 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
23368 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
23369 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
23372 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
23373 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
23376 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
23377 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
23380 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
23381 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
23382 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
23385 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
23386 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
23389 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
23392 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
23395 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
23398 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
23401 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
23402 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
23405 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
23409 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
23412 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
23417 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
23420 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
23424 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23427 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
23431 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
23434 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
23437 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
23438 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
23441 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
23442 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
23446 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
23447 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
23450 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
23454 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
23455 buffer to allow easier treatment.
23458 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
23461 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
23465 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
23469 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
23470 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
23473 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
23477 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
23478 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
23481 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
23482 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
23485 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
23489 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
23492 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
23495 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
23501 @subsubsection Red Gnus
23503 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
23507 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
23514 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
23517 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
23518 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
23521 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
23522 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
23526 Article washing status can be displayed in the
23527 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
23530 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
23533 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
23534 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
23537 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
23541 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
23542 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
23546 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
23547 Server Internals}).
23550 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
23554 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
23557 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
23558 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
23561 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
23562 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
23563 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
23566 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
23567 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
23570 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
23571 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
23574 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
23578 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
23579 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
23582 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
23583 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
23586 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
23590 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
23593 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
23597 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
23598 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
23601 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
23602 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
23605 A new command for reading collections of documents
23606 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
23607 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
23610 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
23614 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
23615 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
23618 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
23619 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
23620 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
23623 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
23624 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
23628 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
23632 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
23636 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
23641 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
23645 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
23649 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
23650 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
23653 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
23659 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
23661 New features in Gnus 5.6:
23666 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
23667 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
23668 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
23671 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
23672 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
23673 group, which is created automatically.
23676 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
23680 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
23683 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
23684 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
23687 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
23691 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
23694 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
23695 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
23698 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
23701 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
23702 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
23705 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
23706 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
23709 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
23710 control over simplification.
23713 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
23716 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
23720 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
23723 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
23726 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
23727 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
23728 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
23731 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
23732 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
23735 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
23739 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
23740 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
23743 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
23744 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
23747 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
23751 A history of where mails have been split is available.
23754 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
23757 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
23758 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
23761 A new function for citing in Message has been
23762 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
23765 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
23768 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
23772 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
23773 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
23776 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
23777 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
23780 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
23783 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
23787 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
23788 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
23790 New features in Gnus 5.8:
23795 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
23796 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
23798 If you used procmail like in
23801 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
23802 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
23803 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
23804 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
23807 this now has changed to
23811 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
23815 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
23816 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
23819 Gnus is now a @sc{mime}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
23820 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
23823 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
23824 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
23827 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
23828 called to position point.
23831 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
23832 summary buffers and @sc{nov} files.
23835 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
23836 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
23839 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
23840 subtly different manner.
23843 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
23844 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
23845 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
23848 Gnus can now read @sc{imap} mail via @code{nnimap}.
23856 @section The Manual
23860 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
23861 either @code{texi2dvi}
23863 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
23864 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
23866 to get what you hold in your hands now.
23868 The following conventions have been used:
23873 This is a @samp{string}
23876 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
23879 This is a @file{file}
23882 This is a @code{symbol}
23886 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
23890 (setq flargnoze "yes")
23893 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
23896 (setq flumphel 'yes)
23899 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
23900 ever get them confused.
23904 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
23905 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
23906 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
23907 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
23908 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
23909 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
23910 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
23916 @node On Writing Manuals
23917 @section On Writing Manuals
23919 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
23920 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
23921 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
23922 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
23923 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
23924 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
23927 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
23928 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
23929 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
23932 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
23933 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
23938 @section Terminology
23940 @cindex terminology
23945 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
23946 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
23947 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
23948 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
23949 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
23953 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
23954 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
23955 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
23956 not posting, and replying is not following up.
23960 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
23964 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
23969 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
23970 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
23971 commonly fetched via the protocol NNTP, whereas mail messages could be
23972 read from a file on the local disk. The internal architecture of Gnus
23973 thus comprises a `front end' and a number of `back ends'. Internally,
23974 when you enter a group (by hitting @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke
23975 a function in the front end in Gnus. The front end then `talks' to a
23976 back end and says things like ``Give me the list of articles in the foo
23977 group'' or ``Show me article number 4711''.
23979 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back end
23980 accesses news via NNTP, the @code{nnimap} back end accesses mail via
23981 IMAP) or a file format and directory layout (the @code{nnspool} back end
23982 accesses news via the common `spool directory' format, the @code{nnml}
23983 back end access mail via a file format and directory layout that's
23986 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
23987 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
23988 access the articles.
23990 However, sometimes the term `back end' is also used where `server'
23991 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term `select
23992 method' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
23997 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
23998 default, way of getting news.
24002 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
24003 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
24008 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
24009 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
24013 A message that has been posted as news.
24016 @cindex mail message
24017 A message that has been mailed.
24021 A mail message or news article
24025 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
24030 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
24035 A line from the head of an article.
24039 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
24040 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
24044 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
24045 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
24046 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
24047 normal @sc{head} format.
24051 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
24052 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
24053 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
24054 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
24055 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
24056 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
24058 @item killed groups
24059 @cindex killed groups
24060 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
24061 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
24063 @item zombie groups
24064 @cindex zombie groups
24065 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
24068 @cindex active file
24069 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
24070 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
24071 is rather large, as you might surmise.
24074 @cindex bogus groups
24075 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
24076 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
24077 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
24080 @cindex activating groups
24081 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
24082 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
24083 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
24087 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
24089 @item select method
24090 @cindex select method
24091 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
24094 @item virtual server
24095 @cindex virtual server
24096 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
24097 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
24098 whole is a virtual server.
24102 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
24103 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
24106 @item ephemeral groups
24107 @cindex ephemeral groups
24108 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
24109 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
24110 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
24113 @cindex solid groups
24114 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
24115 group buffer are solid groups.
24117 @item sparse articles
24118 @cindex sparse articles
24119 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
24120 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
24124 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
24125 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
24129 @cindex thread root
24130 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
24131 articles in the thread.
24135 An article that has responses.
24139 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
24143 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
24144 specified by RFC 1153.
24150 @node Customization
24151 @section Customization
24152 @cindex general customization
24154 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
24155 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
24156 for some quite common situations.
24159 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
24160 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
24161 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
24162 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
24166 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
24167 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
24169 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
24170 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
24171 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
24175 @item gnus-read-active-file
24176 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
24177 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
24178 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24179 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
24180 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
24182 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
24183 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
24184 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
24185 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
24189 @node Slow Terminal Connection
24190 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
24192 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
24193 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
24194 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
24198 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
24199 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
24200 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
24201 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
24202 horizontal and vertical recentering.
24204 @item gnus-visible-headers
24205 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
24206 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
24207 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
24208 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
24210 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
24212 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
24213 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
24214 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
24217 @item gnus-use-full-window
24218 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
24219 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
24220 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
24221 want to read them anyway.
24223 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
24224 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
24228 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
24229 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
24230 lines, which might save some time.
24234 @node Little Disk Space
24235 @subsection Little Disk Space
24238 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
24239 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
24243 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
24244 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
24245 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24246 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24249 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
24250 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
24251 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24252 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24255 @item gnus-save-killed-list
24256 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
24257 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
24258 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
24259 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
24265 @subsection Slow Machine
24266 @cindex slow machine
24268 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
24269 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
24271 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24272 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
24274 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
24275 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
24276 summary buffer faster.
24280 @node Troubleshooting
24281 @section Troubleshooting
24282 @cindex troubleshooting
24284 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
24292 Make sure your computer is switched on.
24295 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
24296 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
24300 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
24301 like @samp{T-gnus 6.15.* (based on Oort Gnus v0.*; for SEMI 1.1*, FLIM
24302 1.1*)} you have the right files loaded. If, on the other hand, you get
24303 something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp flee}, you have some old
24304 @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
24307 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
24311 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
24312 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
24313 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
24314 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
24315 something like that.
24318 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
24321 @cindex reporting bugs
24323 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
24325 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
24326 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
24327 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
24328 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
24330 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
24331 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
24332 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
24333 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
24336 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
24337 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
24338 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
24339 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
24340 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
24341 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
24343 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
24344 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
24345 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
24349 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
24350 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
24353 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
24354 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
24355 edebug. Debugging lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
24356 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
24357 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
24358 you discover some weird behaviour when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
24359 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
24360 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
24361 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
24362 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
24363 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
24364 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
24365 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
24366 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
24371 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate a elisp error but
24372 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
24373 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press C-j when things are
24374 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
24375 helps isolating the real problem areas). A fancier approach is to use
24376 the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is (or should be) fully
24377 documented elsewhere, but to get you started there are a few steps
24378 that need to be followed. First, instrument the part of Gnus you are
24379 interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package RET
24380 gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-packagre RET message}. Then perform
24381 the operation that is slow and press @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will
24382 then see which operations that takes time, and can debug them further.
24383 If the entire operation takes much longer than the time spent in the
24384 slowest function in the profiler output, you probably profiled the
24385 wrong part of Gnus. To reset profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x
24386 elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove
24387 profiling, but given the complexities and dynamic code generation in
24388 Gnus, it might not always work perfectly.
24390 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
24391 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
24393 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
24394 @cindex ding mailing list
24395 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
24396 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
24400 @node Gnus Reference Guide
24401 @section Gnus Reference Guide
24403 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
24404 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
24405 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
24406 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
24409 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
24410 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
24411 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
24412 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
24413 and general methods of operation.
24416 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
24417 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
24418 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
24419 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
24420 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
24421 * Group Info:: The group info format.
24422 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
24423 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
24424 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
24428 @node Gnus Utility Functions
24429 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
24430 @cindex Gnus utility functions
24431 @cindex utility functions
24433 @cindex internal variables
24435 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
24436 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
24437 Below is a list of the most common ones.
24441 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
24442 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
24443 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
24445 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
24446 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
24447 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
24449 @item gnus-group-real-name
24450 @findex gnus-group-real-name
24451 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
24454 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
24455 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
24456 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
24457 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
24459 @item gnus-get-info
24460 @findex gnus-get-info
24461 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
24463 @item gnus-group-unread
24464 @findex gnus-group-unread
24465 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
24469 @findex gnus-active
24470 The active entry for @var{group}.
24472 @item gnus-set-active
24473 @findex gnus-set-active
24474 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
24476 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
24477 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
24478 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
24481 @item gnus-continuum-version
24482 @findex gnus-continuum-version
24483 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
24484 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
24487 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
24488 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
24489 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
24491 @item gnus-news-group-p
24492 @findex gnus-news-group-p
24493 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
24495 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
24496 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
24497 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
24499 @item gnus-server-to-method
24500 @findex gnus-server-to-method
24501 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
24503 @item gnus-server-equal
24504 @findex gnus-server-equal
24505 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
24507 @item gnus-group-native-p
24508 @findex gnus-group-native-p
24509 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
24511 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
24512 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
24513 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
24515 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
24516 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
24517 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
24519 @item group-group-find-parameter
24520 @findex group-group-find-parameter
24521 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
24522 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
24524 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
24525 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
24526 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
24528 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
24529 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
24530 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
24532 @item gnus-check-backend-function
24533 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
24534 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
24535 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
24538 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
24542 @item gnus-read-method
24543 @findex gnus-read-method
24544 Prompts the user for a select method.
24549 @node Back End Interface
24550 @subsection Back End Interface
24552 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
24553 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
24554 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
24555 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
24556 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
24557 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
24559 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
24560 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
24561 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
24562 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
24563 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
24564 been opened, the function should fail.
24566 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
24567 name. Take this example:
24571 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
24572 (nntp-port-number 4324))
24575 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
24576 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
24578 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
24579 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
24580 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
24582 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
24583 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
24584 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
24586 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
24587 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
24588 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
24589 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
24590 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
24591 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
24594 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
24595 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
24596 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
24597 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
24600 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
24601 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
24602 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
24603 possible for later articles to `re-use' older article numbers without
24604 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
24605 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
24606 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
24607 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
24608 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
24609 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
24611 The previous paragraph already mentions all the `hard' restrictions that
24612 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
24613 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
24614 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
24615 the `no-reuse' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
24616 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
24617 of numbers as long as possible.
24619 Note that by convention, backends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
24620 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
24621 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
24623 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
24626 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
24629 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
24630 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
24631 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
24632 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
24633 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
24634 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
24638 @node Required Back End Functions
24639 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
24643 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
24645 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
24646 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
24647 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
24648 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
24650 The result data should either be HEADs or @sc{nov} lines, and the result
24651 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
24652 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
24653 of HEADs and @sc{nov} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
24655 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
24656 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
24657 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
24658 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
24659 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
24660 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
24661 number, do maximum fetches.
24663 Here's an example HEAD:
24666 221 1056 Article retrieved.
24667 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
24668 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
24669 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
24670 Subject: Re: Something very droll
24671 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
24672 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
24674 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
24675 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
24676 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
24680 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
24681 these in the data buffer.
24683 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
24687 head = error / valid-head
24688 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
24689 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
24690 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
24691 header = <text> eol
24694 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
24695 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
24699 nov-buffer = *nov-line
24700 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
24701 field = <text except TAB>
24704 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
24708 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
24710 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
24711 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
24713 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
24714 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
24715 server. In fact, it should do so.
24717 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
24718 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
24721 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
24723 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
24724 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
24727 There should be no data returned.
24730 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
24732 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
24733 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
24734 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
24735 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
24737 There should be no data returned.
24740 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
24742 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
24743 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
24744 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
24745 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
24747 There should be no data returned.
24750 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
24752 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
24754 There should be no data returned.
24757 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
24759 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
24760 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
24761 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
24762 it would be nice if that were possible.
24764 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
24765 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
24766 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
24767 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
24768 into its article buffer.
24770 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
24771 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
24772 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
24773 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
24774 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
24775 on successful article retrieval.
24778 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
24780 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
24781 making @var{group} the current group.
24783 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
24786 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
24789 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
24792 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
24793 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
24794 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
24795 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
24796 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
24797 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
24798 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
24799 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
24800 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
24804 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
24805 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
24806 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
24810 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
24812 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
24813 a no-op on most back ends.
24815 There should be no data returned.
24818 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
24820 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
24823 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
24826 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
24827 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
24830 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
24831 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
24832 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
24833 and the highest as 0.
24836 active-file = *active-line
24837 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
24839 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
24842 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
24843 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
24844 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
24847 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
24849 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
24850 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
24851 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
24852 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
24853 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
24854 clear if the posting could not be completed.
24856 There should be no result data from this function.
24861 @node Optional Back End Functions
24862 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
24866 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
24868 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
24869 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
24870 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
24872 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
24873 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
24874 former is in the same format as the data from
24875 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
24876 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
24879 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
24883 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
24885 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
24886 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all the
24887 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
24888 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
24889 should return a non-nil value.
24891 There should be no result data from this function.
24894 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
24896 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
24897 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
24898 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
24899 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
24900 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
24901 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
24902 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
24903 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
24905 There should be no result data from this function.
24908 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
24910 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
24911 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
24912 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
24913 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
24914 propagate the mark information to the server.
24916 @var{action} is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
24919 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
24922 @var{range} is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.
24923 @var{action} is @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove
24924 marks (preserving all marks not mentioned). @var{mark} is a list of
24925 marks; where each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are
24926 @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
24927 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
24928 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
24929 possible, not limit itself to these.
24931 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
24932 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
24933 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
24934 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
24936 An example action list:
24939 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
24940 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
24941 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
24944 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
24945 mark on (currently not used for anything).
24947 There should be no result data from this function.
24949 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
24951 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
24952 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
24953 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
24954 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
24955 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
24957 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
24958 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
24959 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
24962 There should be no result data from this function.
24965 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
24967 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
24968 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
24969 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query the
24970 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
24971 to be heeded---if the back end decides that it is too much work just
24972 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
24973 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
24975 There should be no result data from this function.
24978 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
24980 The result data from this function should be a description of
24984 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
24986 description = <text>
24989 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
24991 The result data from this function should be the description of all
24992 groups available on the server.
24995 description-buffer = *description-line
24999 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
25001 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
25002 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
25003 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
25004 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
25005 in the active buffer format.
25007 It is okay for this function to return `too many' groups; some back ends
25008 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
25009 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
25010 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
25011 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
25012 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
25013 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
25016 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
25018 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
25020 There should be no return data.
25023 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
25025 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
25026 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
25027 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
25028 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
25029 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
25032 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
25035 There should be no result data returned.
25038 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
25041 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
25042 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
25044 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
25045 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
25046 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
25047 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
25048 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
25049 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
25051 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
25052 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
25055 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
25056 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
25058 The group should exist before the backend is asked to accept the
25059 article for that group.
25061 There should be no data returned.
25064 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
25066 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
25067 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
25068 this function in short order.
25070 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
25071 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
25073 There should be no data returned.
25076 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
25078 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
25079 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
25081 There should be no data returned.
25084 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
25086 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
25087 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
25088 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
25090 There should be no data returned.
25093 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
25095 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
25096 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
25098 There should be no data returned.
25103 @node Error Messaging
25104 @subsubsection Error Messaging
25106 @findex nnheader-report
25107 @findex nnheader-get-report
25108 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
25109 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
25110 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
25111 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
25112 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
25113 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
25116 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
25118 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
25121 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
25122 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
25123 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
25124 takes one argument---the server symbol.
25126 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
25127 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
25128 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
25131 @node Writing New Back Ends
25132 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
25134 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
25135 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
25136 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
25137 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
25138 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
25141 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
25142 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
25143 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
25145 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
25146 package called @code{nnoo}.
25148 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
25149 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
25155 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
25156 parameters. For instance:
25159 (nnoo-declare nndir
25163 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
25164 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
25167 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
25168 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
25169 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
25171 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
25172 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
25173 a function in those back ends.
25176 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25177 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25178 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25181 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
25182 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
25183 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
25185 @item nnoo-define-basics
25186 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
25190 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25194 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
25195 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
25196 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
25198 @item nnoo-map-functions
25199 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
25200 functions from the parent back ends.
25203 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25204 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25205 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
25208 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
25209 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
25210 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
25211 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
25214 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
25215 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
25216 haven't already been defined.
25222 nnmh-request-newgroups)
25226 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
25227 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
25228 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
25233 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
25236 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
25237 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
25241 (require 'nnheader)
25245 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
25247 (nnoo-declare nndir
25250 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25251 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25252 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25254 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
25255 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
25258 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
25260 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
25261 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
25262 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
25264 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
25265 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
25267 ;;; Interface functions.
25269 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25271 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
25272 (setq nndir-directory
25273 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
25275 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
25276 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
25277 (push `(nndir-current-group
25278 ,(file-name-nondirectory
25279 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25281 (push `(nndir-top-directory
25282 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25284 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
25286 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25287 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25288 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25289 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
25290 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
25294 nnmh-status-message
25296 nnmh-request-newgroups))
25302 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25303 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25305 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
25306 @findex gnus-declare-backend
25307 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
25308 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
25309 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
25311 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
25312 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
25317 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
25320 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
25322 The abilities can be:
25326 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
25328 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
25330 This back end supports both mail and news.
25332 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
25335 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
25336 articles and groups.
25338 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
25339 true for almost all back ends.
25340 @item prompt-address
25341 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
25342 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
25343 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
25347 @node Mail-like Back Ends
25348 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
25350 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
25351 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
25352 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
25353 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
25356 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
25357 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
25358 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
25361 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
25362 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
25365 This function takes four parameters.
25369 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
25372 @item exit-function
25373 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
25375 @item temp-directory
25376 Where the temporary files should be stored.
25379 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
25380 performed for one group only.
25383 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
25384 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
25385 find the article number assigned to this article.
25387 The function also uses the following variables:
25388 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
25389 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
25390 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
25391 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
25395 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
25396 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
25400 @node Score File Syntax
25401 @subsection Score File Syntax
25403 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
25404 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
25405 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
25407 Here's a typical score file:
25411 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
25418 BNF definition of a score file:
25421 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
25422 element = rule / atom
25423 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
25424 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
25425 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
25426 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
25428 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
25429 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
25430 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
25431 date-header = "date"
25432 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25433 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25434 score = "nil" / <integer>
25435 date = "nil" / <natural number>
25436 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
25437 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
25438 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
25439 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
25440 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25441 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25442 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
25443 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25444 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
25445 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
25446 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
25447 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
25448 exclude-files / read-only / touched
25449 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
25450 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
25451 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
25452 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
25453 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
25454 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
25455 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
25456 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
25457 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
25458 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
25459 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
25460 eval = "eval" space <form>
25461 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
25464 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
25467 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
25468 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
25469 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
25470 one looong line, then that's ok.
25472 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
25473 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
25477 @subsection Headers
25479 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
25480 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
25481 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
25482 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
25484 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
25485 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
25486 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
25487 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
25488 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
25489 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
25490 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
25492 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
25493 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
25494 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
25495 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
25496 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
25498 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
25499 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
25505 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
25506 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
25508 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
25509 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
25510 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
25511 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
25513 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
25517 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
25520 is transformed into
25523 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
25526 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
25527 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
25530 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
25533 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
25534 is slightly tricky:
25537 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
25543 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
25546 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
25552 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
25559 and is equal to the previous range.
25561 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
25562 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
25563 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
25567 range = simple-range / normal-range
25568 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
25569 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
25570 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
25571 number *[ " " contents ]
25574 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
25575 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
25576 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
25577 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
25578 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
25583 @subsection Group Info
25585 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
25586 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
25587 describes the group.
25589 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
25590 second is a more complex one:
25593 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
25595 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
25596 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
25598 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
25601 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
25602 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
25603 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
25604 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
25605 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
25606 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
25607 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
25608 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
25609 this section is about.
25611 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
25612 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
25613 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
25615 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
25618 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
25619 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
25620 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25621 group = quote <string> quote
25622 ralevel = rank / level
25623 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
25624 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
25625 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
25627 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
25628 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
25629 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
25630 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
25633 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
25634 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
25637 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
25638 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
25641 @item gnus-info-group
25642 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
25643 @findex gnus-info-group
25644 @findex gnus-info-set-group
25645 Get/set the group name.
25647 @item gnus-info-rank
25648 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
25649 @findex gnus-info-rank
25650 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
25651 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
25653 @item gnus-info-level
25654 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
25655 @findex gnus-info-level
25656 @findex gnus-info-set-level
25657 Get/set the group level.
25659 @item gnus-info-score
25660 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
25661 @findex gnus-info-score
25662 @findex gnus-info-set-score
25663 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
25665 @item gnus-info-read
25666 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
25667 @findex gnus-info-read
25668 @findex gnus-info-set-read
25669 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
25671 @item gnus-info-marks
25672 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
25673 @findex gnus-info-marks
25674 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
25675 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
25677 @item gnus-info-method
25678 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
25679 @findex gnus-info-method
25680 @findex gnus-info-set-method
25681 Get/set the group select method.
25683 @item gnus-info-params
25684 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
25685 @findex gnus-info-params
25686 @findex gnus-info-set-params
25687 Get/set the group parameters.
25690 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
25691 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
25693 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
25694 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
25695 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
25696 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
25699 @node Extended Interactive
25700 @subsection Extended Interactive
25701 @cindex interactive
25702 @findex gnus-interactive
25704 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
25705 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
25706 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
25709 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
25710 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
25715 The best thing to do would have been to implement
25716 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
25717 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
25718 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
25719 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
25720 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
25721 @code{interactive}.
25723 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
25728 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
25729 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
25733 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
25734 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
25735 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
25738 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
25742 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
25746 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
25752 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
25753 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
25757 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
25758 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
25759 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
25761 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
25762 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
25763 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
25764 Gnus, that's very useful.
25766 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
25767 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
25768 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
25769 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
25770 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
25771 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
25772 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
25773 following function:
25776 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
25780 (,function ,@@args))
25784 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
25785 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
25786 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
25789 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
25790 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
25791 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
25793 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
25794 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
25795 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
25798 @node Various File Formats
25799 @subsection Various File Formats
25802 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
25803 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
25807 @node Active File Format
25808 @subsubsection Active File Format
25810 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
25811 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
25814 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
25817 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
25818 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
25819 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
25820 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
25821 no.general 1000 900 y
25824 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
25827 active = *group-line
25828 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
25829 group = <non-white-space string>
25831 high-number = <non-negative integer>
25832 low-number = <positive integer>
25833 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
25836 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
25837 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
25840 @node Newsgroups File Format
25841 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
25843 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
25844 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
25845 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
25848 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
25849 Here's the definition:
25853 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
25854 group = <non-white-space string>
25856 description = <string>
25861 @node Emacs for Heathens
25862 @section Emacs for Heathens
25864 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
25865 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
25866 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
25867 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
25868 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
25869 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
25870 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
25874 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
25875 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
25880 @subsection Keystrokes
25884 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
25887 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
25890 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
25891 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
25892 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
25893 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
25894 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
25895 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
25897 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
25898 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
25899 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
25900 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
25901 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
25902 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
25903 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
25905 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
25906 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
25907 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
25908 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
25909 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
25910 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
25911 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
25913 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
25914 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
25915 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
25916 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
25917 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
25923 @subsection Emacs Lisp
25925 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
25926 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
25927 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
25928 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
25930 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
25931 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
25932 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
25933 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
25934 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
25935 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
25936 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
25939 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
25940 write the following:
25943 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
25946 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
25947 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
25948 you can go and fill your @file{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
25951 If you have put that thing in your @file{.emacs} file, it will be read
25952 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
25953 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
25954 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
25955 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
25957 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
25958 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
25959 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
25963 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
25967 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
25970 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
25971 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
25974 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
25977 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
25978 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
25981 @include gnus-faq.texi
26001 @c Local Variables:
26003 @c coding: iso-8859-1
26005 % LocalWords: BNF mucho detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
26006 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
26007 % LocalWords: nnmbox newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
26008 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
26009 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref